7/13/09 from Tannen

We're here in Muf!! Its nice to be back. :)

Yesterday after church we headed down to Murundu to check out the situation for the agriculture projects and see how things are going with Pastor Joseph and Hildah (Enfys Orphanage). Between yesterday and today "Wom" (Uncle) Jack and Jim surveyed the area where they are planning to setup an irrigation system and formulate a plan. They have plans to irrigate nearly a full acre. They went to Kitwe this afternoon to find the right material (pumps, pipe, etc.), & order what was needed. The work to build it will commence tomorrow.

In the morning the rest of us headed out to take a look at Grace's Place, which is the house that was recently built with rooms for an under 5 clinic, STS counseling center, and storage for supplies. Liam has been making sketches tonight so that tomorrow him and Drew can start working to paint the under 5 clinic and the STS counseling center. We plan to buy the paint as soon as the shop opens in the morning so that they can begin.

There is another clinic in Murundu, and we went to take a look at this in the morning as well since the 3 musketeers - Jake, Aldin & Mike - may spend some time volunteering there and also donate some supplies. This clinic is always over-booked, and the people often wait outside for the whole day to receive care. The single-room clinic that Joseph is building will help to lessen the load and allow more children and pregnant mothers to have care. Right now there is only the one clinic in Murundu which is serving the entire village of 18 - 20 thousand people, plus people from surrounding villages. We learned that yesterday alone 3 children died, and many were walking along the road at the same time as we were for the burial of an 8 year old girl. Unfortunately, this is the norm and there are frequently even more (last Sunday, for example, 6 people died). The majority of deaths is with children, and many of them die of malnutrition. The coffins are typically taken to the grave site by bicycle either that evening or the following morning. We hope that the irrigation system and the intense cultivation of Moringa will help by providing vegetables throughout the year and increasing the nutritional content of the food which Moringa is especially good for. The clinic should also help by providing some care and assisting with the distribution of Moringa. We are proud of the work the Joseph, Hildah, and others are doing to bring hope to their community & help those who are in need.

Megan and I spent the afternoon at Butondo High School. We had about 50 kids there for our program, and as usual we did some on the fly re-orgs. The sessions that we are running are very interactive and we had a great group of students to work with, so we had fun. We are planning to be there in the afternoons from Monday through Thursday of this week.

Tannen