June 2019

Welcome to the June update and I would apologise for it being late however it is late for all the right reasons, simply put we have been so busy. The beginning of the month saw the Fitzgerald families last week with us, the arrival and departure of Megan and Dylan, on the 9th and 10th Liv Richardson who will be with us for 3 months and Rob and Fi Cameron , here to do a medical visit for a month.

The Fitzgerald Family spent sadly their last week with us this month, during which time they finished up loose ends from the housing project and spent time with the community. Richard and I did repairs on the borehole at Mphatikizo which the woman had complained was not pumping properly. I have put below the pictures to show the wear in the pump riser which had been worn to almost paper thickness. This wear shows how invaluable that pump is to the local community and the use it gets. The original wall thickness of the pipe is 6mm and the wear is caused by the rubber seal travelling up and down the riser. Repair cost was about $35 NZ dollars for parts.

A huge thankyou to the Fitzgerald family for all they have done this year for us here in Mtubwi , they are sadly missed.

This month also saw the resumption of the Medical Clinic with the arrival of Dr Rob Cameron, his daughter Fiona who is a nurse, and Liv, who is with us for 3 months ,working with the Camerons for the first part of her visit. For this medical mission we did both clinics at Mphatikizo and outreach clinics to more isolated communities with me dropping the medical team at the community in the morning and collecting them late afternoon. During their visit the team treated some 588 patients with some 200 being at just 4 outreach clinics. Rob and Fi’s visit has been instrumental in designing a framework for future clinics and a more effective way to operate. We will expand on the outreach programme which we hope to link in with CBO’s at these communities to begin with a food assistance programme similar to that at Mphatikizo. As always these Medical visits assist many people giving access to both quality medical care and drugs.

From the Feeding Centre/ Pre School we have had a constant 40 to 50 children attending daily with the porridge being cooked on a volunteer basis by the parents. This month we will commence with roofing for the kitchen and the final plaster ready for use next term. Liv and Fi have made a register of all children attending and every child has had a health, height and weight check. Later in the year will see an overhaul of the Phonics programme set up by Pheobie which we also hope to link in with the Outreach clinics and feeding programme.

Well that’s it for this update and as always a huge thankyou from the Smedley family, the Mphatikizo team and Mtubwi community. We are now well into the dry season and food will soon become scare. At present Mphatikizo provides both much needed support and a means of earning much needed income from Ganu ( work for food/money ) for the local community. We are continuing to help the elderly in our community with food and medical assistance and the young with sponsorship and living expenses. None of this would be possible without all the love and support from home.

Thankyou Bob