|
NEWS FROM TANZANIA
Photos from the November trip (over 500!)
New children (5 pics), Trip to Bunda/Serengeti (13pics),
Daniel & Eliada (10pics), Water Tower (20pics), Choir (19pics),
Individual children (55pics), Groups of children (17pics)
The Journey (45pics), Lake flies - breakfast (15pics), Holdalls (10pics),
The OCC team in schools (21pics),
OCC helping with Education at Bethany (21pics),
OCC team with the Bethany children (59pics),
Football (18pics), Games (32pics), Chores at Bethany (10pics),
Building work (27pics), Sunrise/sets (127pics)
Storm hits Bethany; Daniel reports:
“We got bad news at Bethany the night before Yesterday (13/12/2004). It was around 10 p.m. when we had just a light (not heavy) rain but it was very windy and hard blowing (it was blowing a gale). Because of hard blowing wind, it blew part of our dinning building that was built for us by the R.A.F. people from U.K. The whole Bethany family is very sad to inform you this sad news because this part of the building that has been blown away was very important and useful for the family! By the way, we really thank God that it happened during night that every body especially the children were asleep otherwise if it had happened a day time we would have been maybe telling a different sadder story. Also the sign by the road was pushed down as well that needs rebuilding too. “
Fortunately from what Daniel says the damage is not as bad as first thought. The good news is that the dining room and kitchen are still functional as it was only the exposed end room (used as a classroom) of the block that had the roof lifted off and dumped at the side of the building knocking down the pillars the roof trusses it was resting on. Hopefully we can salvage most of the roofing sheets and rebuild at a minimal cost (est. £250) and repair the sign (est. cost £50). Click here for Photo’s
Latest group return Graham Pountain together with the group from OCC (Oswaldtwistle Community Church) returned from a visit to Bethany Tanz on Thursday the 25th November. Below is all the latest news they brought back with them including several 100 photographs.
The Ossy group
Consisting of: Sus, Nicky, Chris, Stevie, Cat, Anya, Kim and Vicky (click here for photo) . It was a long tiring journey (click here for photos). The group visited various places including Yitwimila Primary School where they took some English Lessons. They visited Bulima secondary school and ‘Lion of Judah’ private school. They also visited Kuleana and Fonelisco (children’s rescue centres). One Sunday afternoon they even managed a trip up to Bunda. The road to Bunda passes through the Serengeti (click here for pics). Click on the following to see pictures under the various headings:
Games, Football, Schools, Home education, With the children,
Members of the team would welcome the opportunity of sharing their experiences with you (churches, schools, etc.) please phone Sushila on 01254 386475.
There is also a DVD available all about the trip. Click here for details
Daniel and Eliada (proposed marriage): The wedding date is now set for Saturday the 12th March. Eliada has explained to Sushila the type of wedding dress she would ideally like and if you know anyone with a wedding dress they would like to donate then please contact Sus (tel 01254 386475). Otherwise everything seems to be going to plan. The wedding will take place at Kibara, Bunda which is about 4 hours drive from Bethany and a welcome reception will be held at Bethany sometime the week after they are married. Daniel and Eliada would be happy to welcome any of our supporters as wedding guests click here for your invitation. There is still time to make a gift towards the wedding click here for details of how you can contribute. Click here for some photos of the happy couple. Latest news: We now have one wedding dress but would like more so that there is a choice and perhaps various styles. We intend that these wedding dresses will belong to Bethany and be loaned out whenever staff or ex-bethany children get married - so please let us know if you have one to donate. (In Tanzania the ladies prefer very traditional wedding dresses with a lot of detail with high back and neck line with a long train!)
Children: We admitted 5 new children during November and now have 73 children and our accommodation is even fuller . Dotto (13yrs) who we mentioned in October’s news is now settling in well. Nyangeta Lucas (8yr old girl) is also settling in well as is Kulwa. Our new children are as follows: Wanzita (Esther) Stephen Mahunda aged 7yrs, Mwanaidi Issa aged 15yrs, , Sahibu Issa, boy aged 4yrs, Hamza Issa boy aged 11yrs and Kundi Robart girl aged 6yrs Click here for pictures of these five new children.
Crop growing: Now the rains have come many of the children are working on their own small plots of land where they will grow maize and other crops which will be used at Bethany
Schooling: Our teacher Mr. Amede is still teaching our pre-school children as well as older children who are waiting to start secondary school plus others like Nyangeta who have never been to school. Both Daniel and Onesmo are helping with the teaching as the children are now on holiday for their four week Christmas holidays. We are pleased to tell you of a friend of Daniel’s who has come to help out with the teaching at Bethany during the holidays. He is a Mr. Matiku who is studying at NTC ( Nassa Theological College).
Proposed School: Still some way off!
BUILDING WORK
Water Supply: The team are still working hard on this. The new solenoid valve is now fitted to the uv filter along with a new time switch (with its own battery!) which will continue to work even if the main power source fails. The underground water tank is almost complete but now the rains have come it will take longer as the tank keeps filling with water washed in to the tank off the land. (click here to see all the pictures of the building work)
New Dormitory: The footings were being dug for this as we left and Daniel tells us that the foundation concrete has been laid and they have so far used approx. 1,500 large concrete blocks to raise the wall up to floor level. They are in-filling the floor area with sand and stones ready to lay a 6” reinforced concrete floor. Hopefully all this will be done before the first team of five builders arrives on January the 18th 2005. (click here to see all the pictures of the building work)
Possible bore hole: As we mentioned in November’s update our external water supply tank is situated about 400 metres away from the lake and about 300 metres from our well (sump). Due to the problems we have encountered with the level of the lake not being constant we have been looking at the possibility of drilling a bore hole at the top of our site next to the water tank. We would then not have to rely on the level of the lake or the problems associated with pumping the water for 400metres We have had our first estimate for this work which is over 9 million Tanzania shillings which is in the region of £5,000 pounds just for the hole to be drilled and lined and from the presentation of the quote which turns out to be just an estimate we are not sure if this firm is trustworthy or not. However we have been given a contact name from Water aid of people who do bore hole drilling in the Mwanza region. The recommendation does however come with a warning!. The team are following up these leads, but if anyone out there knows of a bore hole drilling outfit who will drill a bore hole for us please let us know.
(click here for pictures of the ongoing building work)
Trips planned for 2005:
January Trip: This has now been booked. Five builders are leaving on the 18th January for a two week stay. They are: Bill Rawstron and Mark McVey (both have been many times previously), Sam McLean (also visited before), Gary Fielding and Dave Duxbury. They hope to build the dormitory up to roof level. The second team hope to put the roof on and fit out the electrics and plumbing work.
March Trip: Graham, Sheila and Paul Pountain are booked for this trip which is from the 3rd to the 19th March. It is timed so that we are there for when Daniel and Eliada get married. There is still time to join this trip if you are available. Please phone or email.
Easter trip 2005: This has now been booked and so far Graham and Elaine Earnshaw and Kathy Riley are going. It is during the Easter school holidays. There is still time for others to join them on this trip so please email me if this fits into your time scale.
April-May trip: Still in the planning stages but hope that the second team of builders will form one of these groups.
New vehicle grant: Sadly we have had to pay the VAT on this vehicle since the law has recently changed. This has now been paid and Onesmo is learning to drive so that we will soon have three drivers at Bethany. We hope to pick up the vehicle from Dar in the very near future
Sponsorship - Finance: Schools and individuals still remember us and continue to support us throughout the year. We are hoping that our monthly income soon reaches £600 per month as this is really important to us. As the numbers of children increase we have recently had to increase the budget from £2,000 for 68 children to £2,100 for 73 children. This amount covers all the daily running costs for feeding, housing and educating our 73 children. This amount also covers the cost of wages and also for running our clinic and providing 32,000 litres of water for the village. It also covers the running costs of our old Land Rover and hopefully our new Toyota when it arrives.
Sponsorship, Supporting Bethany.
Monthly meeting: Our next meeting will be Saturday 5th February 2005. Click here for more details
Tanz staff changes: None
UK team changes: None
|
