Still going strong!!
Mon 8th – Weds 10th Dec. As the preschool is now closed I was able to dedicate full days to the primary school and made good use of my time by painting all the outside of the school using an African stylee ladder made from bamboo. The gap between the rungs were for a giant and after 3 days of hoyking myself up and down it my legs were moaning and groaning….a major step workout!!!! In addition to this I painted the inside frames of the main entrance windows, and painted a skirting board in the girls toilets free-hand. Wilson & Patience also came along to volunteer so excellent progress was made this week. The walls of both the girls and boys toilets were painted, along with the windows, a new corrugated roof was put on the staff toilets, and the first coat was given to the walls of classroom one. It’s very satisfying to see it coming together now.
Thurs 11th Dec. Over at One Central preparations were in full swing for the Ghetto Christmas production taking place Friday and Saturday evening. After helping cut out hundreds of flyers I went over to the shopping mall and handed these out to passers-by. After lunch I went back to the shopping complex and went into all of the shops inviting their staff and leaving them flyers. For those of you who know me well will know this was totally out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed it and everyone was receptive to the flyers and many stopped for a chat 🙂
Fri 12th Dec. Upon arrival Debbie and I started to sort out the FBC Bank as we had had a lot of donations given over the last 2 weeks. Whilst we were doing this a guy arrived who owned an orphanage and wanted clothing for 300 4 to 17 year olds, so we happily sorted out these ages from our children’s clothes hoping this would be a nice Christmas present for them. Thandie then popped in and asked if I could do her a favour by driving her and Douggie to the shops to pick up refreshments for the Ghetto Christmas event. ‘Sure, no problem’ was my reply, not realising they were going to take me all over Harare including directly into the centre. I was exhausted by the time we got back as Zim driving can be quite chaotic at times! And there was no rest for me as it was time to open the FBC Bank. I was very strict with them this week and accepted no nonsense! I had all the excuses thrown at me but I didn’t budge. I wanted to make sure they were making purchases for their own use and not to sell on for drugs or alcohol. A bit of tough love given out…..’no, that doesn’t sound like you’ I hear you all cry!
Take care,
Ali xx