Wealth of encouragement...

Using the remainder of some funds sent through by Brad’s workmates, along with some monies from our neighbour, we were able to start the construction of table tennis table. We have a small carpentry hut where shelves, desks, doors etc are all made, and that’s where the table was created. It’s really sturdy (needs to be with all the kids using it), and can be taken apart, and used as two separate trestle tables as required. The table tennis table has been a huge hit with the big boys (so much that they had to be banned for a while as their year 10 studies were starting to suffer).

The school was in need of some new rugs for the nursery and kindergarten classes. These classes are packed, and the tiny kids spend most of their time seated on the floor – not a nice prospect in the lead up to winter. The floors are cement, and the kids had a thin, threadbare, ripped rug to sit on. So thanks to our neighbour, we purchased 3 large rugs for the school to keep the little kiddies from getting frozen behinds this winter.

Thanks to a fellow city dweller & very good friend down the street, along with Brad’s uncle, we’ve been able to fit out some of the hostel rooms with new ‘almirahs’ (cupboards). Cupboards had been on a wish list for quite some time, and it’s been great to be able to replace some of the old storage items, which ranged from suitcases, to open wooden shelves and wood planks held up by bricks.

Now some of the rooms have brand spanking new, locally made, lockable cupboards, which even have a hidden document shelve and a shoe drawer. The kids were so excited to have new shelving, there was quite a buzz as I went around to see what they currently had, and having them show me where the new one would go.

The orphanage has a lot of farming land, and we’ve just recently finished a period of harvesting. The older boys had been flat out doing farm work from early morning to sometimes late into the night. The farm had been planning to purchase a new harrow for some time, and it was great to be able to combine some funds from Brad’s brother, uncle and our church and put it towards buying a new one. The farm is really important as the produce not only feeds the kids throughout the year, but also the excess is sold to cover part of the running costs of the orphanage.

The fruit 3 times a week still continues, it comes by the box, so each fruit purchase covers at a minimum one piece per person at a lunch meal, but sometimes it even extends to cover school morning teas the next day etc. We had a run of bananas and apples, and have recently even had some “oranges” (actually mandarins).

It’s great when the kids say thank you for the cupboard, sporting equipment, fruit etc, and we’re able to say that our wonderful friends and family from Australia bought that for you. It not only encourages the staff here to see the support coming through from Oz, but it really excites us to see you contributing to the great work being done here..

Thanks heaps to you all…