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.