Our last few days in Zim on this trip have been blessed, blessed by people’s generosity to help others.

We’ve told you about how Andrea’s mother came to see us back in September, looking to see if we could help them with an income generating project to so that they could support their son living with cerebral palsy. We were able to offer the father several building jobs. From the income, they have been able to buy 3 goats. We took time to visit their home to get to know them better and find out the full story of Andrea’s condition (we will do a write up about that soon). On visiting their home we found that their small two roomed house was only half built. This meant that the mother, father, Andrea and the twin babies all sleep in one room, while their other son sleeps in the kitchen hut. We so wished we could help them finish their house. Then we were given a wonderful donation from Sam, Peter and Clare Barringer to use to help the family. So we have bought and delivered the materials needed to finish their home.

Thank you so very much from them and us.

We did an appeal for tools earlier in the year, which finally arrived and we have been busy sorting them.

The first person to benefit from the donations is a young electrician called Prosper. We have used him several times for electrical work and he knows his stuff. He has been missing out on work and contracts as he doesn’t have his own tools. Thanks to the donations he now has tools which should help him land more jobs.

As we leave the fowl run numbers have increased to 10 ducks & now 169 chickens of various ages.

We have been able to harvest our first spinach and giant rape from the veg garden and also been able to give spinach, tomato and cabbage seedling to others in the community. Cabbages are growing well and the tomato seedlings have now been planted out.

Our bees are busy (as bees!) and we can’t wait to harvest our first honey early next year. We are having a bit of a fight with pirate bees (they wait at the hive entrance to catch bees and suck their blood – ooah!). We have set up a trap for them using a bowl of water, oil and a mirror. The idea is that the pirate bee sees itself in the mirror, thinking it’s a bee and attacks it. Only to fall into the water and oil and not get out again. A bee version of walking the plank!

Our last day in Sanyati and it must know we are leaving as the sky’s are crying. Nice of it to get us ready for the UK weather.