Here are different ways to contact us in Burundi
Email:
Val Carr = vcarr@HopeCentreBurundi.com
Charles Carr = ccarr@HopeCentreBurundi.com
[size=16px]New Mobile Phone Numbers:
Val Carr: (00257) 79239810
Charles Carr (00257) 79239809
Our New House Phone Number:
Use this number sequence and you will only pay 4p per minute.
Dial: 08444 287287 & wait for a voice and then..
Dial: 00257 22259608[/size]
Please email us and let us know if you don't manage to contact us on these numbers.
Non-GiftAid Donations: 
GiftAid Donations: 
1. The whole site now has a temporary fence around its perimeter.
2. All six main foundation walls for each house are now in place.
3. The four main Septic tanks have been built and mostly finished.
4. The nine man holes servicing the houses have been built.
5. The foundation walls for both external toilet blocks also containing showers and sinks have been built and now also the veranda foundations.
6. The four large soak-a-ways have been built.
7. One very large shed for block production and workers shelter has been built.
8. One 20' container for storing tools and materials has been bought.
9. The foundations for the 40' container have been built.
10. Two workman's huts have been built.
11. One workers pit latrine has been built.
12. 4 block presses have been purchased and thousands of blocks have now been manufactured.
13. One large truck has been purchased and is being used daily.
14. We have provided much work for the families of a very poor community.
As promised, we are now going to introduce you to the children of Hope Centre Burundi. We will upload a picture of one child each week and give you their story.
Mirielle GahimbareMirielle's StoryMirielle is 9 years old. In 2004 both her parents died, one after the other, of HIV. She was five years old at the time. Thankfully she herself is HIV negative.
Some of her relatives were killed in the inter-ethnic fighting in Burundi and the others who survived fled to Tanzania.
After the death of both her parents in 2004, Mirielle had no one to look after her so she was left to wander the streets on her own and it was there that Pastor Leonard found her. He took her home to look after her along with other children he had rescued who had lost their parents. She is still living with Pastor Leonard's family in Gatumba.
Progress at Hope CentreSo far every week we have been able to report that the progress is good and this week is also good. For the last two weeks the truck has been working faithfully and hasn't broken down. Even the fuel price has dropped which is a boost for us.
There is one disappointing bit of news. Two weeks ago we were told, by the shipping company, that the container had now been released from Dar-es-Salaam and was on the road to Bujumbura. It was to arrive in at the port in Bujumbura on the Thursday of last week. We have had an agent visit the port daily to see if it has arrived but nothing. Now today we have received another email to say that the container is still in Dar-is-Salaam awaiting collection from the shipping company. This is disappointing but not a show stopper. The Burundians are very resourceful and hard working. The show will go on.
On a more encouraging note. Some very large donations for the project which had been promised were received this week. We are so delighted and appreciate the support. This is a great encouragement to all.
Here you see the timber form work used to create the round walls of the soak-a-ways.
And in this image the concrete lid for the soak-a-way:
The covers for the large waste tanks are very large, strong and heavy. Here you can see the moulds that they were made with and the workmen locating them onto the tanks:
Val took a small video clip with her camera so you can watch the men actually locating these covers here:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJCF66PI0nU[/media]
This image is showing that all the floors of the houses, and now their veranda's, are now almost ready for the concrete floors to be poured. Having the cement mixer that is in the container would have been a big help for this but the workmen will manage to mix all the concrete by hand:
The landscaping will be important and needs to be considered now but I have told Pastor Leonard that we will not be financing this at the moment. It is important that the donated funds are used in the building work and then if there are funds remaining we can use these for the landscaping. Because of this we have given Pastor Leonard the job of finding donors for the trees and plants that will be required. Already he has been given these avocado saplings with the promise that he will also receive, orange and mango trees:
The following video clip is not Hope Centre related but it is related to our experiences here in Burundi. Some of you may find this interesting. Our Burundian friend Felibien from Rema Ministries, the one who is building his own house and who sold us his car, was at the stage of building the first floor into his house. He and his builder, Issac asked me to visit on the day that the concrete floor was to be poured. For one day they employed about 100 workers to mix and pour the concrete. It's amazing to watch but I couldn't manage these workers. Health and Safety may also have something to say about this also:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Dp205rlbs[/media]
It was Matthew's Birthday this week, or should I call it 'Birthaday'. He was 12 years old. I think it was possibly one of his best birthdays and one which he won't forget. Matthew thrives on attention and that is what he received at school. I think he received about twenty presents of bottles of juice, several little presents of pens and several hand made cards from the girls and then when he left the school the children threw buckets of water over him. We had expected this so we were already equipped with a towel so that he could dry himself. His trainers were wet for two days.
It's common at this school for the kids to bring in a cake for their friends and the teachers. We had this cake made and gave them the message to write on the cake. They managed to get Matthew's name correct but spelled Birthday as 'Birthaday':
Non-GiftAid Donations: GiftAid Donations: 
August 01, 2008, 08:38:15 PM
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