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.