Our two shipping containers made it all the way to Nyanga Zimbabwe from Sutton Mass. USA – Hooray! We had 24 hours to unload the two containers – the 40ft Yang Ming and the 20ft MSC – and we had organized a 20 person work crew for the job. Here they are in action:
MSC shipping container
And here is the Yang Ming in Nyanga:
Yang Ming Shipping Container
Finally some of the work crew celebrate the end of the day – it was all completed in 8 hours – great work!
The unloading supervisor and his team
Leo, with Megan in the background
Giraffe and Rupurara rock
At Inn on Rupurara (20km down the road from Nyanga)
Baby Zebra
Baby Giraffe
Megan
Megan and Pip
So, raising a 40ft shipping container from the ground is not straightforward! Especially when it’s in a residential area without straight on access, when it was left without any chocks under it, and, when it is rather full (i.e. a heavy 40,180 lb). The pictures below are from the first attempt (snowing on the 18th Jan, and second successful attempt on 20th Jan made possible by use of a “wrecker” to lift and maneuver the container to allow the Landoll to get underneath.
Sneaking into the pictures you will spot our second shipping container (a petit 20ft) in the background up on its trailer – as yes – this is a 2 container family move!
Above the Landoll moves in for the first attempt – though not able to lift the container sufficiently with its own hydraulics.
Above, spot the second container in the background!
Above, YM being lifted by the “Wrecker”
and the Landoll backs in underneath
Note for the boys: the Landoll’s rear wheels can move back and fore, and the bed of the truck can be lifted as seen above so that the very end of the bed reaches the floor. Its a great piece of kit!
Hmm, all agree thats a bit of an angle…
Success!
Orphans Zimbabwe
Our goal for the Montessori school is to bring this educational approach to young Zimbabweans at primary school level to prepare them for the needs of their future life: open-mindedness, confidence, organization, process, social skills, presentation skills. We will provide our children with the skills to make them successful in life after exams and beyond “grades”. A Montessori education enables children to learn and excel without the ‘rote learning’ that is the staple in some primary schools. Furthermore, a Montessori education will equip the children with life skills and introduce a lot of advanced materials from other disciplines that are normally not introduced until secondary school/high school. Good academic grades definitely help to get you your first job, however after that what are employers looking for in order to hire you or promote you?
To achieve this goal we are going to rent / buy / build the school buildings close to the farm. Hire trained Montessori teachers, and start-up! We have the equipment necessary for Montessori learning donated by schools in the USA.
Update 10 April 2015: We are getting there – see The Troutbeck Montessori School website
Eastern Highlands Zimbabwe
Eastern Highlander 