Newsletter No. 30 January 23rd, AD 2001

Dear Friends of Makeni,  

It has been some time since we have sent out a Mini Newsletter to you - apologies for that; life is so hectic...  

Please accept this newsletter as part of our reporting procedure to you and share it with your congregation or department.  

1. Attached come three pictures of the Blessing Ceremony of the Orphanage Village, which took place on January 17th. There were lots of children present for the occasion, as you can see. It has been decided to call the AIDS Orphanage Village after St Nicholas, the Patron Saint for Orphans. Fourteen little buildings were blessed, i.e. ten residences for orphans, the kitchen/storeroom, the common/dining/recretation room and the Tuck Shop which is a continuous fundraising project for the Orphanage. The fourth picture is that of the new chairman of Makeni Ecumenical Centre (MEC), revd Fr Andrew Mukuyamba.  

Thanks to the amazing generosity of donors, we have been able to pay off the debt of K85 million on Orphanage buildings, K17 million on the diningroom, K22 million on furniture and equipment. As said in a previous newsletter, we decided to go ahead and open the project even though there were no funds for recurrent expenditure. This act of faith has already proved justified -- God spoke to the hearts of many Christians and funds for the daily expenditure have been pouring in. Most donors are embarrassed when we name them in newsletters so we will no longer do that -- but a profound thank you to all who are helping towards the cost of running the project is surely in order.  

Thirteen children have now been identified for adoption and inclusion in the project, ranging in age from a girl of 12 [one half of a twin; the other was sold into marriage -- see what happens when there is no one to take care of these little ones?] to a baby. The legal processes are under way and we hope soon to be able to send you e-mail photographs of the children in residence.  

Three staff have been engaged to run the project, that is Mrs Judy Passmore (Day Housemother), Miss Grace Phiri (Night Housemother), and Mr Alfred Mulenga (Gardener/maintenance worker/to be trained also as driver)  

2. The secondhand Family Planning vehicle from Japan has finally been cleared -- that took three months! It is now in use. The new vehicle for this project subsequently donated has been ordered and should be soon available too. No grants have been forthcoming for this project for 2001 but one way or another we have scraped enough money together to go on for at least another year. New staff is needed to start building up this project again.  

The Final Accounts (unaudited) for this project for the year 2000 have been published. If interested please write to me for a copy [ this is not available on the website yet]. To summarise the account: expenditure for the year was K36,974,640, i.e. approximately US$8,800  

3. The auditor suggested that in future the Final Accounts of the MEC should reflect the value of buildings and equipment of the Centre. An evaluation was therefore done showing that there now approximately 50 buildings within the Centre all valued at K1,306,709,000 - or approximately US$311,000. A value for buildings will appear in the 2001 Balance Sheet. Interested parties can request for a copy of the list of buildings and their estimated values.  

4. There is a marked incidence of adult students showing inability to pay the small course fees (US$6 per month) charged at the Centre - this is indicative of the sharp increase in poverty in the country. Drop-out rates are now more serious than ever: e.g. one intake of 21 students for the Electronics School was reduced to 9 students and even they paid only a small part of the fees.  

Enrolment in the carpentry course is so low that no new start could be made as yet. It is clear that most families in Zambia can simply not cope anymore. The Dutch Embassy in Lusaka, being aware of this problem, offered bursaries. 25 students benefited from these, 8 agricultural students, 4 Domestic Science students, 11 Electronics students and 2 carpentry students.  

As poverty bites ever deeper under the harsh IMF/World Bank regime, and the number of jobs decreases still further, the need for bursaries becomes ever more pressing.  

5. The final examination results of the Grade VII Primary school pupils were excellent, thanks to the employment of a much better motivated headmaster, Mr Halubobya.  80% of the pupils passed well enough to guarantee them places in secondary school, one of the highest pass percentages in the country. Congratulations to the Primary School staff!  

6. Two Dutch volunteers completed six months work at the Centre, in the Primary School. Maaike Gomes and Elles van Kooten rendered exceptionally fine service, and have become excellent ambassadrices for the Centre in Holland.  

7. The building in Mwomboshi Settlement Village has been completed and a pre school, primary school and clinic are now operative in it. The Mwomboshi community are absolutely delighted with this precious gift of a community building, which cost US$31000. The number of families in the settlement village continues to increase steadily: 24 families in Kafue, 45 families in Kalwelwe, 82 families in Mwembeshi, 52 families in Mwomboshi and 46 families in Chisamba. This adds up to about 250 families with an average of 6 people per family makes for 1500 persons who benefit from a new life in the rural areas, following training and settlement by MEC. Praise God for this growing achievement!  

Debt repayment remains a great problem - Kalwelwe settlers owe MEC about K45 million, Mwembeshi settlers about K40 million, Mwomboshi about K50 million, and Chisamba settlers about K35 million - total K170 million or US$40,500. As a result MEC is severely curtailing further loans, and has urged new settlers to put pressure on settlers who have been in the settlement villages for many years and who owe so much money - that their unwillingness to repay loans in now affecting new settlers.  

All for now. Please keep me in your prayers as I am leaving for South Africa on January 29th for heart surgery. Just in case things go wrong, thank you for your magnificent support over the years! :-)   [Ed's note: The tests showed surgery wasn't necessary at this time. Further check up in 6 months.]

Yours in Christ,  

Fr Pierre J Dil / Founder-Director MEC