Building Our New Home

The City of Bulawayo gave Zimkids 2.2 acres

But the land had been used as a dump.

So, we spent three months cleaning it.

We had to remove glass, broken bricks and cement and trash

Once it was cleaned we tilled some of the land for our garden

Next, we dug a trench around the land for the foundation of the security wall.

Our girls were as tough as our boys.

Even elderly caregivers lent a hand.

Our older kids moved the block and built the wall

They had to mix sand and cement by hand

Once the wall was done, we laid the foundations for our buildings.

By now, our elders were becoming expert builders.

Our first glimpse of the shape of the resource center.

Then the walls rose as the blocks were laid.

Sithibisiwe developed serious muscle assembling gumpoles for our solar panels

Here, we are building our caretaker cottage, clinic and office.

The boys slept at the site for 14 months for security.

Two of our girls laid the brick path so our wheelchair-bound children could come to

the center

Thandie and Sithibisiwe learned to use power toold.

We assembled our steeple that would later fly the ZIMKIDS flag

Finally, the walls of the building for our kitchen, library and multipurpose room

were up.

Then we had to lift heavy wooden poles to construct the roof.

It took our strongest boys to lift the poles.

Then we bolted them in place

Next came the roofing.

Dennis and Foster celebrated the installation of the first roof section

Then, it was time to plaster the walls.

The computer center finally took shape.

We learned to weld our own burglar bars

And install our solar panels so we could stay off the grid.

We designed and built our gate.

Playground equipment was a gift from our welldrillers.

As we built, Tshaka and some of our kids painted murals on our front wall.

We assembled greenhouse complete with drip irrigation.

And we started filling the site with color!

We welded Zulu Shields to hold computer desks

Purple for toilets, orange for technology, green for office and turquoise

for library, kitchen and meeting room

At the opening, on August 1, 2012, everyone paused to marvel at the

history of Zimbabwe on our wall.

An hour before opening, the kids were already streaming in.

And admired the multipurpose room

The beginnings of our library

Our central plaza

Everyone was wowed by the use of drums at the Tech Center desk.

And how we used Tonga stools at each station

The “trees” around the performance area were a big hit.

And no one could believe that we had a crop during the dry season.

OUR AMAZING BUILDING TEAM!

Tinashe, Dennis and Zimkids having a ball at our new home