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December 25, 2004 posting, by Jim and Chris

We wish all of you a blessed holiday season. Thank you for your support and good wishes over the past year. We first made contact with the Ndawana Chief, Mr. Zala, on about January 15th this year, and a great deal has happened since then. Many, many people have died of AIDS and there is at least one funeral every Saturday. Preparing for the funerals often takes crew members away from Edzimkulu work. But our biggest news is that we are truly a part of the community. We are there every workday starting at 7 AM. People wave as we drive through the village to the centre site, members of the work crews jump into the bakkies, people call out to us. There are good morning’s (sanibona), how are you’s (kunjani), and smiles. There are handshakes and hugs. We are all in this together, north and south, rich and poor, black and white. Together we break down the barriers, together we try to make the world a little better, together we can truly say this Christmas day, peace on earth, goodwill to all of us. Thank you for being a part of that with us.

Mixing and pouring concrete.

Work on the community centre continues. Our foreman from the village quit to do other work during initial site excavation, so the two of us became the site supervisors, laying out the buildings and setting out leveling and foundation lines for site preparation. All work is done by Ndawana residents, using hand tools, meaning every ounce of soil moved is done with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow. Concrete is mixed on the ground and transported by wheelbarrow. Gumpoles are drilled and lifted into place by hand. And, we have become close with the various crews. It is exciting to see how skilled some of the people are, and how willing to learn they all are. The learning for us has been astronomical.

As of December 22, which was the last day of work on the centre until January 3, the following work was complete:

• All water supply, including dam, piping, storage tank
• Site excavation
• Cutting and treatment for all required poles
• Collection and weather protection for the estimated requirement of thatch
• Production of approximately 7,000 building blocks

Placing gum poles.

Buildings:

Craft manufacturing building (5 metres x 25 metres):

• foundation and floor pad completed, including all 12 gum pole
• columns embedded in concrete; roof structure well underway

Clinic building (5 metres x 25 metres):

• foundation started, including 8 of the columns

Office and kitchen building (5 metres x 15 metres):

• foundation started

Learning centre building (5 metres x 20 metres):

• leveling underway

Work also continues on the documentation project. We have now surveyed every family in the village, and have data on many facets of their circumstances, along with getting to know them. Our data has permitted us to start to work on obtaining identification and grants for those most in need. Already we have been able to obtain six wheel chairs for children and adults, and facilitated treatment and therapy for numerous stroke and cerebral palsy victims.

Next week we will meet with the six members of our Ndawana team, and Marg and Larry Rathnavalu, for two and a half days to reflect on what has worked well this year, and most importantly how we go forward from here. A year at Ndawana has shown us the great strength and spirit of the people of this community but it has also driven home in the most painful terms the need for long term change in basic behaviours if the AIDS epidemic in this part of the world is to be beaten. We have only just begun, and now we have to face those challenges. We hope you will continue to take this journey with us.

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