Dear Friends of Makeni,
We have not written to you for some time - so here is a little update on progress or otherwise in our work; please pass our news on to others who may be interested:
1. The house for the catechists, Mr and Mrs Nathan Ngoma was completed some time ago and they have moved into same. It was built from a legacy left by the late Mr Jelle Jochem Dil (a co-founder of the Centre) and is a memorial to him.
2. The house for the additional priest who will be joining the staff next week (to help cope with the growing number of congregations) is being completed today! (15/7/99) This attractive three bedroomed house stands next to the guesthouse on Plot 64 of the Centre, looking out over the agricultural plots of students. Fr and Mrs Mukuyamba will move in next week, DV, and he will have special responsibility for the congregations in Lusaka North and West and in the settlement villages. Fundraising for this house has been very disappointing. It costs US$23000. Only US$2900 has been donated by donors towards this project, all of them in Zambia. We again ask for help in this matter as the builder now expects to be paid....
3. The Computer Workshop has now
been set up and is ready to go. Our new volunteer, Miss Diane
McNeilie has been a great job. Syllabi have been finalised, with
extensive help from Mr Kees v.d. Well in Holland and Dr Anton Dil
in England, and arrangements have been made for students to sit
both for local examinations and British ones. The following
courses will be taught: (a) Computer Literacy; (b) Introduction
to Windows 3.11 and Windows '95; (c) Word Processing; (d)
Spreadsheet Processing.
A trial run will be done in August and on September 14th, the
official beginning of the 1999-2000 academic year, the Computer
department will open officially. A new computer is to be bought
to enable classes demonstrating in the most modern equipment and
programmes. We again thank the Reformed Churches in the
Netherlands for their generous donation of 18 used computers!
4. The most exciting news is that the NUTRITION
REHABILITATION VILLAGE which is right in the middle of the
Centre, whose buildings are the property of the Child Care &
Adoption Society (=CCAS), is to be sold to Makeni Ecumenical
Centre. The CCAS had been given funds in 1972 by a Dutch agency
to erect the village within MEC, and for some years the CCAS did
excellent nutrition work in this village. Then they ceased to do
so and began using the houses in the village for renting out
only, to raise funds for the Society. For years MEC disputed the
use of these facilities for fundraising only. After many, many
discussions and sometimes acrimonious exchanges, it has now been
formally agreed that the buildings be sold to MEC.
There are 7 small houses (each having one room,a toilet/shower),
one communal kitchen, and three flats. We expect we shall have to
pay in the region of US$35000. This will require major
fundraising.... Can you begin praying and thinking about this?
What would we like most to do with this village? I think that the consensus is that running an orphanage for AIDS orphans (Zambia's biggest problem now) would be best. It would be most in line with the original intention of the donors who provided funds for the building of this "nutrition and child care village". The presence of a Nursery School and Primary School within the Centre would enable orphans to have access to schooling very easily and cheaply. Each little house could sleep 4 children enabling us to house 30-40 children at anyone time. BUT, nowadays donors always insist that projects be self-financing soon. HOW can an orphanage become financially self-supporting?? Your comments are invited -- do write back to us!
We are now asking all our supporters to give thought to what special fundraising they can do for us to enable us to buy the buildings. Would any agency or congregation be interested in making this their major project for 1999 and 2000AD, a sort of millennium gift to Africa??
All for now. I hope we get some responses to this newsletter!
With best regards,
Yours in Christ,
Fr Pierre J Dil
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Very Revd Canon Pierre J Dil,
Hon. Chairman Makeni Ecumenical Centre
Work address: P O Box 50255, Lusaka, Zambia
Private correspondence: Private Bag RW51313, Lusaka, Zambia
Telephone: Home 260-1-274991 Fax: ditto - after previous
notification
Office Fax: 260-1-272437 [office hours only]
e-mail: mecdil@zamnet.zm
Makeni Ecumenical Centre's home page is moving to
http://members.truepath.com/mec/mectop.htm