Sundays:

On Sundays, Peter Weyama collects the children that live on the outskirts of Bumala in his old car or hires a Buda Buda ( bicycle with a seat on the back) to bring them to the tree nursery. They then have a breakfast of bread and tea.

After breakfast, all the children help in the tree nursery. The younger ones with watering and weeding. The older children with bringing the water up from the well, planting, and mulching, until the main meal of rice/beans, vegetables and meat are prepared by Esnas and the older girls, are ready to eat. The younger children then usually play, sing and dance together.

The children leave to go home at about 4pm, some walking miles, or Peter takes them home.
If it rains then the children have to leave early as there is no shelter at the tree nursery. (another project we need to do).

Sunday’s are a day for them all to be together, as they all live in different areas of Bumala and go to different schools. During the holidays these children who can get to the tree nursery, especially the bigger boys and girls, do whatever they can to help. They enjoy seeing the things that they have watered and taken care of grow, it also gives them a sense of belonging.

Once a month the children are all given maize and beans to take home for themselves and their extended families.

Life is very hard for all the people of Bumala, Many orphaned children are looked after by elderly grandparents or other members of the extended families, and they find it hard to feed themselves as well as the children they are looking after, many of the grandparents are frail and ill themselves, so the children have to help with the chores and in looking after the rest of the family.

By bringing these children together on Sundays, they can have a day of pleasure and know that we care about them, and want to help give them a future to look forward to.