Dear Friends of Makeni,
Herewith another little newsletter from Makeni Ecumenical Centre; please pass parts of it on to others as you see fit, and accept this letter as part of our reporting procedure to you.
1. Another gesture of local support has come our way! The Ministry of Health allocated K3,500,000 (about US$900) through the District Health Management Team for the upgrading and redecorating of the General Clinic at MEC. It was repainted, ceiling boards replaced, extra shelves installed, and the floor redone. It is good to see such local support!
2. From "The Post" Newspaper, 20th February, 2002, a grim statistic: "Malaria kills more than 40,000 people in Zambia each year."
3. Here are the enrolments in the various educational departments of MEC as per January 2002:
students / pupils | |
Pre School | 34 |
Primary School - Grade I - VII | 346 |
Electronics School | 30 |
Domestic Science School | 23 |
Agricultural School (non-settlement) | 19 |
Carpentry Course | 10 |
Settlement Course | 20 families |
A report on the Computer Training School in a next newsletter; this project is doing very well!
Enrolments are below capacity due to the ever-increasing poverty of the population. It is sad to see facilities not used or under-used in a country that is so desperately short of educational services.
4. We were shocked to discover that more than K8 million (about US$2200) was outstanding in unpaid school fees in the primary school, at the end of the year 2001. Such is the poverty in Zambia. By mid-February the arrears were reduced to K5.1 million, still a very large sum of money indeed. We decided against expelling pupils who are in arrears, as we sympathise with people's desperate plight.
5. A recent survey has shown that there are now 265 families in the five settlement villages started by MEC. At an average of five dependants per household (i.e. seven persons per family), it means that the population of our villages is now around 1850 persons.
6. New Budgets for 2002 for various MEC projects have been posted on its website.
All for now. Many thanks for all your support! May God bless and keep you.
Fr Pierre J Dil / Founder-Director Makeni Ecumenical Centre.