LATEST NEWS

November 7th, 2004

Dear Friends of the Orphan Project,

Here is an account of his recent visit to Chibobo by a good UK friend and sponsor, William Hall. I thought you might like to hear the latest.

God bless you all,
Kevin

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Dear friends of the Chibobo orphans,

As one of the sponsors of the HMP orphan project at Chibobo I thought other sponsors and well-wishers might care to have a short account of my recent visit to the project. I hope I can give a reasonably objective - though inevitably very impressionistic - "outsider's" view of recent developments there.

On Monday 25th October - a bank holiday in celebration of the 40th anniversary the previous day of Zambia's independence from Britain - I was given a lift to Chibobo in the project's vehicle from Serenje, the nearest small town where HMP's tiny office is located. Please be assured I paid for the fuel! This is the hottest time of the year when even hardened Zambians wilt in the afternoon sun and look forward to the start of the rainy season. "Traditionally", I was told, the first rains fall on Independence Day. In reality, it seems, they hardly ever do!

The first thing that struck me on arriving at Chibobo was the hundreds of bulging white 50kg sacks of maize which were piled high throughout the compound. I'd been warned about this in advance. Zambia has just experienced a "bumper harvest" of this staple foodcrop, farmers spurred on by government encouragement after the food shortages which hit the international headlines a while back. The problem is that the state system for buying up the surpluses from small farmers seems to have broken down. So although there is certainly no question of anyone at Chibobo going hungry this year, the situation has resulted in a real "cash crisis" for HMP. The maize will be sold eventually, no doubt, but in the meantime there are some real problems. So, for example, there is no money to hire labour to prepare a large area of land given to HMP by the local chief for cultivation with the beautiful new tractor donated by Bristol Christian Fellowship.. The tractor is being hired out locally - with an HMP driver to ensure it comes to no harm - but the establishment of the new farm, a significant future source of food and income, may now have to be postponed.

However, this is a temporary setback. For the rest Chibobo, now graced by the magnificent, colourful adventure playground constructed by the Overnewton volunteers, is a hive of activity and a beacon of hope in a desperately poor and under resourced rural area. Despite the heat maize is sorted, the hammer mill pounds, wood is planed in the carpentry shop, chickens scratch, pigs grunt, food is prepared, clothes are scrubbed, manure is shoveled, water is pumped into storage tanks. The new orphan buildings, funded by AusAid, are nearing completion - work on the roofing began the day I left and once the interiors are protected from the coming rains the plastering and flooring can begin. By December the new dormitories, kitchen and dining rooms should be completed, bunk beds, mattresses and blankets have already been fashioned or purchased, and although a great deal of equipment is still needed (cooking and eating utensils, clothing, mosquito nets, basic medicines and teaching resources) everything should be ready for a new orphan intake early in the new year. The classrooms are bright, colourful and welcoming, the library is amazingly well stocked and carefully organised.

And the principle purpose of all this effort and activity? Truly it was a joy to witness this troop of clean, well fed, well cared for, laughing, jostling, energetic children as they assembled for meals, ran to clean their dirty cups and plates at the pump, gathered for class or communal singing and games. They seemed happy. I don't think young children can fake happiness, even for a visiting sponsor, and it was a pleasure and a privilege to reflect that, whilst HMP is emphatically a "grass roots" organisation (with the exception of 2 VSO volunteers it is entirely locally run) I have had a small part to play in giving them this chance of life.

Do try to visit Chibobo if you ever get the opportunity. You will be welcomed with sincere gratitude and warmth. Thanks to the 'Guest House' built for the Overnewton volunteers you'll even get your own bathroom!

William Hall
27.10.04

June 28th, 2004

Dear Friends of the Chibobo Orphans,

Well, the Overnewton contingent (17 students, staff, ex-student) have arrived and have settled in well at Chibobo. Abeauty and I met them at the Lusaka airport. Amazingly, there were no hassles with all their huge amount of luggage (which included many donated items like a generator,easy reading books and library materials to help catalog the Chibobo books, clothing for the children, tools for the playground construction – to be left here for teaching trade skills to the growing children). We piled into the minibus we had hired, much to the amusement of the students who had to sit 4 to a seat Zambian –style....this novelty soon wore off the next day after the cramped 5 hour trip to Serenje! Abeauty took Mike and Leno with all the luggage in his Isuzu, and met us in Serenje late on Friday. I showed the group our Australian Volunteer house in the Serenje Boys School grounds, dropped in for a quick visit of the school library set up by ourselves, then we bought extra water and took a stroll through the Serenje market (fresh vegetables, dried fish, chickens being carried home by the wings for dinner – as well as the small-time shops with chitenges, clothing, bicycle spares etc. Of course, the locals were mesmerised by this huge contingent of fair white skin...the students felt as if they were under a microscope! We then travelled out to Chibobo. 20km by tar, then the last 10km over rough dirt road. As we approached the HMP centre, we found the road blocked by 4 bicycles and a motorcycle! it was a welcoming mobile escort! They had been waiting for over 5 hours to surprise us...what commitment! We followed this motley band into the HMP centre, amidst ringing of the bells and sounding of the motor-cycle horn. Dusk was falling as we entered the HMP site...there we found a huge gathering of local folk, singing clapping, dancing and warmly welcoming the Overnewton team to Chibobo. After warm embraces, shaking of hands, more singing and dancing, the group were led into the newly completed 'guest-house'....at first, we were all seated on the verandah until the lights were turned on courtesy of a newly purchased generator (the Overnewton one will add to the capacity of the newly wired electrical system here) – now, we could enter the bedrooms – flush toilets, and bunk-beds, beautifully set up with treated mosquito nets etc were awaiting the weary, but excited, travellers .’this is better than the Lusaka Backpackers’ said one student (I agreed). After introductions to the leading personel at Chibobo, the group sat down to their first meal...unfortunately, I had to return with the minibus driver to Serenje...but I understand that there was a full evening’s entertainment laid on by the locals under the stars around a large bonfire...I think we need to hear all this from one of the students when they get time to write down their experiences!

Today, 2 days later, I visited the site to find the playground well under way...sandpit tyres painted, large logs set upright in concrete etc...meantime, the students were attending a church service in the classroom nearby..when they came out, I was please to learn that all were settling in well thanks in no small measure to the wonderful contribution as liaison person by Richard Cairns, the UK volunteer uni student who himself has settled in really well and is helping in many other areas as well (eg electrical work). Looking at a few plates from lunch left with some kapenta fish, I think one or two are having problems with the local food (but there is enough other conventional food available so no-one will starve). No, it is going really well - tomorrow, painting of murals on the library and classroom walls commences, the Library catalogueing begins in earnest , and the playground construction continues. And of course, the children of the orphanage arrive back on site after a weekend away - and, if today was anything to go by, they will have great fun with the fun-loving Overnewton students who today were playing all sorts of ganes with the local children after church (language proving no barrier to fun!). On Friday, they all travel on to Lusaka, then Livingstone (Vic Falls) and South Lunagwa for a well-deserved holiday! well, must go...for me, only some 5 weeks left here in Zambia..the welcome for the Overnewton group was very moving, and it will be difficult to say goodbye to the very grateful and lovely local community.

This Thursday is a very important one for the possible establishment of a second orphanage (in Serenje itself) - not with HMP (who are fully extended)but with an assembly of local churches invited to a meeting to guage public local interest and support for such a project...please pray that it goes well ..my Head at Serenje Boys and I are organising it...he retires next year, and will manage the orphanage - Mr Mwansa is reliable, honest, hard-working and greatly experienced and committed...all I need to do is to find some more funding?

Best wishes to you all,
Kevin

May 27th, 2004

Dear Friends,

Finally the tractor has been bought, it is now at the farm. The cost of the tractor was K78,000,000. The actual donation from Bristol Christian Fellowship was K77,000,000, so the extra money was borrowed from another source. At the moment, we are looking forward to purchasing some tractor accessories, such as a plough, arrow plough, planter, and trailer. We are hoping to receive a contribution from our friend Sally Hawksworth in the UK. Her contribution would allow us to purchase these accessories.

We are requesting all representatives of HMP to write and register high appreciation to the Bristol Christian Fellowship and other well wishers who were involved in raising funds for the tractor. We say thank you. We shall keep you informed of our progress.

Pray for us in the area of practical and spiritual.

Yours,
Abeauty Chibuye

Dear Friends of the Chibobo Orphans,

Yesterday I cycled out to visit the orphanage at Chibobo. The 30 children at the orphanage all look well and happy to be back with us (two have not yet reported due to illness apparently -Amos and Novestra), a few have lost weight over the 4 week holidays during which they remained with their guardians and were not fed to the standards of our care. A couple of observations I made, for the benefit of the sponsors -Mr and Mrs Jones - George is looking great, and, as one of the older children in the group, acting very responsibly; Molly - Marvin has shot up a couple of inches and is apparently much better behaved this term.

I was greatly privileged to be present when we opened up some of the parcels sent out by the Salvation Army in the UK (Paul Harris is the contact there)- these were also in the container of computers and lab equipment organised for local educational institutions through HMP. The childrens' faces were a real picture of joy and excitement as they played with the Matchbox cars on one of those fold-away mats, with the wonderful jig-saw puzzles, and the storybooks with great illustrations plus some pink shirts they proudly wore this morning before I returned to Serenje.

As far as the building program of the new 100 bed orphanage is concerned, I observed mountains of sand and gravel plus 15,000 bricks already moulded and ready to be fired in local kilns next week, a completed storage shed to receive the huge consignment of cement arriving this weekend, foundations for the building being dug and due for completion next week. So, within 2 weeks, construction of the kitchen complex will be well underway. At the same time, 7 bunkbeds have been completed on-site by local carpenters and the 80 mattresses already purchased and in storage at Chibobo as well. So, a lot of activity is happening and things are progressing according to plan...the first stage being to have a kitchen ready plus accommodation for the Overnewton College contingent of students, staff and parents (16) arriving late June to build an ambitious exciting playground for the children - for this, we are also collecting used tires, getting wood organised etc. The volunteer uni student, Richard Cairns, also arrives early June to offer his assistance to the project. On the food production side, we hope to have bumper harvests of maize etc from our fields where the maize is now drying out before being picked ... we thank God for the great rains we had during the growing season - now we have to protect against theft by monkeys etc! We are also excited and grateful for new bore holes supplied through the generosity of the BCF (Bristol Christian Fellowship)- these mono-pumps will assist us greatly in the provision of close water for the huge number of children to be accommodated next year -already our rain-water catchment pond is nearly dry in spite of having had it full during the rainy season..

Other activities involving HMP have been the distribution of the 74 computers from Computer Aid International to local educational institutions who are delighted with the machines. The 2 local secondary schools, Serenje Boys School and Ibolelo Secondary College were also absolutely delighted with the donated laboratory equipment from Lab Aid Trust in the UK - Ron ow and Alan Welch of that organisation deserve great praise and thanks for the wonderful items sent out in the container.

Best wishes,
Kevin

Highlight of Events from 2003 to Date

April 2004

• Work on the construction of the new dormitory is underway. Sand and timber have been procured. In the near future, the project committee will procure building materials.
• Bags of rice for distribution to nearest villages and orphans arrived from India .
• The project has procured funding from BCF to purchase a tractor. Next farming season will see us increasing the area of cultivation. Likewise there is need to purchase disc ploughs, planter and reapers.

March 2004

• Converting old church into storage area is in progress.
• The previous kitchen and canteen’s conversion into a guestroom section is in progress. This will accommodate visiting students and staff from Overnewton College
• The trip by 17 students and staff from Overnewton Anglican Community College is confirmed. Their arrival is 23 June 2004 . And they will work with HMP staff for a week.
• Beginning in June, two University students from UK will join HMP for 2 months.
• Replacement of the gearbox for Isuzu is in progress. GIGO, Marcella Calders and Barry Nugget are working to get us a new gearbox.

March 12th, 2004

• HMP has been funded by Ausaid. The grant total is $35,000 aus.
• Second volunteer has joined HMP from VSO and is responsible for food security in outreach programme.

March 1, 2004

• Rain receiver is now ready, though the wall has to be increased by 3 courses.
• 14 new children have joined the orphanage. Two old orphans from the last no longer live on site but are still welcome for lunch.

January 2004

• School commenced 2 weeks ago, after a one week delay due to repairs on the thatching of the classroom which fell in due to heavy rains. We now have a grade two and have employed a trained teacher.
• 25,000 books that HMP received last year from Books for Africa have been distributed to local schools and other organizations.
• A 1991 Isuzu HB250D together will lockable, durable canopy were donated by well wishers in South Africa . The vehicle is currently giving problems, but will hopefully be resolved soon.
• A container of 74 second-hand computers provided at low cost is expected. This is donated from Computer Aid International.
• Clothing, games and furniture were provided by Salvation Army.

Late 2003

• Plumbing and rainwater catchment are underway. Construction of a reservoir to have capacity of 50m or 50000L is in progress.
• Four hectares of land have been allocated to orphanage section for crop production to ensure food security. Hopefully PAM (Programme Against Malnutrition) will provide seed and fertilizer fund.
• Early in year, HMP received proceeds raised by Overnewton College . Aquarious College , Ringwood is also fundraising.
• Park Orchard Lions Club has provided valuable funds for plumbing rainwater harvest and furniture for library.

Dear Family and Friends of the Chibobo Orphans,

We hope that you all have had a happy and holy Easter? Abeauty and I have spent the past week, including Easter, waiting here in Kitwe for the arrival of a container from the UK, a project which we (HMP) have helped to facilitate to assist local Zambian educational institutions with second-hand computers and laboratory equipment, plus donated toys and games for our children from the Salvation Army. This project has involved plenty of frustrations, and a big learning curve for all associated with it, but the container is now here in Kitwe and due to be cleared tomorrow (Easter Tuesday). We have not wasted our 'forced' time here - already some 12 used tyres and chains have been collected in preparation for the Overnewton College 'playground construction' visit in late June 2004 - it was a great surprise to us yesterday when we viewed the results of a search on 'google' for our Chibobo HIV/Aids orphans - up came a newspaper article in the 'Star' about their trip out to Zambia!

MORE WONDERFUL NEWS

Our frustrations over the container have been lessened enormously by the wonderful news that the Bristol Christian Fellowship, BCF, who have long been the support mainstay of HMP right from its very inception back in the 1990's (throught the provision of funding for bore-holes, vehicles and other essential items) have generously donated most of the money needed for HMP to purchase a TRACTOR. A tractor is a huge step forward for us in terms of becoming more agriculturally self-sustainable, particularly with the need to grow enough food for the 100 children in the new enlarged orphanage in 2005, sponsored through AusAid. We are all extremely excited about this...it is 'fantastic'...to use the most popular word in the vocabulary of Arnold Schwarzenegger. THANK YOU BCF!!!

THE CHILDREN

The children are now back with their guardians for the 4 week school holidays. Term 1 went really well, with not a single case of malaria, although there was an 'epidemic' of 'coughing' one night during the second last week of school - so Abeauty packed up about 20 of the children and brought them into town to the local Serenje Hospital for treatment - I got such a shock to find this large group of our children waiting outside our town office when I arrived to check email...however, they all recovered quickly. We have been monitoring their weights this term with a newly purchased set of scales, and we will be particularly interested in the effects of a 4-week break from our good food. The children are excited about the prospects of a larger intake for next year. Already many of the building materials needed to construct the 100 bed dormitory are arriving on site. The old church building has been converted into a safe, clean and secure storage depot (a new roof with iron sheets, plus stronger doors and painting etc). The construction site is a safe distance away from the school and existing dormitory. The next stage of construction is the canteen/kitchen/washrooms section of the new dormitory - Abeauty hopes to complete this by the start of June so that the old canteen can become the 'guest-house' in time for the arrival of the Overnewton College group in late June.

Meantime, other aspects of this huge building project are proceeding quietly but quickly - with the rains easing, local brick-making has commenced; mountains of building sand are being moved; carpenters and other tradesmen are being engaged, 'prototype' bunkbeds under construction, quotations based on the bill of quantities being sought...etc etc

What a wonderful time to be involved with this African orphans project, which is now nearly a year old from the time of first conception of the idea.

From the end of the week after Easter, I hope to be travelling on holiday in the Uganda region and, amidst a holiday, visiting a leading African HIV-AIDS organisation in Kampala so that we learn more about ways to assist in combating this epidemic in the region. Uganda has a wonderful record in fighting the HIV-AIDS scourge.

I am hoping that Abeauty will write an update on the building project in 2 weeks time and place it on the website through the new website manager, Claudette Juska, who lives in USA but who knows Chibobo intimately having worked here for 3 years as a volunteer with Peace Corps. Dave Marriner, my good friend in Cape Town, who set up this wonderful site has now handed it over to Claudette - his final act has been to include a sound feature on the site (some singing by the children and a local worker taped secretely by me one night as they were settling down before bed) - thanks Dave...without the website, I doubt whether we would have received the Ausaid grant to expand the dormitory.

Best wishes to you all,
Kevin

1) The Ausaid Grant to build a new 110-bed dormitory complex has resulted in feverish activity by Abeauty – already, he has converted the old church building at Chibobo into a large storage room for the building supplies which will be ordered soon. The old leaking thatched roof has been replaced with corrugated iron sheeting and a firm wooden beam support system. Many loads of building-sand are already on the site, thousands of local bricks are about to be moulded in line with the requirements detailed in the bill of quantities prepared together with local Serenje Council assistance. As soon as the funds are in our account next week, materials will be ordered and building will commence first on a kitchen and canteen section – we hope to complete this stage by the end of May 2004 so that the existing kitchen and canteen can be converted into a Guest-Room section in time for the arrival of the students and staff of Overnewton College in late June. There is also the possibility of a visit to the site by an Australian parliamentary delegation sometime in July – so the guestrooms may be useful then too. We also hope that the guestroom section will attract other volunteers in future months/years to join us to share their skills to the overall betterment of the lives of our children – surely the prospect of doing something of service for HIV-AIDS orphans in the middle of Africa, whether it be for a week or longer, will be attractive to some individuals, families or other groups?.

2) Yes, the trip by 17 students and staff from Overnewton Anglican Community College (OACC) in Melbourne Australia is ON! The group will arrive in Zambia on 23 June, and go directly to Chibobo for a week of voluntary work at the orphanage. Their activities will include building playground equipment, painting educational murals on classroom walls, assisting our teachers in the classroom, cataloging books and setting up the new Library, organising games with the children, and so on...there will be no shortage of jobs, especially with the construction of the new building in full swing. After the week, the group will have a well-earned holiday visiting Victoria Falls and South Luangwa National Park before returning to Australia .

3) At the start of June, two university students from the UK (one of them being Richard Cairns, the son of a Zimbabwean childhood friend, Ian) will also join us at Chibobo for a 2 month stint as volunteers for anything that has to be done. This has been completely their own initiative, and we also look forward to their assistance.

4) Yesterday I learned that Sally Hawksworth, a cousin in the UK who I have never met in person (we only made contact recently due to a mutual interest in family tree research), is walking in the Thames Sponsored Walk to raise funds on behalf of the Chibobo Orphans Project – it is a very long walk (over 150 miles) so we thank Sally for her generosity and support, and wish her well in this initiative of hers.

5) Our gearbox problems with the Isuzu pick-up continue, but Giorgio and Marinella Calderas from Cape Town (who assisted us greatly in the initial purchase of the vehicle) are working with Barry Nugent to try to get a second-hand one for us. We are most grateful to them for their generosity and hard work in this. Hopefully a replacement gearbox will be here with us after Easter.

6) There will be some small changes occurring on the website during the next few weeks as we try to gain maximum exposure to ‘search engines’ – we will be trying not to ‘spoil’ the great work done so far by Dave Marriner from Cape Town. Dave is also hoping to install on the website some of the beautiful singing of our children recorded by me a few weeks ago as they settled down before bed. In May, a former Peace Corps volunteer from Chibobo, Claudette Juska, will take over the site from Dave as I also hand over communication issues gradually here to Abeauty before my exit from Zambia later in the year.

Well, Zambia school holidays commence on Good Friday. Our children will then return to their guardians for 4 weeks. I hope they will be okay. Two nights ago I asked them through an interpreter (since their local language is Bemba) the following questions – (their responses are given in brackets):

a) is there anyone who is not happy here? (in unison, the reply was “No – we are very happy here.”)

b) what makes you happy to be here? ( the answers included: “dressing” – I asked for elaboration – apparently, putting on a nice set of clothes for the week is great for them – when they arrive on Mondays, we swop clothing and wash their existing clothes/rags.)

(Another response was: “bathing” – they enjoy being in the bathtub)

(“sleeping well” – I asked for more details on this – most of them sleep on the ground in their huts; a bed is a real luxury for them)

(“eating well” – some only receive one meal a day back with their guardians)

(“not being beaten”- sadly, it appears that many of these 5-8 year olds are punished frequently – difficult to verify of course...)

So, there may not be an update on the project for another few weeks since I will hopefully be travelling north on buses through Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya – I say hopefully, since HMP is also waiting for our container full of computers for local educational institutions to arrive and my responsibilities with this shipment are large. I will try for one more update just before Easter, but if it is not possible, a happy and holy Easter to you all from us all here in Central Zambia .

Kevin

HELP MINISTRIES PROJECT crjuska@helpministriesproject.org