Sustainability
SOCH Inn opened in 2016. It has 13 rooms and offers good, clean mid-range accommodation for local travellers. Profits are directed towards the running costs of SOCH. An ex-student of Collège du Léman, who had visited SOCH in 2014, single-handedly raised a huge amount towards its construction.
The SOCH Maize Hammer Mill opened in 2018. It grinds maize for local farmers, providing them with a good local service, and generating income for SOCH. The family of an ex-student of Collège du Léman, who visited SOCH in 2016 provided an anonymous donation for its construction, and then a further donation in 2021 to upgrade the project so that it is independent of electricity and can thus still operate during times of power outages.
Raising chickens is another project which supplements the diet of the children, offers the local community more choice of food, and generates profits to support SOCH.
The Carpentry Project was established in 2018 through Melbourne Polytechnic to provide basic woodworking for those orphans for whom further school study was no longer an option. They were trained by our resident carpenter. Much furniture (including doors) in the SOCH Charity School have however been built through our carpenter and his apprentices.
Fish Farm & Vegetable Garden
This pond was built as a fish farm. It is sited near a large fruit and vegetable garden, both of which were usually fed by a water furrow which is now unfortunately unusable due to other upstream users diverting most of the water of the small stream onto their land. Fruit, vegetables and fish are all important aspects of a nutritious diet for the children. Water from our borehole was used in the past for the vegetable garden when the mains supply was reduced. However, reserves of our underground supply of water at SOCH is now very low.
