BouwenmetBoumas

Project 2024

Moving on.

After spending 3 weeks on holiday in Zambia with Lies, it is now time to work again.
This time we spend a lot of time visiting all our projects together with the board and introducing Gerard Schoemaker as my successor. Of course it flatters my vanity that I am told everywhere that I always have to come back. We will see.

Project 2024 looks very good. Of course, things are not going fast enough for us Dutch, but that is partly because there are not enough good masons available and that is because there is a lot of construction going on in Kaoma. Too bad for BmB but fantastic for the economy in Kaoma.

A construction meeting the Zambian way: a few board members, the contractor and executor discuss the situation, someone makes a sketch in the sand and they can move forward again, it remains a wonderful world. Beautiful.

Until a few years ago, BmB sent a container every year largely filled with second-hand clothing. Nowadays we buy these clothes in Zambia and distribute them to the poorest, unfortunately it is never enough.
During the last rainy season it hardly rained, with the result that the water level in the Kariba Rivera is far too low to provide us with sufficient power, the result: loadshedding. No electricity for 12 hours a day. It’s a bit difficult for Gerard and me. Sometimes we only eat bread. And if there is electricity at night, quickly boil water and fill the thermos, because we would like to start the day with a cup of coffee. But it is disastrous for Zambia’s economy.
An even greater disaster looms as a result of the drought: famine. The corn harvest has largely failed and corn is the staple food here. The first victims are the poorest and children. Unfortunately, we as BmB cannot change this situation, but we can continue to build schools so that children can go to school and they can think/work to combat climate change in the future.

Progress Project 2024