Inner Wheel District 26 - Overseas Service 

Rejoicing as the School Aid's container is opened in Vila Malinga in Mozambique
Report from Les Lee, Nov 2005

The first contact we made with this area was about two years ago when Rotary and Inner Wheel very quickly gathered art and craft materials to be taken by students who were visiting the village. At that stage School-Aid promised to send a container ...and in this case, it took a little longer as the container had to be paid for. The project organised by School–Aid was supported by Rotary and Inner Wheel who donated many of the items in the container.

The following letter and photos were sent to Chris Knight:

Dear Chris,

We’ve arrived in South Africa, after a gruelling trip through the bush, via  a dirt track from the East Coast, to Musina.  And now have the first chance to acknowledge the arrival and contents of the container!  THANX, THANX THANX a million!!

It was one of the high lights of our project to receive and open the container you and your colleagues sent us!  It’s a first for us, and we wanted all the planning and handing over of the school furniture, done with all the invited officials present.

 

Fred and I had to attend a conference in Cape Town , and had planned to purchase doors for the classrooms in South Africa , as we could purchase them half price.

The container arrived while we were in Cape Town , and we also received a message to say the generator had broken, and the builders were without water and could not complete the windows and door frames for the school!  They were desperate, and even took the machine to our neighbours, hoping they would be able to help!

So by the time we had returned to Vila , with the doors, most of the window and door frames had not been built in.  It was very difficult to see the container safely under the mango trees and not be able to start unpacking it!

When finally, enough classrooms were secured, and all the doors hung, the great moment arrived!

 

We arranged for all the students to help, and got Elezeu and Clever to assist, so everyone would participate in the unpacking!  Once everyone had assembled, we had a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift and of course for CHRIS and School Aid! The unpacking went rather quickly, and Fred even stopped the work he was doing on assembling the new generator, and came and sat and watched all the fun!

We had the container placed under the huge mango trees, so it can serve as a secure storeroom, once unpacked.

I wanted to place everything in sections so we could count and double check against your list.  The entire area between the main house and the hall was filled with boxes and furniture!

We only got finished late afternoon, it was so hot, around 35 degrees!  The day before it looked as though it would rain, and we were concerned, we might not be able to open the container!  Anyway, the Lord was good to us, and the clouds cleared.

It was just too unbelievable!  Once we started carrying out all the desks and benches, the excitement was just too much for the children, and they quickly asked if they could also help carry the small chairs!

 

We noticed you had a system for marking and numbering the boxes, so we stacked them in lines to double check against your numbers.  Green and white labels and blue labels.  Plus the TEN boxes of computers!!!! ……… AND …………… SEWING ………. MACHINES ……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There were a LOT MORE boxes and packets of all descriptions in the container than were on your list.  So I have listed them ALL as well as their contents and will send them as an attachment in the email.

We really have no words to express our sincere gratitude to you, Karen and your colleagues at School Aid.  Please convey our deepest appreciation to all.  Now, it’s just for you to return and come and see personally how everything is being set to use!

We’ve never needed a stock room before!  Now,  we have cleared a room for Pastor Gama to store everything for the school and to control the stock room, which is filled with books, exercise books etc, with the staff.

We had the honour of having two Chiefs attend the ceremony, as well as the new administrator for Education from Manica, and representatives from the governor’s office.  It was too precious for words when the elderly Chief told the children that he would arrange a meeting with the parents to enforce regulations how the desks and chairs must be cared for.  The Administrator from Education asked the children how long the desks would last, and that they must not carry them outside the classrooms!

All the sewing machines, sewing items etc, will go into the craft class room.  Hopefully, we will move into bigger quarters in the not too distant future.

I unfortunately had only one photo left in the camera, and had only one lens with me, so had no second chances with the photo of the children sitting by their desks the following day.

We love and appreciate you very much for arranging this ‘once in a lifetime’ gift for Vila .

Fred and Juanita.

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