Orphanage:

We now have received our Licence to run the orphanage and since October 2007 we have started caring for some orphans. They have all settled in well and are very happy. Personnel are being employed from the surrounding villages to run the orphanage. The fourth house is under construction. We now have to get a water supply up to the water tanks that are installed to make life easier for them. The last well that was dug has dried up!

Some of the foundations were crumbling so one of the wards has been demolished and construction is under way to build a new ward. Refurbishments are ongoing. There has been a new roof put on the hospital and the new offices are now ready for the medical assistant. We have sponsored a Doctor and his Wife and they are proving their weight in gold! Ibwanzi Medical Facility/dispensary is also steadily being built up and all the window and door frames are being put in. We are planning to increase Mdabulo's status to a Counselling and Treatment Centre for HIV/AIDS which will reduce the distance many of the villagers have to go to get their Anti-Retroviral drugs; this will be the single most effective project in improving health care in the district, bringing a positive impact on adults and children alike. The nearest CTC is 60 km away. Villagers have to walk - there is no transport. Their ambulance is a bicycle with a plank across it and the patient is usually held on by a friend!

We are making arrangements to send all of the existing nurses one-by-one for training in the administration of ARV. We have been pledged support for hiring two qualified nurses in anticipation of starting the ARV work for those patients who already have an established diagnosis and are already on the treatment plan.

The last two classrooms are almost finished making 12 in all bringing the class numbers down from 90 to 46. We have now doubled the capacity of the school. Out of 503 pupils there are 210 pupils without one or both parents. Our project aims to ensure that orphans are supplied with a school uniform and eat for free. The parents of the remainder who wish their children to eat lunch at the school are asked to contribute food or firewood. The school day starts at 6.30 am and finishes at 4.30 pm. Some don't eat until night time! There is no electricity or running water. We are hoping to sink more boreholes for water to supply the school and village. Three have already been dug.

The container has been cleared from Customs in Dar es Salaam and is now awaiting transportation to Mufindi.
(1st November 2007)

It you have any items that need to be renewed or changed please would you consider our project. We have regular containers being sent to Mufindi, Tanzania.

www.wildorphans.org