Quest

FIRST INTERIM REPORT TO DONORS IN RESPECT OF DEVELOPMENT OF 1 HECTARE SITE BACKGROUND During 2010/2011 a vision was cast to acquire a site in Cowdray Park, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on behalf of Nehemiah AIDS Relief Project in order to properly support the expansion of the project’s relief work into this high density, needy suburb.

A proposal for such a venture was submitted to Bulawayo City Council in 2012. By this time the vision had developed more specific aims and objectives and the detail was included within the proposal (and is included below) to support the project’s application for the allocation of a one hectare site.

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A more suitable venue for existing Kids Club work.

A suitable venue for kids club “day-camps” incorporating psycho-social support work, peer leadership and life skills training, child-headed household support and the like.

A place to expand the existing community farming training program with training allotments for practical work.

Sports facility. Netball, basketball, volleyball, 5 aside soccer and any other sport that the land will support in terms of size and terrain.

Enterprise training centre for trade & business skills teaching, inviting expertise in (carpenters, plumbers, electricians, hairdressers, caterers, tailors and the like) to teach trade and business skills.

Different weekly and periodical support “clinics” including:o Mother/caregiver & Toddler group. o Educational support, homework clubs and holiday lessons/revision opportunities. o Healthy living support clinics. o Counselling. o Bereavement work. o Pregnancy support (via links with medical NGOs) o Immunisation programs. (Including via links with medical NGOs) o Food security support (via agencies that operate such programs) o Birth registration assistance. o Day conference facility.

DEVELOPMENT After some considerable time, including some administrative delays on the part of the City Council, permission was granted for the establishment of the concept on a suitable site and a lease was signed by the project, in accordance with usual protocols for the area, in August of the following year, 2013.

(Nehemiah Project management board chairman signs lease.)

As can be seen from the picture to the right, the site was overgrown and the first task was to mobilise the community to volunteer to clear the land. Early Saturday and Sunday mornings were scheduled and up to 50 people showed up each time, hoes over shoulders, ready to take the burden of responsibility for site clearance. They worked hard; enthusiastically; excited to be involved in a project that will better their circumstances. Together was a small amount of paid labour, much overgrowth has been removed and more than 10 truck-loads of rubbish, accumulated over many years, has been taken away. It has been an amazing transformation and everyone is rightly proud of what has been achieved in a short space of time. Now the land has changed as shown below.

BUILDING PHASES With much of the land now cleared, fencing contractors have now been able to be instructed (it is a lease condition that the site is fenced off by some means). Much of the planned construction requires planning permission and it has again been the project’s good fortune to source a volunteer designer who has, in turn, seconded a volunteer engineer. Plans are at an advanced stage and are expected to be with City Council for approval before Christmas 2013.

However, it is of vital importance that the site is brought into useful service at the earliest point possible. In order to achieve this, shelter from the sun and toilet facilities are going to be necessary and this is phase one of the structural work. Since these items are considered “temporary�, planning permission is not required.

Through the generosity of the donors to whom this report is written, money was “in the bank� and plans could immediately be made for the commencement of the development of the site.

A committee, with appropriate decision making powers and skills in various necessary disciplines, was formed and has set to work orchestrating the first phases of development. Visionary ability; building; social action; pastoral skills; financial skills; feature in this 5 person group of dedicated volunteers.

FIRST INTERIM REPORT TO DONORS IN RESPECT OF DEVELOPMENT OF 1 HECTARE SITE BACKGROUND

The volunteer designer has now turned into the volunteer builder and we are delighted also to have two long standing project beneficiaries helping him for a small wage. These two young men, supported through Nehemiah Project’s first and enduring orphan care program in the Bulawayo suburb of Sauerstown, have just graduated from vocational training in construction disciplines and now they have their first “proper job.” With building expertise and labour sorted, the sun shelter is now up (see below) and just Built of traditional materials with gum-poles concreted into the requires some snagging to conclude. ground, holding up the roof structure, it may not seem much but we are very pleased with it as it brings the site one step closer to being brought into use.

As this report is being written, our two young men are at the site digging a hole (see below) approximately 3 metres by 1 metre, and 2 metres deep. Over this we will put a building and bathroom fittings and these will be our temporary toilets, un-plumbed and aptly

(if rather vulgarly) known as “long drops”. These are being built near the proposed site for agricultural training The final part of the first phase of building is installation of fencing (see right). This is being done as this report is being written and should be completed by December 6 th. Un-pictured is a decorative pedestrian entrance, brick built with an arch over a metal gate, also being constructed at the present time.

FUTURE CONSTRUCTION The first main phase of construction will take place as soon as the plans and will continue in use even after the main toilet block has planning permission and is built.

have been approved, which we are expecting will be in the first quarter of 2014. One end of the planned main site auditorium will be built, housing amongst other things, the fully plumbed toilet facilities. To this will be attached mains water and electricity and the site will then be fully serviced with utilities (no mains gas here in Bulawayo).

In the meantime, in pursuit of the goal to bring the site into useful service as soon as possible, we will be marking out netball, volleyball and five a-side soccer pitches and obtaining the necessary hardware to get those sports up and running on the site. There is some ground levelling that needs to be done but we are determined and have already made great strides towards levelling the land, and much more can be done in this area to achieve the results we are aiming for whilst we wait for planning approval for other work.

CONCLUSIONS Since being successful with the application for the site, by the time you read this fencing will have been completed, the decorative entrance will have been built and temporary toilets will be well on the way to be useable. This is in addition to the massive Land Clearance effort mounted by the community, both volunteers and occasional paid labour. A good start has been made and building and land preparation will continue as quickly as is possible, along with necessary fund raising to ensure that we continue to have sufficient resources for each phase that is undertaken until the project is complete.

Further interim reports will be issued at regular intervals but, for now, Nehemiah Project thanks it’s donors for believing in the project and trusting us with your donations. This is in no way taken for granted and we continue to be accountable to you for the monies that you have kindly made available to us and to this valuable work supporting and strengthening vulnerable children and families, bringing hope amidst the continuing challenge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Sincerely,

ANDY THORN On behalf of Bright Future Kids Club team, and Nehemiah AIDS Relief Project.

DECEMBER 2013.