Dear Friends of Makeni,
Another mini newsletter which we hope you will read and file as part of our reporting procedures to you:
1. Apologies for the absence of communications for so many weeks, due to overseas holiday and church business.
2. You will remember that in our most recent newsletter we informed you of the proposed sale by the Child Care & Adoption Society of Zambia of their Nutrition Village, situated within our Centre, to us. The price we shall have to pay is, as said, K85 million [following further devaluation of the Kwacha, now Br£21,250/US$34,000).You will recall that we are hoping to use this Village in future for an AIDS Orphanage.
We are glad to be able to tell you now that the Royal Netherlands Embassy is donating US$13,950 towards it. This still leaves US$20,050 to be found.... We are disappointed that there have been no other responses, apart from a tentative one from Wilde Ganzen/Wild Geese, of the Netherlands, and one from Little St Mary's, Cambridge, England.
The Contract of Sale/Purchase has now been drawn up by our lawyers and signed by both parties. An K8,500,000 deposit has been paid by Makeni Ecumenical Centre, a gesture of faith on its part that funding will be forthcoming from somewhere.... We therefore ask you all again to see whether there is anything at all, however small the amount, you can donate towards this. Cheques can be sent to us in your local currency, payable to Makeni Ecumenical Centre.
3. The Royal Netherlands Embassy, whose new ambassador and development secretary visited MEC recently, has offered a grant of US$30,000 to MEC for its work. We are delighted and most grateful! 7% of it will go towards student bursaries, and 46.5% towards the purchase of the Nutrition Village, as said in par.2, and 46.5% towards the Family Planning Project. The latter was once again at the point of closing down, in the absence of longterm financial support for this vital project.
4. We have just had a 5-day evaluation visit from representatives of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, Mr Geert Klaassen and Mr Ben Veldboom. They were impressed with progress in settlement villages and with the quite dramatic change in attitude on the part of settlers - the most positive experience of many years, they said. They were delighted to see the Computer School running so well.
4. The Financial Manager, Miss Paula Ghrist, a VSO-"volunteer" and another VSO who has set up the Computer School, Miss Diane McNeillie, have both come to the end of their contracts. Miss Ghrist, and her predecessor, Mr Rowland Robinson, had been working in a Zambian counterpart. We are very sad to report that for a second time he was caught stealing moneys regularly, and that he had to be dismissed. The matter was reported to the police. Thus years of training have once again failed. Two new Zambian staff have been hired to replace him and Miss Ghrist in the Finance Department. We have removed all cash handling from that department and placed responsibility for cash transactions in Mrs Allen's hands.
A Zambian tutor has been identified to take on the running of the Computer School.
Mr Milton Mbewe, the Senior Agricultural Officer, has also been replaced following a series of anomalies. The Primary School Headmaster has also been replaced, for similar reasons. In a next letter we hope to be able to tell you that all the new staff are performing well....
The new chairman-designate, Fr Andrew Mukuyamba, is slowly being worked into this part-time post. We are lucky to have found someone of integrity and Christian commitment to take on this vital position, replacing the undersigned who has had to scale down his involvement on medical grounds.
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! 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. Fundraising for this house has been very disappointing. It costs US$23000.
Here is another mini newsletter -- we always ask donor agencies to print these out and to place them on file as part of our reporting procedure to you:
1. You may remember that in 1992 the Ministry of Lands allocated a Farm, Farm 1818, Kabwe, to Makeni Ecumenical Centre to enable it to continue settling farmers we had trained. You will recall that they failed to deliver that farm. In its place they offered us Leopard's Hill Farm 6497/M. We started developing this farm in readiness for settlements, spending K26million of donors money: we built a community centre, sunk 3 boreholes and erected a small office. In April 1993 the Ministry withdrew the Farm as local people objected to having a settlement village in that area. We kept security guards in place for 3 years [at a further cost of K2.5million] while the wrangle with the Ministry continued, to protect the buildings from being stripped by thieves. All attempts to make a formal handover of the buildings etc. to the Ministry of Lands failed. We finally withdrew the security guards and found, 7 months later, that the buildings had been entirely vandalised and stripped. MEC sued Government for losses incurred and the case finally came before the High Court yesterday. By this time our claim against The Attorney General stands at K78.8million to allow for inflation. The State asked the Court for a postponement to enable it to settle with MEC out of court. The High Court granted the postponement after we agreed to it. The Government has been given three months to make a financial settlement. The offer to do so will be seen by the Court as an admission of liability. We shall keep you informed of developments.
2. The Royal Netherlands Embassy has increased its contribution towards the cost of buying the Nutrition Village, which is to be turned into an Orphanage for children whose parents died of AIDS, to 50% of the total cost. We are still looking around for the remaining K42.5million (US$17000) - we shall have to make payment on December 31st, 1999, so time is running out. Ardent prayers are offered up daily that other donors will come forward before it is too late... We are becoming very nervous...
Dear friends,
I am writing to you to let you know that we have safely received the books you helped collect and/or despatch in England. We received. 1131 books in all, to wit:
50 Books of Common Prayer
436 "Ancient & Modern" Hymnbooks
479 "Mission Praise" Songbooks for various kinds
112 "A Hundred Hymns for Today"
18 Christian books for the theological library
36 computer books
Some of the books have already been put to use, while others are presently being distributed to congregations in rural areas. I want to thank all of you again most sincerely for your assistance towards this difficult project. We are deeply grateful!
With best regards
Yours in Christ
Very Revd Canon Pierre J Dil, Honorary Chairman Makeni Ecumenical Centre P O Box 50255,Lusaka, Zambia Private mail: Private Bag RW51313, Lusaka, Zambia Tel 260-1-274991 Fax 260-1-272437 e-mail:mecdil@zamnet.zm