CHILDREN’S HOME and SCHOOL Busega District, Mwanza Region, Tanzania, E. Africa We are a small team of Christians working together to help the most vulnerable children and people in a rural area of Tanzania. East Africa. We are involved in providing financial support and volunteers to visit both long and short term to share in the work both here and in Tanzania. As of Feb, 2025 caring for more than 130+ children at our Children’s home, and over 390+ children in our Primary School. Contact: Graham Pountain email: graham@pountain.net  Tel 07913522883
Jan - Feb - March - 2025 UPDATE
The Bethany Project (often referred to as the Bethany Family) is registered in Tanzania as an NGO no. 8059. It is administered by the The Bethany Project (Tanzania) UK (Reg. Charity no 517995),   Reg. Address: 11 Ash Street, Oswaldtwistle, Accrington, Lancashire. BB5 3LN.  Tel 017913522883.  email: graham@pountain.net Trustees: Graham Pountain, David Borland OBE, Heather Jeffrey and Paul Pountain
find us on facebook
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As an Atheist by Mathew Parris Full article click here
History Timeline Highlights 1989 - 2023 Click here
To view our last update Oct - Nov - Dec - 2024 Click here
NEW - Bethany as viewed from above
The Children’s home Click on image to enlarge
The School Click on image to enlarge
350 School children Click here for our audited accounts March 2023 - March 2024
This video is about the people who run Bethany.  They tell their stories about how they came to Bethany, their education and their responsibilities at Bethany.
BIMONTHLY MEETINGS   Next meeting - Sunday April 6th (2025) 2pm Ernest Street Chapel, Ernest Street, Church, Oswaldtwistle, Accrington. BB5 4HP (location: what3words: rival.cross.votes )
Below: Past Videos
Click here for Facts about Bethany and Tanzania
Visiting Bethany We organise trips to Bethany throughout the year  If you feel you would lke to go and both see the work we are doing and help where possible we invite you to the selection process. Our guide is here and our application form is here. If accepted you will have to pay for your airfares (approx £1,000) and also contribute £6+ per day for your food and accommodation plus other expenses etc. Email: graham@pountain.net
Here is an extract from Emmakulatha’s report: Despite the effort made by the Tanzania government to improve the quality of our education system, many girls still face barriers such as poverty, early marriages, unwanted pregnancies and cultural norms that limit their access to secondary education. The lack of adequate facilities further exacerbates the issue, leading to high dropout rates and limited opportunities. Click here for the full report
New Bethany Secondary School for Girls
If you would like to support our vision for a new  Secondary School for Girls please visit our page with details of how to donate (Click here). As of February 9th 2025 donations total:
£8,078
Once you have made a donation could you please email David email: David.a.borland@outlook.com to let him know that your donation is for the new school
As a guide to prices a bag of cement costs £8 and a builder’s pay is approx £4 per day
From the UK
From Tanzania
£423
This web page is in the process of being updated with news from Tanzania.
Below - the School Layout
Below - work begins
Above are our form 4 students who all managed an average score of grade A in their national exams which means our school had the best results out of the 585 schools in our region (Simiyu). Click here to see their individual results. Click here to see a list of links to other schools in our district. Comments from std 4 class Teacher Miss Tabu Titus; ...fluent English speaking was a challenge to me. I was not having enough English vocabularies. Due to this I used my time to learn more vocabularies from my fellow teachers and resources like books and dictionaries. To read the Tabu’s full report click here
Left: Plan of the Admin block. Stage 1 is to dig down for the foundations, then lay the concrete footings and build up the foundation walls (about 1 metre) and them lay the  reinforced concrete slab on top (6”).  For this we need over 350 bags of cement to make the blocks and for the mortar and concrete. Our builder helped by our own site workers is charging £1,300 plus materials which altogether comes to just over £10,000
Below: Video footage of work starting on the admin block
Below:  Emmakulatha (head teacher) talks about the ‘Rising Hope Programme’
Visiting Bethany NEXT TRIP (Monday April 21st to May 8th 2025) We organise trips to Bethany throughout the year  If you feel you would like to go and both see the work we are doing and help where possible we invite you to the selection process. Our guide is here and our application form is here. If accepted you will have to pay for your airfares (approx £1,000) and also contribute £6+ per day for your food and accommodation plus other expenses etc. Email: graham@pountain.net
Bethany Project Update January 2025 (video below)
Click here for itemised estimate
If anyone in the world has the power and the potential to change the hearts and minds of this world, it must be the Christian women.  Charles Specht
Below: 25minutes of drone footage taken January 2025. The songs you will hear are all sung by the Bethany children. Hopefully you will see the marking out of our hoped for secondary school, our maize crop, our children from the school making their way for breakfast and also see if you can spot the hippos bathing in the lake!
Building progress  Week 1,  Week 2