Cindy Schotte

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Makeni Webmaster

Diary of a volunteer

My name is Cindy Schotte, 30 years old, from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. I am on a sabbatical leave for three months. I want to give you a glimpse of one of my weeks at MEC after two months here.

Sunday April 29th 2007

The morning starts as every other Sunday with a church service. The children always dress up and act even more spontaneously when they see me than any other moment. Some of the girls also sing in the church choir, which I really love hearing.

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In the afternoon, Gordon and Julia, volunteers from the UK, and myself took the older girls out bowling. This was something they had never done before, but they were actually pretty good at it. We will probably take the boys out bowling next week. With the younger children we’ve already been to a place called Sandy’s creation. This is actually a garden centre, but with a very nice playground and, best of all, a bouncy castle.

Monday April 30th

In the morning I played several games of what I would like to call bottle football. Some kids helped me carrying the bottles, from my house to the football field, where we filled them up with water. The nice thing about the game is that everybody is playing for him or herself. You have to protect your own bottle and at the same time play football and try to hit somebody else his bottle.

Around 11.00 Mr Kapalu and I started painting the storeroom, which at the moment is only being used for the agriculture department, but when finished will also be used by the other departments. In the last few weeks windows and electricity have been implemented. Hopefully everything is finished in time so I can coordinate the receiving of the materials from all departments and set up an administration system.

At the end of the day, together with Gordon, Julia and most of the children, we went for a walk around the centre. This can take from 30 minutes up to an hour and is a good opportunity for the children to be out of the centre. Besides that it is relaxing and fun.

Tuesday May 1st

Today is officially a free day, however I decided to go to work and take another day off.

In the morning the children made key hangers and bracelets with scoubidou. As they know better how to do it than me they didn’t need any assistance, so I played some (ball) games with the children who didn’t join in the scoubido.

The boys played a football match in the afternoon against a team from outside, as it is still school holiday. Lucky for me the girls liked to play basketball so we enjoyed our own game.

After that, not many where interested in going for a walk, but as I was full of energy I went with only one of the girls, and Tina, a woman who lives and works at the centre, for an hour long walk.

Wednesday May 2nd

In the morning I took the laptop down to the orphanage, to do some spelling and maths games with the children under grade 6. It’s good fun, and meanwhile they learn some computer skills and improve their spelling and maths.

On Thursday afternoon I always take the the children from grades 6, 7 and 8 to the computer room, where they can either do spelling games or start working with Word.

In the afternoon I continued painting the lines on the basketball court with the help of three boys. Over the last week I have been working, together with some of the boys, the carpentry teacher, his students, a welder and Mr Kapalu on a new basketball court. We bought, sawed and painted new boards, bought a new ring, installed them higher then the previous ones and started with the painting of the lines on the court. We are not yet ready, as we need some cement to fill-up the holes on the court and need to finish the painting, but it’s getting close.

Wednesday evening is a church evening, so not enough time to take the children out for a walk. I borrowed a dvd from the orphanage and enjoyed watching it.

Thursday May 3rd

Every Thursday somebody from the agriculture department, the driver and some settlers go to one of the settlement villages. This Thursday they went to Mwomboshi. I loved seeing a bit of the country site and made a walk through the bush there. Absolutely very lovely.

I would like to suggest future volunteers not to spend all their sponsor money at the orphanage in Makeni, but also see what is needed in the settlement villages, as the people over there have far less.

Friday May 4th

I spend all day with the children making necklaces. For this we used parts of monkey apples, which we first of all had to sandpaper, bits and plastic wire.

Activities like these, as also making bracelets are one of their favourites. Okay, nothing can beat football, but still.

At the end of the day we went for a long walk.

“Africa is full of people in need of help.
You simply can not help everybody,
but you can at least help those who come into your life.
That principle allows you to deal with the suffering you see.
That is your suffering.
Other people will have to deal with the suffering that they, in their turn, come across.”

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Home-based care visitors

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Makeni Webmaster

Anke Warmerdam, Marjanka Flamma, Ruud Amerongen and Loy Ebbers – Volunteers from Holland – visited MEC for four weeks in 2008.

They worked in various departments including the HIV/AIDS and Home Based department. Anke and Marjanka particularly worked with the HIV/AIDS and Home-Based departments on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They conducted home visits in the compounds, specifically Kanyama, John Laing, Linda and Chawama and distributed second-hand clothes to the children and babies at the homes visited.

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On Sunday, October 26th, Anke, Marjanka, Ruud and Loy offered a rare treat to the Home-Based Children from Linda Compound.

This was a rare treat in that the children under the Home-Based care scheme had never been accorded such a wonderful chance of an outing ever.

The four volunteers were the first of their kind to accord the Home Based Children an opportunity to go for outdoor activities.

Twenty-four children from Linda compound benefited and had a wonderful time at the Munda Wanga Gardens in Chilanga.

The four volunteers also distributed clothes to the children, as they had clothes that could fit 7 year olds and below.

Many baby clothes were given away, which is always a very popular gift!

Makeni Ecumenical Centre would like to thank everybody for the good work they did while they were here!

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“For Unto Us A Child Is Given…” (Isaiah 9:6)

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Makeni Webmaster

This was how Father Pierre Dil recorded the arrival of Mutinta at St Nicholas’ Village for Children.

Mutinta lived just a few short years before AIDS took her away from us again. But in that time she made great strides in her development and was loved by everyone who came into contact with her.

The other children used to carry her around and spoil her, and all that love was returned with extra to spare.

A little Christmass present was delivered early to Makeni Centre… Mutinta, age one year and nine months, wrapped in swaddling clothes, was brought to our Orphanage Village of St Nicholas, ten days ago, by a nun from Chilanga Hospice, where her mother had died of AIDS.

As we unwrapped the little bundle, we first saw eyes so typical of starving AIDS babies, wide, turning in their sockets, unfocused. Her size and weight were those of a six-month-old. She can not walk or talk.

Sister Leonia told us that her grandmother, Mrs Nyangu, old and worn down, in despair had brought her to the Hospice where Mutinta’s mum had died. She explained that so many of her children had died, and left grandchildren in her care, that she could not cope anymore.

“Mutinta was too sickly, suffered from constant diarrhoea and sores around her mouth and eyes, and cried and cried…”

The grandmother was trying to survive by selling little bags of peanuts in the market – she just could not give the intensive care that Mutinta needed.

“Do with her whatever you want,” she said.

Now Mutinta has eleven new mothers – that is, the nine older girls in our orphanage and the housemothers! There is fierce competition who can carry her next on their backs!   A few days of several meals a day, high protein food and a well balanced diet and medical care, and Mutinta gave us her first smile yesterday! She also stretched out her hands to Mrs Judy Passmore, the chief housemother.

That’s when we discovered that Mutinta CAN talk — just one word so far, “Amai” — the best word in our human vocabulary, “Mummy, Mother”!

So, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a daughter is given,” and we thank and praise God for that precious little gift!

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Gordon and Julia Lowes

Posted on December 23, 2007 by Makeni Webmaster

Our Visit to Makeni

By Julia and Gordon Lowes

From our initial contact with Makeni as far back as December 2004 we had watched their web site with great interest.

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With the help of our friends we raised some funds, part of which was donated directly to Makeni, part used to purchase equipment for the agricultural school and the balance spent on various projects (including outings for the children) during our stay. Ted Krickan, a volunteer from Canada, wrote a report on his stay at Makeni, which ended in December 2006, and we found reading about his experiences very helpful and reassuring.

The UK Premier League very kindly donated football kits for the children and these were a great hit, being worn with pride on many of our outings, and of course for matches. During our stay we managed to print iron on numbers for the football team.

Arrival at Makeni

On arrival at Lusaka International Airport, we were met by Wenda Dil and Mr Njovu (the Makeni driver). At Makeni Ecumenical Centre, we spent a few hours to settle into our house and freshen up and then Wenda took us around the Makeni site introducing us to many of the people who worked and or lived there and of course to the children. Without exception, we received a warm welcome from all and a special welcome from the children.

We were also introduced to Cindy Shotte, a volunteer from Holland who would be staying for another 5 weeks. Cindy was a great help as she knew her way around and how things worked at Makeni.

Remembering everyone’s names was really hard for us and this was not aided by the regular changes of hair styles at the orphanage. Although there were only 26 children staying at the orphanage whilst we were there, another 15 or so children live with their families on the Makeni site.

Gordon has helped our son, Michael, to manage a little league team in the UK for a few years, and also qualified as a referee. We think that the children were expecting a trainer of at least Alex Ferguson’s standard, but they hid their disappointment well and had some great football times together.

It was very interesting distributing the donated football kits which we had brought with us and we eventually managed to fit out all the children in shirt, shorts and socks which, more or less, fit.

Working at Makeni

Julia worked for 3 days a week with Dapheen, the nurse at the Family Planning Clinic. She enjoyed helping out and also got on really well with Dapheen and Tina.

Gordon spent time with the accounts department and wrote a simple computer program which should make the accounts production much quicker. He also became the assistant Makeni driver.

Outings with the Children

Our first major outing with the children was to Adventure City, a water-park, which had recently been built in the outskirts of Lusaka. The outing was organised and funded by Cindy Shotte, so we were just along for the ride! The water was very cold and at first the children were apprehensive about going in. However, Gordon took the plunge and they soon followed as did Julia and Cindy. A great time was then had by all with most of the children asking for swimming lessons.

We made two trips to Sandy’s Creation, a garden centre a few miles along the Kafue road; to the 10 pin-bowling alley at the Arcades shopping centre; as well as numerous visits to the Cinema at the Arcades shopping centre. As it was easier to take small groups, we ended up watching some films 2 or 3 times with different children.

Our last outing was to Kalimba Farm, a crocodile and reptile farm situated 15 Kilometres from the Great East Road, about half way to the Lusaka Airport. We wanted to take all the children so hired a coach for this outing. We took some sandwiches and bought some chips and drinks at the farm.

We managed to take the older girls to Lilayi Lodge, which is a fairly up-market game reserve not far from Makeni. As always the children were helpful and polite, so we should be welcome back.

We also went on various shopping trips including taking some of the boys from the football team in search of tougher footballs, which may not burst on their first encounter with the trees and bushes surrounding the Makeni pitch. And an outing for all of the St Nicholas children to buy football boots for the team and trainers for everyone else. That trip was a challenge and we were grateful to have Wenda Dil, Ambuya and Cindy along to help.

Equipment and Projects

It is important to note that the funds spent were those raised or donated by our friends, family, colleagues and other people. We would like to thank all of those who contributed both time and money (or in many cases both) to this venture.

Following discussions with Anton Dil prior to our trip, we purchased a data projector for use by the agricultural school and other departments, along with a camcorder, which can take either movie or still photographs for inclusion in presentations etc. It was good to see the projector in use during our stay for a presentation regarding HIV/AIDS awareness – what better use?

We had a computer built in the UK, which was brought out by our children when they visited for a week. We then had a lockable work centre fabricated in steel and fitted in the children’s common/dining/play room. This protects the computer from damage or theft whilst providing a good work-station for the children. We purchased an Acer laptop for the accounts department and a printer for the Computer studies classroom.

We funded the upgrading of the butchery room where the students are taught to process the animals and make sausages etc. The upgrade included the provision of 2 sinks with running water, a large concrete and tiled workstation in the centre of the room, large enough for 4 to 6 students to work at and cupboards with locks and shelving for storage. The work was finished shortly before we left Makeni and was a vast improvement. It allows the equipment installed by the Dutch butchery expert, Mr Lindhorst, to be operated more easily on a solid clean base.

The children have the (monitored) use of a television with a DVD and a video player. However their video/DVD collection was, shall we say, very tired. So, a couple of weeks before our children came to visit, we set our daughter Becky, the task of purchasing some films to update their library.

Our daughter Catherine works at Coxlease school in Hampshire and the children there had donated football cards and stickers as well as some footballs, which were gratefully received by the children.

Our son Michael bought shin pads for Makeni FC as we now refer to the football team

Time with the Children

As well as taking the children on trips we spent a lot of time with them. We baked cakes, made jewellery and face masks, attempted clay modelling, played ball games, card-games and dominoes, did colouring, painting and some writing practice.

When our children visited for a week they exchanged dance styles with the children, learned (with limited success) to play Zambian drum and to make Nshima.

During our stay we joined the children for several meals and sometimes they entertained us with song and dance.

We very much enjoyed our late afternoon walks with the children and were sometimes joined by Wenda Dil.

Out and About

On many occasions during our stay Gordon drove one of the pick-ups enabling more agricultural students to be taken on visits to the outreach villages at one time. This enabled us to see a great deal of the surrounding area and to meet many of the settlers. We visited the villages of Chisamba, Kalwelwe and Mwomboshi as well as joining the students in a visit to Chipembe, where we learned about alternative forms of irrigation and crop management.

We were always well received by the settlers and entertained with traditional Zambian food and drink. For any future volunteers visiting the villages we would just say that a few balloons and a couple of bottles of bubbles go a long way with the children.

We also took 2 days to travel to the Eastern Province and visit Michael. We have corresponded with Michael for many years as part of the World Vision sponsorship program and spending a few precious hours with him was very special indeed.

In Conclusion

We feel very privileged to have been able to visit Makeni and meet so many Zambian people. The children at St Nicholas Orphanage are a delight to spend time with and a credit to (Judy Passmore), who is Ambuya (grandmother) to them all.

We have to thank Judy, Wenda and especially, Christine Allen for their support during our stay. We had a very active 3 months and are fully aware that everything we did impacted on their already busy workloads.

We are sure that our visit to Makeni was the beginning of a life-long relationship. We are planning to return to Zambia often and catch up with all our very good friends.

With our Love,

Gordon and Julia

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