April 6th, 2000

Dear Friends of Makeni,

Just a brief report on the Fete/Bazaar which the Centre held last Saturday, April 1st, in aid of the ORPHANAGE PROJECT:

It was by our local standards and given the poverty of the Makeni community, a great success. We managed to raise K2,072,990 - that is about Br£460 or US$732. The Fete was attended by some 500 people, mostly children. There were many stalls, as we had invited outsiders to hire a table for US$4, but the profit on their sales was, of course, theirs. Our own stalls were for the sale of secondhand clothing [it raised US$100], a stall that served lunches [US$170 was raised], and a number of games, video shows, horse riding, motor bike riding, "Jumping Castle" for the children [proceeds US$106]. Three individuals donated US$107.

We were pleased to see how hard members of the (Makeni) Church of the Good Shepherd and Makeni Ecumenical Centre staff worked. We have to work hard on teaching Zambians to raise funds for their own community projects -- to the poor the idea of raising funds for the poor is often incomprehensible.

We hope our supporters overseas are pleased to see that we do try and help ourselves.

The building of the new communal room in the orphanage village is making great progress -- the roof is up! We are taking pictures as building progresses. Those of you who need pictures of that project, please let us know.

Best regards,
Yours in Christ,
Fr Pierre J Dil / Hon.Chairman Makeni Ecumenical Centre