Electrical rationing
In Zambia extreme demand for electricity has created havoc in the country. The power company ZESCO has issued a nation-wide schedule for what they call load-shedding, where entire areas are cut off for hours each day, or in some cases days at a time. The nation is both selling power to South Africa to raise support for new generators, and at the same time, building new generating capacity on Lake Kariba.
This will go on till 2010 at the earliest. Here in Chelston, where House of Moses is located, we were made aware of our schedule yesterday. We will be without power on Mondays and Thursdays from 5AM till 9PM. The power will come on for 2 hours only at mid-day. With the CACZ offices located on the property and all of our babies needing water from our well which is electric driven, we are left with no option but to try to look for the funds to buy a generator that will run everything except the stoves. In faith we are going to purchase one on Monday. The other homes will be OK as there are fewer children and they have a city water supply.
If your church family is looking for a project, this would be an excellent way for them to invest in children in Zambia. The cost will be $2,000. Even with the generator, we won't be able to use the stoves, so we will be doing quite a lot of barbecuing—at least every Monday and Thursday.
I could not pass up the opportunity to send this photo of me and my Pajero trying to get to the Kanyama House of Martha and the De Vos school. It has been raining non stop and there are complete villages and towns washed away. Kanyama has been especially hard hit, but the children are safe.
The new Helen DeVos Christian school is now open, has 227 students, and is operating smoothly. Both teachers and students are glowing with pride at being able to study in such a quality school and everyone is working hard, even under the budget constraints.