Dear Manuel,
Trust you are keeping well. We were in Zambia twice this year and achieved a lot. As you can see, the football ground is now complete, with 2 netball stands for the girls, as well, the goals are set up with the nets and we put up netting above the wall, as the ball sometimes went outside the plot!
The children/teenagers really enjoy playing here and we usually have sport on Friday afternoons – in teams using the Universal team clothes and the other team wears the football shirts that Hank had collected over the years – England, Liverpool, etc. The children wash them afterwards and they are stored with us for the next week. All a great success and you can see the many happy faces!!
The children also play over the lunch break after they have eaten and after lessons, as they can stay on the plot until 17.00. There is no other grass area for them to play on in the whole of Linda compound, so this is really special. The ablution block is working well, with most of the (80) children using it daily, plus the teachers and cooks – no-one had a proper towel, but now we have given them all one each!
This is life-changing for them and sets them a goal to work hard and live in a house one day with a proper bathroom and toilet! The next building is now complete, bicycle workshop, which can later be used as class rooms, an office and computer room for the older pupils – an important step, as they have to do part of their exams on the computer and there are often hardly any in the schools. We were given some computers last year but had to wait until the building was ready to set them up, plus put up an alarm system!! Step by step we are setting up the infrastructure needed.
In October, we realised what a difference all this, plus the meals and all we do otherwise for the children is really making – a great improvement to their lives and giving them a goal and vision for their future. Once again, we want to thank you for this investment into their lives, it is so worthwhile – and hope you will come and see it yourself one day.
When we watched them play in Hank’s shirts, I could just imagine him in the midst of them, shouting, laughing, encouraging them, egging them on, – the “life and soul of the party”!! He would have loved it and we are so sorry he will never see it but something of him lives on there, which he would have wanted.
God bless and kindest regards
Chris and Heiner