Colette left for the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday. As she anticipated, the journey has required the organization of a ‘million’ different elements from simple things like mosquito repellant, vaccines, reading glasses, and transferring files onto a drive… to the coordination of a very large itinerary with many moving parts. She has been preoccupied to say the least. Colette will be there for two months. In keeping with its commitment to provide fresh water for the community, REVE Kandale will be coordinating the drilling of a borehole for water. A team from Uganda will arrive and supervise a Congolese drilling company that will be drilling the borehole. Once the borehole has been completed the team will determine the availability of water, the flow rate and at what depth they can find a reliable source. With that information in hand, they will plan for the second phase, to begin developing the infrastructure including the size of the pump, the storage tanks, and the distribution point.
ABCD training will recommence with the second half of Community Centered Development and then proceed on to the final part, Entrepreneurship. Members from the distant cities, Idiofa and Kahemba are expected to attend. There will be solar panel training to educate individuals on basic repairs and maintenance of the growing array of solar panels. A team from Burkina Faso will be arriving to bring the second flour grinder online with the solar panels. In addition, there will be training on how to use and maintain the flour grinders. Colette has packed many teachers’ kits to help teachers organize their lessons and improve the quality of education. Each kit contains a lesson planner, several pens, reading glasses, (if needed), chalk, an extra notepad, a gradebook, a ruler, and a small bag. Another important item on the list is to finish painting the primary school.
Of great excitement for the community will be the return of the regional soccer tournament. 22 teams will be competing this year. The event will take place from May 20th to June 10th. The first phase of the tournament required committee members to travel to the many teams that had participated in the previous tournament. During those meetings they asked for feedback about the last tournament and if they would be interested in participating again. All the teams were very enthusiastic. One of the major suggestions was to improve the field. This will require the organizing of the community to relevel the field. Another important part of the tournament will be to train 8 coaches to officiate the event. They need to be fully educated about FIFA rules. Prior to the match there will be a very important meeting in Kandale with the representatives from each team. They will discuss the upcoming event and what the expectations will be for the tournament. They will be apprised of the rules and the schedule for the matches. Many of the teams are from villages with very limited resources so many of them will not have uniforms or even athletic shoes. REVE Kandale wants to again thank Kick for Nick and Dwight Short for helping to fund this event.
For Colette the next two months will go by very quickly. It looks like it is going to be a very productive visit. Kwenda mbote, Mama.
