More vsitors to Katoka..now we are 10 !

We are really enjoying having Dr Fred Holmes with us from UK for a few days. He is actually a surgeon and it is so good to have the use of his vast experience and expertise in the hospital work. I was pleased to have him with me at the scanning session today. We are also making use of him at church preaching to various groups including the Hospital Groupe Biblique the nurses specially asked for him to take the Thursday morning Bible study with them.

Yesterday evening we welcomed Ian (Harvey ) my nephew currently working in Lubumbashi and his friend Mark Gant from Chester. Unfortunately theirs is only a very brief visit this time but it is good to have them here anyway. Mark tells me it is 15 years since he first heard about the work at Katoka so he is pleased to at last be able to say he has actually seen it first hand.

Michael is doing well with the IT department. His pupils seem to be doing well and are very keen to learn and would have him doing a course with them every day if he had nothing else to do ! The idea is to teach this initial small group so that they in turn will be able to teach others. The group includes 2 teachers from the secondary school and of course all being well, they will be offering this course at the school once their new building is completed.

Polio vaccination campaign and distribution of mosquito nets !

The internet continues to be intermittent here so today seems a good time to update the blog. We continue to keep our volonteers busy with a variety of jobs. This week they have been out and about on the villages in this area helping with the polio vaccinations and distributing mosquito nets. We were given 500 treated nets to distribute with the criterea to give them to children under 5yrs and to pregnant ladies. The families pay 300 FC for them and as to buy they would cost about 3000FCs most people have been happy with that contribution.

This month too saw the work on the 2ndry school administration block resumed. The school prefet has been organising the senior pupils into teams making bricks and building the brick kiln.Some of the parents from the area have come in on a daily basis to help with sand and gravel and mixing the concrete so progress is definitely being made.

The carpenter has been busy making tables for the computer room which is causing great interest. Michael has a friend Zango translating his computer class lessons into French and he is hopeful that these classes should get off the ground this month with an initial small group of local people. This will include 2 teachers from 2ndry school 1 from Primary school and the administrator from hospital then he will see how things work out after that.

Last week we had the end of term prize giving and march past for Sunday school. We close for the summer while the general schools are also on holiday. We met up at the football field and they did a march with banners and lots of singing before going into church for the service.

This month there is a special conference and get together for all the choir people for this area. Dilolo Poste is the venue and our 3 choir groupes are all looking forward to going despite the fact that many of them have to walk the 45km ! Others come from further away but I am sure they will have a great time.

We are looking forward to more visitors at the end of this week DV.First Gillian and Walter Raymond who used to be based in Lubumbashi but returned to New Zealand some years ago and then a friend Fred Holmes from the North of England a surgeon who spent some years as a missionary in the middle east. He has visited various African countries but is coming for the first time to DRCongo. Sadly they will not be with us very long but it will be good to see them.