What’s the Building Plan for 2018?

We have big plans for improvements to the physical plant at Upendo Children’s Village. Thank you for your generous support and the hard work of many volunteers and workers in Malawi! Here’s a quick look at our plans for 2018:

We need to complete the construction of the wall around the Upendo compound to protect the property from wild dogs and other intruders. Our goal in 2018 is the finish the last quarter mile section of the 1-mile-long wall. The estimated cost is $5,000.

Our house mothers currently cook for the kids over an open fire in the cookhouse. The wood fuel is expensive and burning it in the close quarters of the current cookhouse is not good for the health or our staff. Our goal for 2018 is to install a new gas-powered cook stove in new, expanded cook house. We have identified the stove we want and can buy it from a supplier in South Africa for $2,500. 

We have set up a Special Projects fund to raise money for the large building projects that we have prioritized for 2018 and beyond. Your gifts to this fund will enable us to finish the perimeter wall around Upendo and build a new cookhouse with a gas stove. 

The new year at Upendo will also bring more maintenance and fixing of the existing infrastructure.  

Screens will be made for the windows in the houses to prevent mosquitoes from entering (malaria is a constant threat), steps will be installed on the porches of the houses because several years of erosion have lowered the surrounding ground by a foot or more, and a wall needs to be added in Nicole House to create a new bedroom for the additional girls who have joined the family.

December 8, 2018