Starting with the project......
Edwin and the men have been concentrating mainly on the wall and the main gate. As you can see in the pictures, a beautiful gate has been welded by our own Atimu and put up. And yes, he used his new welding hat that we send him and threw away those old sunglasses. We need to keep this man's eyes in tact for the rest of the welding projects we have for him. One of those projects is a smaller gate at the back of the main staff home. We have to have another exit point in case the main gate jams and also in case of fire.
The steel rods are up on the wall alongside the road, giving it a whole new look. The guardhouse has been constructed by Jenson, our contractor and all the electricity has been put in by Dennis, our electrician. We now wait to start the plastering and install the rolled wire on top.
The grass hut is so close to being finished. The floors are completed and the paint is on. One of our donors has requested that she take care of all the educational material for the children in the compound. Since they will be going to school only a few steps away, she thought it would be nice to build two tables with the benches attached and put them into the hut. We have enough wood left over from making the dining room table and 4 chairs to do this. The children could then study and do homework on them and it would also serve as table for eating. This wonderful donor has also committed to all educational material supplied and a part-time literacy teacher when I am not there.
The land...oh my goodness, when I saw the land on skype the other day, I was shocked. They cleared it already. It is bigger than I remember and thank goodness they left my favourite mango tree standing. This tree is huge and will be a wonderful shade area for sitting around in the hot sun. We have big plans for this land and are very blessed by our anonymous donor to have acquired it so close to the compound. God has certainly placed the most wonderful people on this journey with us and honestly, it just goes to show you that people really care in this world.
Speaking of wonderful people, Natasha is also one of them. She put the online fundraiser together and then to have all the people donating is something I have no words for. I just want to say thanks to all of you for your generous hearts.
We are now at $8,095.00 and rising. I have to say a special thanks to my daughter for spreading the word in the United States and so many of her friends putting it on their blogs. I also want to thank the many blog followers that follow this story here in Canada too. Without you, we would never have made it this far. We have 47 days to go.
http://www.indiegogo.com/homeofangelsorphanage
Installing the main gate
We wanted to show everyone the gate which has now been erected. The electricity has been installed by Dennis our electrician and Jenson our contractor has constructed a rounded gatekeepers house beside the entrance. Further down the road, you can see (if you strain your eyes) the different look of the wall facing the road. There are steel rods protruding up which gives it a more professional look. The rolled wire will encase the entire compound as soon as we can raise enough money to plaster the wall. What a change.
The grass hut will be multi-purpose. The kids will eat in here, do homework and watch Jesus videos. As it will hold approximately 60 people, we plan to have our classes for the community here too.
Thanks to Days for Girls we will be able to teach the young girls about hygiene and thanks to Gerri for her sewing machines, that we will be able to teach the women how to make the kits. We want to teach the women also to make kits for women delivering their own babies which happens frequently in the villages. Oh, we have so many ideas for helping the community.
The verandas on the main house are finished with the same design and texture as the inside floors. They only need to be cleaned and painted. As we wait for more funding to come in for the plastering of the wall, the men can start painting the inside bedrooms with the paint we were able to purchase last month. I'm just waiting to see what this beautiful home will look like when painted.
The grass is growing around the entire compound and soon to be flowers lining the back wall.
I went to Home Depot last year and bought some seeds. All sorts of flowers and James planted them alongside the wall. They all grew very fast and very large. The nasturtiums are so big they are bushes so now we have a compound full of colour. This time I bought enough vegetable seeds to fill the garden next year and the window boxes they are building for each room. Such a simple thing to create such beauty.
Remember Jimmy? When the land was purchased earlier this year, Jimmy started clearing and didn't stop until it looked like this.
Edwin promised to keep the mango tree. Edwin always keeps his promises bless his heart.
This is where we will have our goats and chickens and there is also enough room to build a clinic in the future. It's our dream to see Dr. Isaac working out of his own clinic. He just never thinks about himself and is always out there helping some child in trouble. There are people showing interest in future to make this a reality so we'll say it is on our "Bucket List" for now. In the meantime he will work out of he main house.
This is the gate that will be used as an emergency exit. The path you see going straight ahead is the path the community uses and the kids going to and from school. Marian and Laury will relate to this because we used to sit and wait for them every day. Now they can't come in anymore but I'm sure we'll hear their beautiful voices singing as they pass by daily.
Once again we are blessed to have these girls raising money for us. Celeste, Emiko, Amber and Claire go to school at Heritage Woods Secondary. They decided once again to bake more banana bread and off they went. We only have 3 of the girls here but all of them worked so hard to raise money for us. The total amount this time was $1,323.09 and believe me, they worked hard for this. Take it from one who knows....they worked hard. I am so proud to say that we know each one of them and I know one day they will be visiting us in Uganda. Thanks girls for your love and caring for the children in Mpumudde. We welcome you any time to visit.
We would like to thank everyone that helped us this past month. Edwin and I appreciate your prayers and contributions that make it possible for us to continue this project. Without God, none of this would be possible and what is so nice, the community and children are starting to realize this too. You have all planted seeds and it is up to us to water them when we open. Thanks again.
