Thursday, July 11, 2013

What happened with YOUR flood donations to ALG?

Earlier this year, YOU contributed to our ALG Flood Emergency Flood. We gathered £28'500 in total with your generosity of which funds have continued to be sent to the ground in Mozambique. 

Our partner in SLM - S. Luisa Marillac, Sister Lidia, sent us a progress update from one of the three worst affected areas in the ALG intervention area...


Dear ALG Friends 
I’m sending you a huge hug!!

Today I’m wiring to give you the status on the reconstruction situation and on the repairing work that we have been able to do thanks to your support.
We have being able to finish some activities such as:
  • The floor of the warehouse where we keep all the food received or bought
  • The shelves in a little warehousing room for smaller items
  • Repairing the chairs, almost concluded, of which more than 50 were finished and where items such as screws and restoring materialshave been purchased
  • Purchase of all the material to change the nets in the windows. One pavilion is already completed and the work continues
  • Purchase of the sand and cement needed for all the work
  • Purchase of the material for the teachers’ toilets and hiring of the bricklayer. The children are helping to carry all the material. There is a good improvement and within a week everything should be ready
  • Initial purchase of the locks that were already installed, and we still need 5 more
  • Initial repairing of the plumbing at the water tank outlet.

As soon as the photos are completed Silvestre [ALG Local Technician in SLM] will send them in order to allow you to keep up with the work and to share our happiness. Little by little we are being able to provide better conditions to the school and embellish it a little more.
Sister Lidia addressing the local population in SLM

Whenever possible we are trying to involve the parents and students because the price of materials has risen after the floods, but we are coping. We are expecting the quotes to proceed with the acquisition of windows’ locks, stoves, and drainer for dishes, taps and plumbing. 

The important thing is not to stop and teach everyone that everything that gets started goes all the way until its completion. Here people are slow by nature and take their time to finish what they start. Sometimes when they finish it is time to restart again.

With love, thank you and a big hug from all of us,
Sister Lídia
Santa Luisa Marillac, Mangunze, Chokwé (Province of Gaza, Mozambique)

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Mozambique post-floods - Blossoming crops in SVP school!

After the damages caused by the floods in January, the school of SVP - S. Vicente de Paulo, in Chokwé, planted seeds on its farming plot.  

Our Local technician Hilario reports on how the school community came together...

Report on the Farming Plots in S. Vicente de Paulo
Local parents helping to sow seeds

First Phase of Project Implementation

At SVP school we considered this to be a very important project in the future so its implementation had to be sustainable and productive. This is the reason why before distributing the seeds by the families with farming plots we thought it would be best to first launch the pilot project on cultivation since it is very important to have a sound knowledge on production and productivity.

Regarding the way we implemented this first farming plot project in SVP, we had an initial meeting with all the parents and children’s guardians to present the project and request their commitment. Three parents volunteered to be in charge of the farming plot and the other in helping at least once a week (parents are organized in shifts). Up to now we are happy with the parent’s level of commitment and involvement in this project.


Sowing carrots in SVP
It is important to mention that during this first phase we sowed: lettuce, onions, carrots, cucumber, cassava and pumpkin. The lettuce will be ready within two weeks, carrots within two months and onions within three months …

The children help in the farming plot’s light work, but always after school and after using their free time to play and have fun.

Second Phase of Project Implementation

Our local technician in SVP, dedicated Hilario
The second phase involved a research of the most committed parents who need to develop the farming plot project. Our estimate is to support 30 families but, up to now, we only have 13 because, as mentioned in the first part of this report, we chose to carry out a sustainable implementation of the project.

In order to have better control of the help provided to the families we sowed around 300g of onions and 300g (+/- 10.6 ounces) of lettuce. This process is expected to facilitate the calculation of amounts the parents need to transplant to their farming plots, and it is also a way of transferring new types of cultivation (here only the traditional ones are used). For this I asked a friend, who is attending the last year of Agricultural Engineering, to help us and he has been providing good advice.  Now we already started distributing the lettuce and onions by the parents to be transplanted to their farming plots and we provide other seeds according to their needs such as: corn, cabbages and beans.
Mafita's Grandma taking lettuce to transplant to her farming plot

Since we are still in the initial stage of the project’s second phase, we think we will see the results within three months.

"Mano" (little brother) Hilário Langa