Maria and her Christ’s Child Care Team work devotedly and diligently while always keeping in mind her future plans:
* Kindergarten and future orphanage:
A kindergarten is planned to be built, at the estimated cost of €60.000. In the future, this building will also serve as an orphanage. The kindergarten would be for the most
needy children that are left alone at home and not cared for while the mother is working in the fields.
To care for one child, it will cost around €20.- a month, which provides food, education, medical care, and teaching about Jesus Christ.
At the moment there are 40 to 50 children under the care of the kindergarten already. We have put up large tents, which are being used for their temporary building and shelter.
The land is already available. It has about 7200m2 and is restricted to be used only for the purpose of the children. Thanks and deep appreciation of the children goes to the brothers and sisters in Christ at Vienna Christian Center.
* Fast vocational training center:
Red brick manufacture :
Red bricks are the best way to build in Fumbisi. First, it stays much cooler in the heat than the cement block buildings; second, the maintenance is very low, since it never needs to be painted; and third, it fits very well to the mud huts structure which is still mostly used for housing.
The plans for the kindergarten are based on the use of red bricks. The next city has a supply for it, but it would be great to build a manufacturing company in the village itself. Locals could make the red bricks for the kindergarten and also supply other surrounding cities, which would bring another means of income into the village.
* Water irrigations:
The villager’s only income, for now, is out of the one harvest they have each year, which is even then dependent upon the rainy season. If that fails, like it did last year, there is not
sufficient food for them nor to sell to make a living.
* Sewing machines:
One sewing machine cost €50.-, which is about 500 000 cedis in Fumbisi. With the training and the machine a woman/man can feed her family and also supply for the orphans.
* Weaving:
Teaching on the traditional weaving of materials, and Stroh, which is a dying art.
NEEDS:
* Irrigation:
Ghana has a total area of about 240 000 km2, of which the Upper East Region (UER) covers about 8 800 (3.7 %) in the Northeast corner. Fumbisi is part of the Upper east region. Ghana’s total population with annual growth rate of 3%, has been estimated at 17.5 million in 1996, of which an estimated 1.1 million or 1.15 million in 1998 live in UER. The rate of population growth is about 3% per annum. Population density averages 63/km2, with considerable regional variations. The country can be divided into three main ecological zones, going from south to north on the basis of soils, climate and vegetation. These are the rainforest, the transitional and the savannah zone, which includes UER. Despite the predominantly gentle slopes, about 70% of the country is subject to moderate or severe erosion, UER being, one of the most erosion prone regions. In the Upper East, rainfall over the past 40 years has averaged 1 044 mm, suitable for a single wet season crop. The very short wet period is marked by confusing fluctuations in arrival time, duration and intensity of rainfall. This, together with the poor water retention capacity of the soils, cause large inter-year variations in the production potential.
Fumbisi is characterised by a high and expanding rural population; by the unreliability of its rainfall and susceptibility to drought; and by the inexorable rate of degradation of its environment. The farming systems used were still largely based on the traditional shifting cultivation approach of using long season crops combined with the bush-fallow system to maintain soil fertility. However, over time fallow periods are constrained by population pressure on the land. Only by developing a location specific programme of carefully designed and supervised trials would the problems of environmental degradation be adequately addressed. There is a need for providing irrigation of high value crops as well as for livestock.
* Clean flowing water:
Making water pumps available and the storage of rain water of it.
* Solar system:
There is no electricity in Fumbisi, which makes the work in the only available clinic very difficult. Even if the electricity comes, it is likely that it often breaks down, like what is happening in the cities. Also, for the kindergarten there would be the need for electricity.
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Christ’s Child Care™
“Jesus said, Let the little children come to me,
and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14
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