Ah, the land! The new Children's Resource Center. Up to now the MWBorders orphanage has been located on rental property. Kathy and MWB have purchased land that was part of a farm, 35 kilometers out of Lusaka. Prior to MWB owning it, it was inhabited by squatters. There was one building and a preacher squatted here with his church. The squatters are gone but they have lost many trees due to poachers cutting down the trees and burning them down for charcoal. MWB have planted more trees to beautify the surroundings where the Children's Resource Center is being built.
The caretakers house and the bathrooms
These buildings were painted by another team of MWB volunteers,
The Children's home beside the warehouse and Fred
There are two buildings completed, one being the caretaker's home and the other being "The Oasis" (bathrooms.) In the process of being completed is the home for the children and the home for the house parents. These two buildings are being built on either side of the warehouse that is also being built. Fred is in charge of the workers who are building the structures and also, making bricks to build other structures.
Kathy's vision is to have an educational center along with the Children's Resource Center. She plans to have a school for the CRC children and a vocational center for others to come to live for six weeks and be trained in such occupations as tailoring, brick making and agriculture.
It is going to be a wonderful place when it is completed and I truly would love to go back and see the progress in a few years.
The work that is currently going on is the building of the warehouse and the two homes. Gradually they are making improvements to the land. The homes that are being built now, are out of necessity, being built of cement blocks. The cement blocks that can be attained in Zambia are a horrible product. It was necessary to use them in order to have the homes ready for the children. The workmen are now making a new kind of block called hydroform blocks. These are better insulated and environmentally superior to the cement blocks. The hydroform blocks are made of a special dirt attained from the dirt of the termite hills on the land, mixed with water and a small amount of cement. These bricks are stacked in piles and covered with plastic. For 28 days they are kept wet, watered twice a day. It has been difficult to convince the workers that this is a better product, but the bricks are piling up, getting ready to be used for the next buildings on the land.
Bricks that are seasoned and a Termite hill
The brick making site and the mixing of the dirt, cement and water.
Making the bricks.
So on our fifth day in Zambia, we finally get to see the land we have heard so much about. We had our usual morning meeting and boarded the bus to the land. The roads are amazingly awful. It is hard to believe Caphus could actually get the bus over these roads. He, as usual, navigated around the rocks and gulleys.
Today the chores were to build a road and make bricks and work on the termite hills. I started out clearing the road. We had a few shovels and picks to hack through the brush. The road had been started and our assignment was to clear the road to an area where they will built a fish pond so they will have fish to eat. I started out clearing brush, then I switched to leveling off the road. There were dips across the road that had to be leveled off. By the end of the day the road was made. We were warned not to go into the bush that was on either side of us after we had cleared the road . Of course, the bush was what we were clearing so we had to be careful and watch out for pythons and cobras. Alexa killed the first snake, I don't know what it was because they buried it immediately. After a couple of hours the groups were switched, but some people stayed on until the road was completed. I decided I needed a change. I went back to where the houses were and had a sandwich, eating with the workers. They were all very friendly and this is when one of the workers complemented one of our team on her fatness. Fred hurried to tell him that we didn't appreciate that in our culture.
The bush before we made the road and making the road to the fish pond
Progress on the road
I helped out with the brick making and stacking the bricks for awhile, then I went to the termite hill. The top couple feet of a termite hill are not good for the hydroform brick making so it must be dug out and dumped at the bottom of the ant hill. It takes a pick axe to do this, so picture me up on top of an ant hill with a pick axe picking away at the dirt. It was hard work. After we get enough dirt hacked out then we shovel it off the top, then back to the pick axe work. Someone has a picture of me up on the hill but I don't have it yet.
I helped out with the brick making and stacking the bricks for awhile, then I went to the termite hill. The top couple feet of a termite hill are not good for the hydroform brick making so it must be dug out and dumped at the bottom of the ant hill. It takes a pick axe to do this, so picture me up on top of an ant hill with a pick axe picking away at the dirt. It was hard work. After we get enough dirt hacked out then we shovel it off the top, then back to the pick axe work. Someone has a picture of me up on the hill but I don't have it yet.
Needless to say, this was a very dirty day for us, and we didn't have time to clean up before we went for supper. We used a lot of handiwipes, when you wiped your face the handiwipe was yellow with dust and dirt.
Danni at the end of the day
After supper we had a market of the products of the Women's Sewing Circle, aprons, bags, wall hangings, material, dolls and many wonderful things. Each of the women put their name on their
own work so that you know who made what. All of the profit goes back to the women except for 10 percent that goes to the MWB micro loan program.
Papayas growing on the land
Chicken house and garden on the land
Sights along the road
Every act of love is a work of peace no matter how small. It's not what we do but how much love we put into it. Mother Theresa
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