31 May 2012

Water and Power

This month we have been encouraged to see the boreholes completed at school and 10,000 litres of beautiful clean water in the tanks. Our next step is to get reticulation and a toilet block under way, not forgetting to teach the boys and girls how to use the water wisely and not to waste it!

Hand-in-hand with installing the borehole pump was connecting the electricity to our primary building. Now we have lights and power points in some of the rooms. The rest of the school remains to be connected. We are looking forward to being able to introduce visual aids, electronic equipment and computers.

Agriculture

A hectare of land has been cleared at the school, and we plan to plant 1,700 banana trees in August as the weather gets warmer. Our days are cooler at the moment, with night temperatures going down to 9 degrees — quite early in the year for the cold weather, but very welcome just the same.

We are grateful to a donor in Kitwe for covering the cost of the banana plantation. You might remember that self sufficiency was a Limapela objective from the outset. This plantation has the potential to start generating significant profits in a year’s time to help cover our monthly running costs.

Library and Information Technology

One of our projects for 2012–13 is to build a Library and Information Technology facility for both school and community at an estimated cost of US$64,600 (NZ$84,000).

Children who live in poor communities are understandably deprived of books and educational material, and the modern world of Information Technology is likely to be out of their reach. Limapela’s objective is to provide standards for these children that are as high as those who live in wealthy communities.

We are very pleased that a local group of business people in Kitwe have embraced this proposed project and fundraising has begun.

Volunteers

Gemma Stewart, a volunteer teacher from Palmerston North, NZ has joined us this term. She is a reading recovery specialist — just what we need — and she will be with us until November.

Thank you for your interest and support. It has been a challenging few months during which we have sustained some quite heavy expenditure, all of which is necessary for ongoing progress, but higher than budgeted.

So please keep supporting The Limapela Foundation. If you would like to donate, drop us a line, or check our website for more information. We look forward to hearing from you.

— Matthew F. Raymond, Trustee