Orphanage Initial Spenditure
it's been really hot in Uganda. No Rain and expectation of famine! People are fearing there won't be enough water in the pumps and they can't plant their crops (as our orphanage won't be able to...) Unless the heavens open and we get lots of rain.
There is so many people suffering from malaria. Almost on every corner. Our next plan is to also distribute mosquito nets around the orphanage area so malaria don't spread. There is sugar cane plantation! (probably around 20 acres) = mosquitos... Mosquito nets are quite expensive actually - £2,73 each!
On the good note, please see again how much can be done with little money!!!!!!!!! So please please every little helps:
Our biggest expense so far was rent money, windows and electricity. Today we should finally have a light.
SOLAR PANELS:
We can only afford max of 240 WATS (that is how much just a kettle takes in one go). We have 2 solar panels of 120 WATS. Each panel is 840,000 USH that is £269 per panel. We can always add on panels and then get more light and more electricity. However we cannot budget for more panels at the moment. Each bedroom will get only 8 WAT light, the community room will get 30 WAT light, as well as the reception area and the kitchen area. We can also charge our mobile phones and use the laptop (but at different times).
The total costs of solar panels with needed devises (generator, battery, etc) and all the electrics equipments, plugs, wires, cables, etc was about 3,500,000! The labour we pay for the installation of panels 150,000 USh and another 150,000 USh for connecting the electricity all around the house. The whole amount of getting an electricity came up to almost 4 million USH - which is £1099!
BEDS:
We have ordered 21 beds (for now) for the orphanage. The beds are bunk-beds. £172 for all 21 beds!!!
Mattresses - 4 inch thick - 21 pieces = £200.
Bedding for 21 beds (Bed sheets, cover, pillow cases) = 243,000 USH = £66 - we are having them made from scratch as it comes about 160,000 USH cheaper than if we bought them in the shop.
Blankets for 21 beds are 210,000 USH = £57
Mosquito nets (imagine, each mosquito net is around 10.000 USH (£2,73), howerver we are getting them from people who buy them from those whom they have been donated to.. (bad bad ) They are FREE MOSQUITO NETS for Kenya Aid, so they are selling them half price 5,500 USH, we are getting 14 pieces for £21!!!
We need to now get WhiteWash to color the rooms (as they are so dirty and smoky) 25kg of whitewash is 16,000 USH £4, 40. Have no idea how many bags we will need. Paint then costs about 40.000 USH £10 each (20 kg).
So far we are left with £3.400 on our bank account. We have no idea how much this can take us. We will not have enough money to connect the water to the house as there will be other priorities (like payng salary to the gardener, school fees for children, supplying them with clothing, shoes, food) Also we have to budget for kitchen equipments (cups, plates, cutlery, pans, pots). We also need to make dining table for the kids with some chairs (we think that the cheapest will be benches (although not that aesthetic and comfortable).. The price they quoted (without burgening for each bench was £13. Don't forget that we will have around 20 kids to accommodate. The set of nice chairs (8) and a table they quoted 400.000 USH which would cost us £109. (which we probably cannot afford if we get bigger table with more chairs than 8).
We also need to get some wardrobe for the kids' clothes and learning material.
We also have to feed the volunteers who are working on the house (yesterday we spent like £40 for 50kg of posho, 10kg of beans , 3 letters of oil, curry powder, onions... Hopefully it will last them for at least 3 - 4 weeks.
As you can see we are cutting everywhere possible. At first they always quote us triple the amount for everything (products, food, labour). They see us and they automatically think we have money and sometimes they refuse to sell us products as we are mzungus and we should pay more than the locals.
We have to explain so many times that this is benefiting the community and if we can safe 30.000 USH, we can pay 1 term of schooling! Thanks God that many times they get to understand.
We are off to the town. Looks very sunny, dusty and hot.
