We were going to hold out for really big news but figure we owe the website an update. The Mercy Centre is now building its new facility in Bumala on our 2 acre parcel of land! Charles and Pius are leading the way, having spent the month of August there and managing construction themselves. The first "phase" of building is focused on a school house with 4 large classrooms (that can easily be subdivided to make 8) and a central school office. So its one long building with five rooms, located at the western edge of our 2 acre compound. A latrine is also being built. Look for photos on the photos page of the website, coming soon...

This goal is to complete this first phase by the end of September 07 and be "open for business" 1 October. the kids from the current Bumala school (a rented set of 4 tiny classrooms in the town) will shift over to the new campus, and the 100 kids will suddenly have a lot of running around space.

The next steps will probably focus on provision of water and electricity to the campus - we estimate that a bore hole will cost up to $5000, so we are looking around for NGO and donor help on this. A basic water tank (5000 litres) costs around $150 so that's doable, and we might put in a roof-top water catchment system. In the mean time, you can pay a water company to fill your 5000 litre tank for about $20. Its a lot per litre, compared to what people pay, e.g. in the US, but better than not having water.

Electric hookup should not be too bad - looks like about $1000 to arrange for the converter and hookup to the public electricity system.

Then we will focus on building a dormitory and a guest house - we want to get a 6 person guest house built ASAP so people can come to Bumala to volunteer at the school for a few days, weeks, or months!

More to come...