The Manyinga Project

The Manyinga Community Resource Centre Orphan and Vulnerable Schools Project has kicked off its fundraising efforts for 2012, and we hope you will consider making a donation to this very worthwhile project. We saw some great successes with the project in 2011, thanks to the generosity of our donors, and we hope to keep the momentum of progress with our project going in 2012.

The highlights of our successes in 2011 include:

• 32 Lima (about 32 acres) of land was planted, with yields increasing by 200-300% over last year.
• A portion of the harvest has been marketed and the monies have been put in an account for reinvestment in the schools.
• The remaining portion of the harvest has been stored for use in a nutritional program. After harvest the kids were served a lunch (at left) as the first fruits of their harvest. A goat will also be used at each school at Christmas this year to provide extra protein.
• Enrollment at Chinema school is currently 317 children.
• Enrollment at Samafunda school is currently 96 children.

Our primary fundraising efforts for 2012 include:

• $30 pays for a year’s garden seed.
• $50 gets 3 months worth of extra school supplies for each school.
• $50 adds papaya and banana trees to the orchards, supplementing the student’s nutritional needs.
• $150 puts a first aid kit in a school.
• $200 buys the tools needed for the agriculture programs at each school.
• $250 provides for the annual veterinary care of the animals the schools own.
• $500 pays for the hired help and oxen to prepare the fields for planting at each school.
• $1,100 pays for a teacher for the year.
• $5,000 supports our capital improvement project. Grain storage will be our major building project over the next 12-14 months.

It seems amazing, but for under $30,000 the Manyinga project is able to fund two schools, provide essential training in agriculture, address basic health and nutritional concerns for the students and work toward program self-sufficiency. The cost is very little, but the need is very great.