Edmund Rice Village

Houses for the Elderly Poor of Murundu

Chief Sponsor: Christian Brothers College Cork

This village is the brainchild of Br. Dermot Ambrose from Mallow, director of Murundu Development Centre. When he saw the condition of the elderly poor people who get their monthly food from the Brothers in Murundu and the hovels in which they were living, he decided to build these small houses for them and the children (usually grandchildren, victims of AIDS) who are dependent on them. The project was hugely assisted by the availability of a Hydroform brick-making machine, paid for by C.B.C. funds. With this machine, a meitheal of 12 workers produces 1500 bricks per day.

The houses are now almost completed. Each consists of two small rooms – a sitting room and a bedroom with a veranda in front and outside toilets. Three blocks of showers will be situated behind each row of houses.

Br. Dermot, having considered the water situation and the unpredictable nature of the village supply, decided to sink a special bore-hole at the centre. The hole has just been sunk and the pump, tank and supply lines will soon follow. This has been very generously sponsored by Mr Derek Mulligan of Dublin, who has a special interest in water supplies in Africa.

Various fruit trees have been preserved on the site and we aim to plant more, especially mango and avocado. We plan to build three rondavels (round thatched shelters in Zambian style) where people can meet and chat.

We are pleased to announce that several hundred people will be sheltered from the rain and the cold in these 45 houses which hopefully will allow the elderly poor to live out their old age in comfort and dignity.

Houses for Medics

Building a 24h Medical Service for Murundu Community

Sponsored by Schools throughout Ireland

Murundu Clinic is the only supported medical facility for the population of about 12,000 people. It has been supported by Rotary but has been struggling for some time. Major areas of medical care would be, pre-natal and post-natal care for young mothers, treatment for gastro-intestinal problems arising from dirty water, poor hygiene and of course HIV / AIDS related diseases, esp. Malaria, Tuberculosis, as well as flu, snake bites, burns etc.

Last year, after increasing frustration, the clinical officer (they have NO doctor) and nurses upped and left, having failed to find suitable accommodation in Murundu. A part-time service is now being provided.

At the Christian Brothers assembly in Lusaka in April 2006 the Brothers decided to do something to help with the HIV / AIDS epidemic and each community was asked to do something positive. We decided at our community meeting to help the clinic situation in Murundu by building three houses for the medical personnel. Having consulted widely with the clinical officer (emeritus) and with the local council officials, we decided to also construct a shelter for those waiting and a delivery room for babies. In all our decisions, the availability of our brick-making, funded by CBC Cork, was a major consideration in our decision to build.

We decided that I, Br. Michael, would seek funds at home in Ireland for the project. Three schools agreed to fund one house each (c. €5,000): Kilkenny CBS, Portumna CS and CBS Clonmel. A very generous cardiologist is paying the cost of the delivery room (c. €4,000). The funding estimates are only approximate but we expect these sums will suffice and most schools at this stage have met the target and the remaining funding will soon be on its way. Some has already arrived.

At this stage the building of the three houses is well-advanced with one house roofed and the other two at wall-plate level. We plan to have the houses completed this year and the entire Murundu Clinic Project finished next year, at which point we hand over and get out. The local medical council have promised to send a clinical officer, two nurses and a midwife to Murundu and this would provide a full service. We look forward to this happening.

In all of this work, the Hydroform brick-making machine funded by CBC Cork is a very major and ongoing resource which continues to work perfectly, producing c. 1500 bricks per day.

These two reports were written by Br. Michael in June 2007. Photos taken by Mark Moriarty during CBC Immersion Project June 2007.
Br. Michael is one of the Christian Brothers based in Mufulira. His duties include teaching at Mufulira High School and managing the village water supply, which supplies water to the local houses and to the Tipperary Plots, fields in which horticulture graduates are given the opportunity to become self-sufficient farmers.

Click for the latest update from the Brothers: May 2008 Update