Soccer Team

We now have a social soccer team and it is doing quite good, we are trying to keep the workers together and the youths from the church so everyday after work when we are free we go to practice and then weekends we go to play against other teams and of late we have been winning against strong teams.

Africa Oggi

At the beginning of this month we had three guests from Africa Oggi, Milano, Italy; Nuccio, Desiree and Sabrina, they stayed with us for three weeks and they left Zimbabwe today for Italy. The three are just a great team I must admit, they kicked off their mission with an intensive Italian language course which they were conducting twice a day with the Oratory children in the morning and with the adults in the afternoon. To date the results of the course can be seen as all the children now know the basics of the Italian language.
The three were also part and parcel of the school project as they helped also quite a lot. We planted together about fifty trees around the guest house; they cleaned and
removed all the weeds in the orchard at the school; they worked day and night with the database for the Oratory children that is from the individual children details, photos and information pertaining to all the children and then fed all the details in the computers.

Project Update

Classroom Block:
The construction of the classroom block is nearing completion as we are basically left with fittings, all the major construction work has since been completed and to date the following has been accomplished:

• All the floors in the classrooms, offices, toilets and hallways are done.
• More than twenty doors have been put up out of a total of thirty four doors have been put up and by the end of the week all the doors will be in place.
• All the toilet seats and hand washing basins have been installed and are now awaiting testing as the water tanks that will supply the water are still yet to be connected.
• Final painting is also part of the work in progress as the are now painting with gloss paint from the floor up to the specified level to keep the walls clean after the school is open.
• All the glasses are now in place.
• The two main entrance doors have since been put up.
• The stair case is now completed and the flooring has been done, together with the glass bricks that give light to the stair case.
• We have since bought all the door handles and door locks for all the doors and the carpenters are busy installing them.
•

Administration Block:
The construction of the Administration block has kicked off at a rather fast pace and to date they have finished pouring the concrete, and raised all the sides to the window level.

The following material has been bought for the administration block :

• Door frames
• Window frames
• Ant poison for the prevention of termites.
• Bricks
• Cement

Since it is a ground floor building only, in these days we are running around getting quotations and negotiating good prices as the roofing material will be needed in two weeks time.

Weekly Report - July

Dear all.

A very good evening to you, hope this one finds you well.

Well, winter is now getting to an end as we are getting to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine which i guess is good news for those who are coming down here and they will not have to bring heavy clothing. On the other hand, the construction of the classroom block is now nearing completion, as the following has been done :

* the painting of both floors.
* the brandering that holds the ceiling in the first floor is now complete.
* ceiling boards in the first floor is done and they are just smoothening it up.
* wall tiles in the toilets are now done.
* window panes for the classroom block have been fitted, they are left only with a few that were either broken or missing.
* the foundation for the Administration Block has since been completed, the concrete footing already been done and they are laying the bricks to the ground level.

Africa Oggi: (You are most welcome)

At the end of this month, we are going to have three guests from Africa Oggi, Milano, Italy and they will be at the mission for about three weeks, as usual we would like to welcome them to take part in the project and feel at home. We will however do our best to keep you company and be part of the family, you are welcome, benvenuti. (To Nuccio, we now have a soccer team and we go to practise everyday after work to try and promote scocialisation amongst the workers and the team is doing quite well so you can come along and enjoy hey. Today we played againsta team that is ranked as number three in the local social soccer league and we won 1-0).

Work In Progress:

* Glass bricks - on the walls where we have the star case, according to tyhe plan we have glass bricks that give light to the stairs.
* Water supply - the stand for the tanks is now ready and the plumbing work is being done, water will be pumped into two 5,000 litre containers that are placed on top of a stand that is six metres high and the water will flow down with the force of gravity then up to the classroom block.
* Planting of flowers and hedge around the classroom block.
* Painting the outside part (as seen in the photos).


In the next few days:

* Floors in the toilets, classroom blocks and passage.
* Electrical fittings, lights, switches and plug sockets. (some are already done)
* Bricks for new building.
* Paint.

Challenges:

* We have been experiencing fuel shortages but the situation seems to be improving.

June updates

Dear all.

The construction of the classroom block is now at an advanced stage, with all the brick work almost complete and now working on the fittings. To date the following has been achieved :

* roof tiles are now more than 90% done, we ran short of a few and this week we will iron the issue out.
* the brandering that holds the ceiling in the first floor is now abot 70% complete.
* ceiling board in the first floor is almost halfway done.
* wall tiles in the toilets in now about 25% done.
* window panes on the ground floor have been fitted more than 80%.

Last week I went to South Africa to collect the new car that was donanted from Germany, everything went well and we will advise you as soon as the car is in Harare that is where it will be delivered. Wednesday we had a visitor from Italy, Doctor Colonna and he is still here with us, he liked the project and the progress.

What is needed in the next few days:

* Doors, door handles and locks.
* Floor tiles for toilets.
* Electrical fittings, lights, switches and plug sockets. (for these we already have a quotation from a company that is manufacturing all these and they employ 75% disabled people as they are trying to promote them. Some are deaf, some are dump and some are crippled or have some form of disability. We got a 5% discount and considering we are buying directly from the manufacturer it is a good price and also we will help promote the disabled).

Weekly Update

The construction of the classroom block is going on and to date the following has been done :

* the roof trusses are almost ready as they are now making them level.
* skimming of the ground floor has since been completed
* painting of the ground floor has since commenced
* we bought all the paint for the buiding.

What is needed in the next few weeks:

* Window panes.
* Doors, door handles and locks.
* Material for ceiling.
* Floor and wall tiles.
* Electrical fittings, lights, switches and plug sockets.

April updates

The contruction of the classroom block has finally reached its final height going up, and they have reached the roofing level. All the roof trusses needed were delivered to the site and more than half are already on top of the classroom block. By the end of next week, they should be ready for laying the roof tiles.

We also managed to purchase 300 bags of rhinoset out of the required 500 bags for the skimming of all the walls and they have also started to do the skiming this morning (skimming makes the wall smooth before painting).
Plumbing work for the water supply to the toilets has also been started.



Electrical cables are also being installed on the gound floor and the first floor will only be done after the roof trusses are ready.


This week we also bought all the door frames for the toilets and they are busy closing up all the partitions in the toilets and this should be complete by the end of the week.



The orchard and the vegetable garden are all doing quite well and all the plants are really healty. We have also prepared a nursery for Jacaranda trees and we are going to plant them in the next few weeks when the road is ready, if it is not ready we will also wait for the people who are coming from Italy this summer and they can do the tree planting. Those who have been here, they know how the Jacaranda trees bloom ummmmm they are so nice.

Sister Antonietta is in Italy and she is going to stay there for 2 months.

The Oratory children in the Traditional Dance dresses

The Oratory children in the Traditional Dance dresses, they dance and sing quite well.

Maize from Sister Antonietta and the Oratory children.

In the attached foto, some of the children from the Oratory can be seen helping to remove the maize from the maize cobs. All this maize was harvested from the garden in the new school, we have had a very good harvest and those who are coming to Zim you will get the opportunity to eat the taste of the local staple food that is a product of Sister Antonietta and the Oratory children.

Maize is grown by almost all the people in Zimbabwe except for those areas that receive little or no rain ut those areas they do grow drought resistant crops such as rapoko, sorghum and millet which serve the same purpose as maize but richer in nutrients.

April Week 3 Report

The classroom block has finally reached the final height in terms of brick and concrete works. This week we managed to purchase all the concrete roof tiles and yesterday we had the first load of 4,500 and the balance of 4,500 will be coming next week. Out order for the roof trusses is still in production and the company that is manufacturing them says they should be ready and delivered next week.

On the other hand, the ground floor is almost ready for skimming and we have already bought the first consignment of the rhinoset that is used to smoothen the interior walls before painting. In a few weeks, the following material will be required on the site :

* Ceiling boards (for the first floor only).
* Glass bricks (for the walls on the stair case).
* Window panes.

We will however first compare the prices between Zimbabwe and Botswana as many items are now being accessible locally and cheaper than outside since companies are now starting again although there are still some items that are still costing way too much.
The situation was like this; when the situation was bad here, many companies were producing only for export to our neighbouring countries and their products were not available locally as they wanted foreign currency but now the situation is improving.

The quotation for the Administration block is not yet ready and we are still waiting for the contractor.

In the foto:

* the ground floor can be seen with all the window frames in place.
* the inside partitions on the first floor are complete.
* the workers are plastering all the partitions onthe first floor.
* all the windows and door frames on the first floor are in place and the corridor is done.

Administration Block

The plan for the Administration Block and offices for the the school has been approved and we have attached two pdf documents with the plans. The contractor says they are almost done with the classroom block and most of the workers very soon will be having nothing to do as they will remain only with those who will be doing fittings, however they suggested that if possible we can start the project of the offices and the administration block.

The new Orchard

The week has come to an end and there is great progress with the construction of the school. The partitions on the first floor are almost complete as eight classes have already been partitioned, with all the windows and door frames in the passage in their respective positions.

In the pic a worker can be seen painting the final stage in one of the bedrooms in the guest house, they are concurrently working on the classroom block as well as the guest house. The guest house is just left with the finishings especially in the bathrooms they are fitting the curtain rails, toilet paper rolls, soap trays, mirrors and other small fittings.

Next week all the roofing material should be at the site and we are right on time with the contractor as they do not want to be delayed. According to the plan and the set target, the classroom block is scheduled to be complete by the end of July but the contractor says in the venet that all the material is available without delays then they will finish even before the end of June.

At the moment, schools are closed here and all the children are on holiday, some of the oratory children are coming to the site to help Sr Antonietta and Sr Luisa with the following :

* New orchard - there is a portion on the site that has been reserves for fruit trees and to date several fruit trees have been successfully planted and these include; mango, banana, paw paw, guava and many other exotic and wild fruits. In the pic Guava tree in the orchard



Sr Antonietta preparing the orchard ready to plant other trees






This is a tree called Acacia and it is an exotic tree, to date there is a total of 29 trees that have been planted successfully and are growing quite well





One of the oratory children about to plant a wild fruit tree, this tree bears some fruits which are like chewing gums and they are so good.

* New vegetable garden - there is yet another portion within the school complex that has been reserved for vegetables and to date they have green vegetables that are a staple food for Zimbabwe (those who have been to Zimbabwe have had the taste of this green vegetable that is really delicious especially served with meat, so those who have never been here, you can come have the taste of the vegetable). The are also onions, tomatoes, cabbages and other greens.

* Flowers - several flowers and other bushes have been also planted around the school yard and the guest house and they are all colorful.

Building progress

In the foto on the right, the workers can be seen busy doing the brick work on the first floor partitioning the classrooms as the other are concurrently working on the concrete.

Preparing the beam on the other side of the classroom block, ready for concrete pouring.




On the right you can see that the western side of the classroom block is already finished up to the beam level.


On the left, there is the stair case to go up to the first floor and it is already in place on one side.

Donation

In the foto, there is a rubbish bin which was donated by a company from Harare, where we bought some of the reinforcement steel for the project. The company also donated 20 bags of 10kg mealie meal, which is the staple food for Zimbabw

April updates

Greetings to you all, we hope you had a peaceful Easter holiday. We are very sorry for the late updates but it was due to some problems we had here as Dominic had malaria just before the easter holiday and was admitted in hospital for two days and two nights but he is now well and back at work. Our email and internet also is always down and up for just a while .

However, the project is going on quite well and we are all happy with not only the speed but above all the quality of the work is good. The Archbishop of Harare, His Grace Robert Christopher Ndlovu paid us a visit and went on a tour at the site, he was really impressed with the project and how it is being run and he said he wants to be the first one to sleep in the guest house once it is finished.

In the attached foto, the classroom block can be seen to be going up as the deck for the first floor has since been completed and they are now working on the columns up to the beam and thereafter they will need the roofing material. All the classrooms on the ground floor are covered and have since been partitioned with the brick work and plastering is about 60 percent done.

During this week we have to make orders for the following material as it is now required :

* Roof trusses (these have been paid for).
* Roof tiles and ridges (we still need to pay for these).
* Burglar bars for all the windows (we still need to pay for these).

The situation in the country seems to be improving slowly especially on the food part, a lot of food items are now available in the shops and the prices of most basic commodities have gone down though some prices are still very high. We are hoping the situation continues to improve as many shops are opening up hence there is a bit of competition and so prices tend to go down.

Maize and Green Beans

In some areas within the school yard, we have a maize field that we prepared during the rain season as it is a tradition here and we are now harvesting. We had a good harvest and we are eating a lot of maize in these days. We have enough for the next two or three months.


We also have green beans and soon it will be ready for eating.

Oratory Children

The oratory children can be seen in class.

Teachers

Sr Antonietta can be seen with some of the three teachers.

March 2009_Updates

This week has been quite a busy one, with all the workers doing two shifts as some were wroking during the day and and some during the night busy pouring the concrete and they have since finished more than half of the first floor deck.

They will now wait for fifteen days before they remove the shatter boards on the finished part but as from today they will continue to go up with the other columns that are on the side where the deck is ready.

We now have the quotation for the roof trusses ready and we should make the payment and they should be ready after a week. The next thing will be the roof tiles we are still comparing the best bet between buying them from South Africa and locally.

Due to power cuts, we managed to secure a three phase generator for back up and it so happened that on the very same day they started to pour concrete, we experienced a power cut and fortunately we had the generator from friend and we had no interuptions.

All the window frames and door frames for the main entrance to the classroom block were delivered to the site yesterday.

In summary, we are working according to the schedule and plan.

February 2009_Updates

Classroom Block
The construction of the classroom block continues at a very good pace and the contractors are doing great works which will mark a great achievement for Chegutu and the whole community at large.

Two weeks ago we went to South Africa and we managed to acquire the following material :

* Plumbing material (water pipes, drainage pipes, toilet seats, urinaries, basins for washing hands)
* Electrical material
* Reinforcement steel




To date the contractors have put all the concrete footing for all the rooms on the ground floor and they are only left with the toilets as they have to finish to lay the plumbing pipes for water and sewage. Concurrently, the brick layers are busy building with bricks inbetween the columns and they have already done more than fifty percent of the walls from the ground level to the beam of the first floor. with some of the classrooms with door frames already.

We have just finalised on the schedule of all the window frames that are needed and next week we will be getting quotations and we should purchase them as soon as we get the best price.

Donations
In this past few weeks we received the following donations :

* There is an organisation in Germany which is donating a new car for the Congregation and they said they will give €23,000 torwards the purchaing of the new car, we got quotations from South Africa and we sent to them.
* We also received a donation of 1 tonne of mealie meal from the company we bought the bricks for the project.
* Due to the cholera outbreak and the lack of water in the community, UNICEF approached us and we had a meeting with them, they were asking if we could help with water supply to the people who in the neighbourhood and so we agreed to give water but we told them we do not have a pump to pump water for the designated people and so UNICEF donated a new pump and a tank that will be used as a reserve so the people can collect water for domestic use and help curb the cholera outbreak.

January 2009_Updates 2

Classroom Block
The work up to the foundation level has since been completed for the whole classroom block and they are now backfilling with gravel and soil, compacting them as well. Concrete columns are also at an advanced stage, with most of them up to just above the slab level whiles others are well above the window level.

Bricks
All the common bricks are already on site that is 200,000 in total and next week we should have other 44,000 face bricks.

Other Material
We now have the material schedule for all the plumbing works, door frames and other fittings and when we go to collect the reinforcement steel from South Africa next week, we will buy all this material.

Cholera
The situation has greatly improved especially with the aid of UNICEF and other organisations and we have witnessed some patients being discharged from the cholera centres to go back to their homes which was very unusual to happen, but in these past few days we have received a lot of rainfall and since cholera is a water borne diesease, it is most likely that it spreads quickly and then it can be at it peak. We are trying by all means to take into practice all the preventitive measures.

January 2009_Updates

Happy New Year to you all...!

The project of the classroom block is going on and they are almost done with the concrete footing and on the areas where they have already finished to do the concrete footing, the brick work has commenced up to the slab level. The contractors did not close for the festive season hence there is a lot of progress that has been going on as they only stopped working for three days during Christmas.

Next week we should be able to collect the reinforcement steel from South Africa as the company was closed for the festive season and we need to make a plan for the other material that the Engineers need for the plumbing and electrical joints, together with door frames that they said they will need in a few weeks.

The cholera situation has reduced in Chegutu but there are still some cases here and there and in this week some people went and stole from the cholera centre some buckets that were being used by the cholera patients to vomit and as toilets because the patients can hardly move as they will be seriously dehydrated. The buckets were sold in exchange for potatoes in the farms surrounding Chegutu and the people who bought them started to use them to store water for drinking and as of yesterday, many people were infected with cholera and eight people died.

December 2008_Updates

The construction of the school is progressing at a fairly good pace though we have had some challenges to acquire some material especially the concrete stones as many companies have since closed for the festive season and due to electricity problems, however with the little that we got the concrete footing is almost done and the brick work has already been started where the columns are in place.

In the foto, there is the column base and each column base takes an average of 8 bags of cement.

Here, there are some of the Engineers who are working on the project.

We would like to thank you for the support and take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Joyful 2009.

New Classroom Block. November 2009_Updates

The initial setup of the new classroom block started on Thursday when the contractor moved in the school premises.

In the attached foto, the workers can be seen marking the places that mark the columns and the foundation of the classroom block.

We have already received the list of material that they require for the initiation of the project and on Tuesday we will be going to Botswana to purchase the requested material.

In the foto, the workers can be seen digging the columns and the foundation for the classroom block and they said that by mid next week they will finish and will immediatly commence pouring the concrete footing and the columns.

We are therefore racing in this week against time to supply all the required material and the challenge we have is the reinforcement steel that we have to import from Southe Africa. However the contractor has promised that they can supply us with anything that we need and we sign an agreement and then give back when we have our supply since they are a big company they usually keep material.


In the foto, the workers can be seen offloading the river sand at the school and in these days they do an average of between 7 to 9 loads per day and each load in about 4,5 tonnes. To date we now have a total of more than 150 tonnes hence we are not far away from the initial required target of 200 tonnes for the bases and the foundation.

October 2008_Updates

Guest House
The fittings of the guest house have since been put up and they are now left with the floor and wall tiles only then finally painting.

Electricity
we are now online and the whole guest house has electricity and lighting.

Water Project
We managed to connect one of the pumps in one of the boreholes and this has got a yield of about 8,000 litres per hour and still running wet.
In the photo, it is the small pump house where we have connected the first pump.

Classroom Blocks
We are still waiting to finalise on the contractor but in the meantime we are aqcuiring the concrete stones and the river sand.

Challenges
We had a problem with our lorry as it has been down for more than a week, the rear springs were broken and we have since sent them for repairs, we will get them back on Tuesday and the lorry should be back on the road by the end of the week.

Blooming Jacaranda

In this period, the Jacaranda trees start to bloom

August 2008_Updates

Guest House
Plastering of all the rooms has since been completed and the plumbing work has now commenced. To date all the toilet seats have now been fitted in all the bathrooms and all the drainage pipes outside have since been put in place.


We made a trip to Botswana and purchased all the ceiling boards and the ceiling fittings.


Electricity
We have purchased all the material now for the distribution of the electricity inside the school premises and the holes have already been dug, we just need to go and collect the poles.



Classrooms
We had a meeting with the Engineer and he even came to see the land and he said the land is now ready for construction so the builders will soon start to mark the places where they will dig the foundation and the columns of the school block.

The Engineer is now working on the Structural Design of the proposed school building and we have already signed an agreement and a contract that by Friday the 29th he should be done. We will then order the steel from South Africa as soon as we get the actual sizes and quantities from the Engineer.


In the mean time we are busy gathering the river sand and the three-quarter stones to be used for the concrete footing, with our truck we need a total of 200 loads of each.

Thank you

Oratory Children in Church...!

The Oratory children in church for their last school day before they closed for their holiday on Wednesday.