Developments at Living Water

We spend a relaxing weekend in Arusha National Park, drive ourselves, have a picnic and enjoy the animals and birds.

Back to work and our first visit to Living Water Children Centre. We immediately see a big development in the new school and we are so pleased to hear from Dora and Anza that they have attracted enough fee paying students to support the home. This is a template for our charity, a successful, self sustaining home for 50 abused, neglected and/or orphaned children being integrated with children from a more advantaged background. There are still improvements to be made, but we feel that we have achieved our aims of helping community groups at a crucial time in their development and Living Water represents this aim.

Five LWCC children achieved successful primary school results at the centre and have gone to board at secondary school. We will be seeing them within the next couple of weeks.

 

Dymphina's in Olosiva Village

We leave on a high but are soon brought down to earth when within an hour we visit some of the most disadvantaged children we have seen in Tanzania. This was at Dymphina’s in Olosiva village, where we were introduced to Mary. She told us her story, having worked with handicapped children in her career; she painstakingly extended her home into a school for autistic and mentally handicapped children. Some of these children are often rejected by their families and the local community, but Mary and her small staff have brought some joy into their lives. We promise Mary that we will visit her again before we leave.

 

More TEKUA students at Help to Self Help

The following day we arrive at TEKUA to take 3 nervous girls for assessments at Help to Self Help Vocational School for a 2 year catering course. One of the girls, Gift is an orphan and the other 2; Joyce and Jackie are from large families with little income. After a nervous wait, we are told they all pass and can start the following day. We listen whilst the principal gives the girls a talking to – they must not be late, starting time is 7.30, but they have a travelling time of at least one hour, they must work hard and they must sign contracts that any absences must be explained in writing! Returning in the car, Pendo, the TEKUA administrator, emphasises that "this is your golden chance as you only get one".

We hope they will follow the success of the previous TEKUA students who went on to be employed in the tourist industry.

 

First Visit to Kiwamifo

A quick visit to Kiwamifo, a community group that helps orphaned teenage girls with sewing skills. We gave them a little support last year and were pleased to see the progress so we have asked them to come up with a proposal that will help them become sustainable. We will revisit in 2 weeks.

 

Discussions at Ndoombo

We knew we would have a challenging driving day ahead as for the first time we drive ourselves the 20k dusty, bumpy track up the slopes of Mt Meru to visit Ndoombo. We vowed, on our first visit, we would never make this journey again, but this is our seventh trip!

The challenges for Ndoombo Secondary School reflect the difficulties that Tanzania is experiencing. The knock on effect of the economic crisis in the west has directly reduced employment in the safari and rose growing industry, consequently local people are being put out of work and they are unable to pay school fees. It is the fee paying pupils here that enable the most disadvantaged pupils to attend this school for free. As the number of pupils has reduced from 120 last year to just 70 this year, the sustainability is greatly at risk. What is pleasing to hear is that the solar panels bought last year are working and providing electricity and 3 of the students from Tekua graduated last year and now have their School Certificate, equivalent of GCSE’s. The students we sponsor were overjoyed to see us; they all did well in their 2nd year exams, with Joyce coming in 2nd place.

 

We know that Horace (The Founder) faces some tough decisions as we discuss ways of how he can continue supporting the school.

 

Catching up with Eliekunde

On our drive back down the mountain, we visit Eliekunde. We first met her in 2006, a young disabled girl who had been rejected by her family. She had been taught to sew and we bought her a sewing machine and some materials to generate an income for herself. We are delighted to see that as well as the sewing business, she now has a small shop where she sells fruit and vegetables from the local farmers and takes a small commission. She tells us that she is now the main source of income for her family, what a turnaround! It is amazing to see the difference just a little help can bring.

 

Some Administration

Our other work this week included a meeting with some of the Governors of Wamata as we would like them to partner us in an application for a grant to Comic Relief. We will let you know more about this if we succeed.

We have also been telephoning and emailing to Sister Genevieve, Father Joseph and Konnect9 to find out what is happening with the container. Frustratingly, we are told that customs are awaiting a certificate from Dar es Salaam to confirm the recipients are NGO registered. Knowing how things work here, we fear this may take some time. We will keep you informed.

Another week of ups, downs, frustrations and rewards, that's Africa!