Week 38
Each week we introduce you to the children of Hope Centre Burundi. We upload a picture of one child and give you their story.
Ladouce Ndayishimiye
Ladouce’s StoryLadouce is 11 years old.
At the start of 2001 Ladouce’s mothers died of HIV/AIDS after spending a long time in a clinic. At the end of 2001 her father also died from HIV/AIDS, leaving Ladouce all alone. Thankfully she does not have the HIV virus herself.
One of Pastor Leonard’s friends (who is also a pastor) agreed to take care of Ladouce, but, because he had many children in his family, it became difficult for him to care for her, so, at the end of 2002, he brought Ladouce to Pastor Leonard and asked him to take her with the rest of his orphans.
Ladouce is very good at school and is currently in Year 2. She is currently living in Kanyosha with some friends of Pastor Leonard’s until the
Hope Centre is completed.
Progress Report for Hope Centre & The Arrival of the Benstead FamilyThis week we have so much to share and so many images to show. On Sunday morning the Benstead family arrived safely in Bujumbura. Val and I collected them at the airport, possibly a little tired from the long journey. Amazingly all of their suitcases arrived with them, un-tampered with. In these cases were many things that will be used for the children's homes at
Hope Centre.
Sunday was a day of recovery and rest for them and then on Monday they visited Pastor Leonard's house to see the conditions that the children are living in. Then we moved to the building site and were given a tour of all the work in progress.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all of the Bensteads and the Carrs were on site for about 8:30am and then worked until the sun became too unbearable. Working in the humidity and heat of the African sun has to be experienced to understand how totally exhausting it can be.
Here is a picture of our team of 12 visiting the site on Monday: Katrine, Charles, Dominic, Matthew, Scott, Josh, Val, John, Vincent (our site supervisor), Jill, Nathaniel, Pastor Leonard, Paul, and Samuel.
On Tuesday we all arrived at the site and split up to do different tasks. The men continued producing the trusses required for house three and four. The woman began the inside and outside painting. The boys relocated the blocks to various parts of the site for the bricklayers.
Here are the boys working hard:
The women started to paint the windows and doors:
The men manufactured the trusses that will be required for houses three and four:
This picture was taken to show the determination on Paul's face:
By the end of Thursday we had a enough trusses finished for house number three. The trusses for house number four will be completed next week:
As soon as we return home from working the heat and humidity, along with the physical exertion, takes their toll:
Once the women had finished undercoating and glossing inside they moved outside to begin painting the cement bands around the doors and windows:
Houses 1, 2 & 3You will obviously see from the pictures that work is progressing well on site and that at the moment it looks hopeful that we will be able to move Pastor Leonard and many of the children into the three houses before we leave for the UK:
House number one is very close to completion. The glazing for the windows is now going in:
House number two is also progressing fast with toilet and sinks now being fitted:
Much of what the boys have been doing has helped with the progress of house number three. We now have many new bricklayers and the trusses will be going up this week:
Other NewsA couple of weeks ago one of the
Hope Centre cows gave birth to a calf:
In the container that we shipped there were two sewing machines. The one in this picture is the treadle type. Rema Ministries found a good home for the machine and you can see Micheline from Rema on the far right who presented the machine to the very appreciative recipients:
Some more pictures of the Benstead'sOn Monday we went for a walk to see some hippos:
On another day we paid a visit to an orphanage run by one of our friends. Many of these children also attend the same school and classes that our own boys attend.
Paul is holding what is normallly called a Banana tree snake. A very friendly snake:
I believe that the tree that we are sitting next to is one of the oldest trees in Burundi:
House no 1 = funds already in hand for completion
House no 2 = funds already pledged
House no 3 = funds already pledged
House no 4 = £7,000
House no 5 = £10,000
House no 6 = £10,000
The actual cost will be more like £18,000. This is if we make all the blocks ourselves but if we substitute clay bricks for the inside walls then we may be able to bring this down a fair bit.
Total to Complete all of the Houses = £43,000
The following is also required:
Water to the site: MI has temporarily forwarded the funds for this
There is mains water available in Gatumba and to have this piped to the site will be = £2,200. Work will begin on this this week but we still need the funds to come in for this.
Electricity to the site:
There is mains electricity available in Gatumba and to have this delivered to the site will be = still to be confirmed.
N.B: We have been given prices between £1,500 and £10,000 by the electricity company so we haven't been able to confirm a realistic price yet.
The latest quote this week is £4,200
Workman's/Security Guard's Hut:
Basically everyone has employed workers that act as security guards and do general gardening and repairs etc. The cost of employing someone to do this is only a few pounds a week. They are normally provided with a place where they can rest and get cover from the rain and get cleaned up after a days work. We have already put the foundations in along with the necessary plumbing for a small workman's hut. We will still need to build this up above the foundations. It will be a very basic construction. This is over and above what we were originally requesting but now that we are here we see that this is an essential for Hope Centre security. Money required to complete = £1200
Perimeter Walls:
At the moment we have a temporary building site type fence surrounding the whole of Hope Centre. This has been very successful for providing some sort of security for the site however this can't be a permanent arrangement. We had hoped that Pastor Leonard would be able to try and raise the required finances to build a perimeter wall but, although he has been successful in getting trees and exoneration certificates etc, this one may be a bit of a problem for him. So we would also like to try and raise the additional funds to build a very basic wall built with stones and red earth. This is pointed with cement later. This is a system that is commonly used here and can last many years. If possible we would like to be building this wall now.
The estimated cost is reported to be: £2,800
Outside Cooking Area:
Cooking is normally done outside with charcoal on a small charcoal burner. It is not practical to do this inside so we will need to provide each house with a small covered area, just to the rear of each property for cooking. These will be very simple constructions and the cost of these will be = £300 each.
Outside Toilets:
Included within the area that we have built the houses on is a large piece of ground situated within the area where the trees have been planted. This will be a great area for the children to play ball games etc in the relative safety of the Hope Centre grounds. Each of the houses will have a toilet but we have already put the foundations in, along with the required plumbing, for an outside toilet block with a shower. This will stop the children from traipsing in and out of the houses. Outside toilets are more commonly used here than inside toilets. The additional cost for this will be = Still to be confirmed.
Non-GiftAid Donations: 
GiftAid Donations: 
Here are different ways to contact us in BurundiEmail:
Val Carr = vcarr@HopeCentreBurundi.com
Charles Carr = ccarr@HopeCentreBurundi.com
New Mobile Phone Numbers:
Val Carr: (00257) 79239810
Charles Carr (00257) 79239809
Our New House Phone Number:
Use this number sequence and you will only pay 4p per minute.
Dial: 08444 287287 & wait for a voice and then..
Dial: 00257 22259608Please email us and let us know if you don't manage to contact us on these numbers.
Pastor Leonard
Pastor Leonard's StoryPastor Leonard was born in 1971, the youngest of five children. His parents were killed in a mass killing of their ethnic group in 1972. The children struggled to survive and look after each other for many years.
As a teenager Leonard was full of hatred and wanted to avenge the killing of his parents, but he became a
Christian when he was 18 and was able to meet and forgive those who had killed his parents. He felt God told him clearly that he was to look after others who were orphaned as he had been.
At the time his circumstances did not allow him to do this, but he was ordained as a Pastor in 1996, and was able to take in his first orphan in 1997, just before he was married.
His wife partners him in this ministry and they now care for over 40 orphans in addition to their own three children.
Around about April this year Pastor Leonard's land-lord for the house that he was staying in asked Pastor Leonard and all the family and children to move out of the property which they were renting. Obviously this was an impossible situation for them. Latterly Pastor Leonard managed to negotiate a compromise with the land lord whereby his immediate family and a few of the orphans could stay in the property until his house was built. This meant that the remaining orphans had to be farmed out to friends that would be willing to take them. Pastor Leonard continues to provide food and clothing for these children which is now even more difficult for him. Thankfully though you have helped him greatly with your regular child support donations.
February 21, 2009, 02:49:41 PM
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