Zimbabwebound

Something else I havn’t told you is about the church Jodi and I attend in Bulawayo.  River of Life is a growing young church who have a huge passion for evangelisation and community outreach.  One area they are keen in spreading out to is into Umguza (a small rural township just outside Bulawayo).

At this stage they are stongly involved in reaching out to the Umguza commity through teaching effective farming methods (Farming Gods Way) as well as starting up teaching programs for young preschool children.  Just recently, I was able to head out with Taps (one of the elders and a close friend) to a block of land which the church has been able to purchase in Umguza.  It is really exciting to see and hear their visions of this block of land where they are planning on builing a church as well as creating a Farming God’s Way training centre as well as a whole host of other community based programs.

The other day I was looking through all the pictures I had taken on my camera and realised that I hadn’t told you able a lady from OZ who came out earlier this year for about 6 months.  One of the things that she was able to do was to bring the “Shine Program” into Zimbabwe.

The Shine program is developed to help girls encounter their true value and help the young ladies realise that they are individuals who have worth, strength and a purpose.

 Here are some pictures of the Zim YFC team members who have participated in the course and who are now accredited trainers of the Shine Program.

Just last week I blogged all about how well our chickens were going and how we have only had minimal deaths (3) right at the start.  Well … the next day when I went out to Willow Park, Chris, our head groundsman told me that 9 chickens had died during the previous weekend (whilst he was on his time off) … but due to his quick thinking he gave them all some muthi (medicine) and they  are all back to 100% health (without anymore deaths).   Rock on!!!  We think it was some form of air-born sickness so we have now also moved them from the room where they were staying into the outdoor chicken pens.

I think that they only have about 7 more weeks and then they will be starting to lay … this will be fantastic.

If you are looking for a great deal then look no further … here is an offer you just cannot refuse.

Because of excellent camp sales this year we have been able to save up diligently and Willow Park Camps has been able to purchase the 30 litres of paint needed to re-paint the inside of the toilet block.

“… but how can I benefit from this?” I here you ask

Well … the saving comes to you through a HUGE MONSTEROUS discount on the “Toilet Block Chip In”. Because Willow Park Camps was able to “Chip In” on this chip in we can now pass the savings onto you and slash the initial chip in asking price. What was going to cost $592 will now only cost $460. WOW this is FANTASTIC deal … don’t wait and miss out on this saving … chip in now by clicking HERE

This years round of day old layers are doing a lot better than last years brood. Last year, due to bad feed we lost about 60 chicks, this year however we have only lost 3 chickens right at the very start … this is awesome … all the chicks are growing very well and they are all looking extremely healthy.

This project was started because of generous people “chipping in” last year; because we were able to purchase the chicks last year and because of the eggs sales we were able to purchase our next round of day olds as well as all of their feed and medicine until they start laying.

If we have 80% of our chickens laying each day, this means that we will be able to provide eggs to all of YFC’s ministries each week as well as pay for 1 worker to look after the chickens and save up for next years brood. It is exciting when projects can be started and become financially self sustained whilst providing valuable produce to YFC.

Thank you to the last two people who chipped in for helping to purchase new uniforms for our staff. We now have enough money to purchase 5 new uniforms and boots for the Willow Park staff.

Jodi and I as well as all the Willow Park staff want to say thank you for our help with this. Your generosity has gone a long way in helping Willow Park and it’s staff. (I will post pictures in the coming weeks when I get them their new gear).

I posted a couple of weeks ago about Jodi’s parents coming to visit … I was aslo able to post rare footage of some pretty way-out-there dance moves.  But all good times must come to an end and they left last Saturday.  Along with a lot of Zimbabwe souvenirs they also took Jodi bakc to Australia in preparation for our new little one who is due on 03/07/09.  So for about two weeks now I have been living as a bachelor and I have to admire … even though Jodi is not here I am still scared that I will get in trouble if I leave anything just lying around the house.

G’day guys … I am so sorry I haven’t been blogging lately. There has been so much goin on around here and it has been hard keeping up with everything.  A lot of the stuff I can’t even blog about but what I can blog about I will let you all know about in the coming week.

I will give you my word that I will post a new blog every day over the next 5 days; then you guys should be up-to-date.