Lilongwe
Kasungu 3 & 4 October More research
I needed a new quote for Shannon who is fundraising for a well or possibly two for next year. Kenneth joined me in the Ministry of Water Development and Irrigation to learn the process. He is a church pastor with a real commitment to development of the people as a necessary adjunct to his spiritual mission. The new quote came in at K1,810,000 or about $5200 down from about $7500 for Nguwo paid in 2011. The Malawi Kwacha was being held at an artificially high rate by the late Bingu wa Mutharika and is now floating at closer to its true value. The next village for a well on our agenda is Chindui which is on a ridge in line about 1 kilometre north of the Chilanga Secondary School.
We then went to see Mrs Monica Kandodo at her business office also in the Capital City Centre. When I met her with her husband on Sunday, she had offered her services as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor. I had no idea what that was, but was soon to find out how valuable an offer it was. She is going to help us pro-bono, because she often attends church at Chilanga and is a member there. She has her own company and her office is replete with examples of projects she has worked on and is currently working on. She will pass by at least once a month for a site inspection, report on the technical progress, the financial situation and how it conforms to the work done. They have a standard format for reporting which she is going to send to me. With her technical expertise and access to communication and resources, she will be indispensable in monitoring progress once we have fundraised enough to restart the work.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the office of Collins Kaunda, the architect to set up Skype interaction between him, myself and Carl Mulvey in Montreal. Collins high speed hotspot phone was out of battery so we used the dongle and quite successfully communicated for about 15 minutes. The quality of the line and reception improved as we went along. We spent some time clarifying the delegation of authority, how the architect and contractor get paid, interpreting the Bill of Quantity, and how the contractor was selected.
In brief, Collins was approached at my request by Jack Kamanga to review the plan I had brought from Canada in January 2012. He in turn gave it to a quantity surveyor to break down into its components and price. He returned two copies of his estimated price list known as a Bill of Quantities, one with his price figures indicated and another with no figures. Contractors were invited to bid on the project using the blank sheet Bill. A committee representing the Chilanga Church, Senior Chief Kaomba, Makupo Village and the architect reviewed the submissions and selected Jack Kamanga's submission as being both closest to the Quantity Surveyor's figures and with a portfolio indicating a standard of quality in previous projects.
Kenneth and I returned to Kasungu Friday morning to meet the District Medical Officer, Dr Jerome Nkhambule. It was a cordial reception. He was initially reserved about an imported plan, insisting that the Ministry of Health had standards and norms that he would prefer to keep all new installations in line with. However, once we opened the blue print up and walked through some of the features, he very quickly warmed up to the EKM ideas. Once we had established that it was an outpatient facility and that maternity would be referred to the Kasungu District Hospital he was enthusiastically affirmative. He indicated that he would have a written confirmation in the next week to extend his approval to proceed so that the clinic could fall within the CHAM / MoU and receive government staffing, drugs and services accordingly.
He arranged for his colleague, the District Environmental Health Officer, to meet us on Monday morning to pursue the health outreach and promotion work that we are proposing.
I needed a new quote for Shannon who is fundraising for a well or possibly two for next year. Kenneth joined me in the Ministry of Water Development and Irrigation to learn the process. He is a church pastor with a real commitment to development of the people as a necessary adjunct to his spiritual mission. The new quote came in at K1,810,000 or about $5200 down from about $7500 for Nguwo paid in 2011. The Malawi Kwacha was being held at an artificially high rate by the late Bingu wa Mutharika and is now floating at closer to its true value. The next village for a well on our agenda is Chindui which is on a ridge in line about 1 kilometre north of the Chilanga Secondary School.
We then went to see Mrs Monica Kandodo at her business office also in the Capital City Centre. When I met her with her husband on Sunday, she had offered her services as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor. I had no idea what that was, but was soon to find out how valuable an offer it was. She is going to help us pro-bono, because she often attends church at Chilanga and is a member there. She has her own company and her office is replete with examples of projects she has worked on and is currently working on. She will pass by at least once a month for a site inspection, report on the technical progress, the financial situation and how it conforms to the work done. They have a standard format for reporting which she is going to send to me. With her technical expertise and access to communication and resources, she will be indispensable in monitoring progress once we have fundraised enough to restart the work.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the office of Collins Kaunda, the architect to set up Skype interaction between him, myself and Carl Mulvey in Montreal. Collins high speed hotspot phone was out of battery so we used the dongle and quite successfully communicated for about 15 minutes. The quality of the line and reception improved as we went along. We spent some time clarifying the delegation of authority, how the architect and contractor get paid, interpreting the Bill of Quantity, and how the contractor was selected.
In brief, Collins was approached at my request by Jack Kamanga to review the plan I had brought from Canada in January 2012. He in turn gave it to a quantity surveyor to break down into its components and price. He returned two copies of his estimated price list known as a Bill of Quantities, one with his price figures indicated and another with no figures. Contractors were invited to bid on the project using the blank sheet Bill. A committee representing the Chilanga Church, Senior Chief Kaomba, Makupo Village and the architect reviewed the submissions and selected Jack Kamanga's submission as being both closest to the Quantity Surveyor's figures and with a portfolio indicating a standard of quality in previous projects.
Kenneth and I returned to Kasungu Friday morning to meet the District Medical Officer, Dr Jerome Nkhambule. It was a cordial reception. He was initially reserved about an imported plan, insisting that the Ministry of Health had standards and norms that he would prefer to keep all new installations in line with. However, once we opened the blue print up and walked through some of the features, he very quickly warmed up to the EKM ideas. Once we had established that it was an outpatient facility and that maternity would be referred to the Kasungu District Hospital he was enthusiastically affirmative. He indicated that he would have a written confirmation in the next week to extend his approval to proceed so that the clinic could fall within the CHAM / MoU and receive government staffing, drugs and services accordingly.
He arranged for his colleague, the District Environmental Health Officer, to meet us on Monday morning to pursue the health outreach and promotion work that we are proposing.
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