As our community needs increase, we increasingly require a dedicated building from which the Church can serve the community. We currently in the school building over weekends, which means we cannot meet during the week when the school is in session. Over the years, we have also caused a lot of inconvenience to the school staff who require their classrooms o be arranged according to their work requirements. We meet up with families, including children, some of them very young, and sometimes it is difficult to always control them.
For two years our members have saved up for the necessary materials, but we are nowhere near what we need to start construction. Still, we are excited by the challenge and we hope you will share our excitement with us.
This week we gathered all interested parties and we resolved to put even more effort into our building project. The procedure is that we start by making bricks ourselves. Although there is a lot of labour involved, we minimise on costs by doing it ourselves as members. We estimate that we will need in the region of 6000 standard size bricks, made from over ten metric tonnes of river sand and cement.
The river sand is not allowed to be collected without a permit, and the application for a permit costs 20 USD and may be refused. If it is refused, we need to pay someone who already has a permit to allow us to use theirs. The nearest rive from which we get get river sand is around 8 km.
We will post pictures of any work being carried out as soon as we get them. In the mean time, a visitor to Chatsworth has promised us several bags of cement on condition we start work before end of October. It maybe that the work we can actually do is limited because the rainy season starts any time after mid October, thus pushing our project work to next May when the dry season starts. There are aspects of the work we can do before the rainy season so we will concentrate on that.
If you can help is with fund raising at all, from wherever you are, please contact us on our Email address. Also suggest what name you would like to be listed by on the published list of those whose donations have been received. We will be updating the total of donations as we progress. We are reluctant to set a target because there are facilities we desperately need and facilities we can delay if our budget is too low.
Ideally we would like
a large meeting room,
a children's play room,
an admin room,
baby changing room
a Kitchen
a set of toilets
Any building we construct will be based on a plan that allows expansion in the future.
We think that a full building would cost USD 6500. However, it would take us a very long time get that kind of money especially in the current Zimbabwean economic climate. We are grateful for your help.
We were asked to ask the bank if they could allow us to create an account which allows donations to come in through the bank. We are waiting for a response from our church account holders. As soon as we have information we will let you have it.
Meantime please Email us at chatsworthsda@gmail.com
Building schedule if from July 2018. If you can join us please let us know as quickly as possible. We are asking for builders and helpers from all over the world. You will have a chance to see one of the most beautiful countries on earth, along with its issues that you have read about in newspapers and listened to on radio or TV. You cannot come to Zimbabwe and not see the Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side. So in your preparation to come, be advised that the visit to the great place is highly recommended for those who can afford it. Here, most of us have only seen the falls on pictures.
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Also please show your friends our blog.
