July 2009 Trip (Over 400 Photos and 8 video clips))
New Mossy Nets (3 pics),  Just children (72 pics),  Serengeti (16 pics),  Agriculture  (16 pics),

Letters (48 pics),  Sunrise/set (25 pics),  Choir to England (31 pics),  Chores (13 pics),

Children Playing (33 pics),  Tracy’s pics (75 pics),   New Kitchen / Dining room  (7 pics),

Emily and Tracy with classes (4 pics),  Tanesco Electricity (4 pics),
  China, Emma and Jesca’s pictures (107 pics), Dave’s pics (107 pics)

Video Clips (via Youtube)
Click here for David Borland’s report June 2009
Click here for Paul and Rebecca’s report May 2009
__________________________________________________________

June- July Trip:

Graham Pountain accompanied by China, Emma and Jesca with two short term volunteers Tracy Landon and Emily Pilkington left the UK on the 30th June and returned on the15th July. China, Emma and Jesca helped the three new prospective students, Sophia, Minza and Fatuma with their final preparations for the two year diploma course they hope to attend at Accrington and Rossendale College.  Tracy and Emily also helped all the other children at Bethany with their English. A big thank you to Emily and Tracy for all their hard work.
Choir trip. We now have all the birth certificates and passports for our 20 children (16 girls and 4 boys) and are in the process of obtaining visas. All being well they should arrive around the 21st Sept. and return around the 8th November. Most of the flight expenses etc. are being covered by a donation of £15,000 given specifically for this purpose. The choir hope to visit many of our supporters and anyone/organisation interested in our work. Click here for pics, Click here for video

Electricity! We now have mains electricity connected at Bethany. We have been waiting for this for many years and celebrated its long awaited arrival. This means we can give our solar system and battery a rest from time to time and we can also run heavier power tools without starting the generator.  However on the second day after its connection the mains power was off all day and since then we have found it can go off at any time for a few minutes to all day - so not very reliable as yet.

Primary and Secondary education: Our local primary school (to which 80+ of our children attend) has just restarted after 4 weeks holiday. However on their return they were told the school would remain closed for another 4 weeks due to the fact that the hole used for a toilet was now full and it was the responsibility of the villagers to dig another and it was thought this would take four weeks to complete. Emma visited her old secondary school and found that they now had three full time teachers (paid by the government) and seven 6th form leavers  (paid by contributions from the pupils parents). This school has over 600 pupils ranging in ages from 14 years to boys and girls in their early 20’s. It was sad to note that both schools are still without electricity as it appears the government is unable to fund the provision of power or for the schools to have any equipment that needs power.  We are fortunate at Bethany to be the only organisation in our village to have power.

Adventure Playground !!!!!!!! - Developments....

You will remember that we had been offered a grant to provide a play area for our children by Katie Kornfield who represents the Rock foundation. This project has been a little slow off the ground as it takes time to organise things.  However we have marked out the land for the play area, bought some of the steel required as well as specialist fittings from the UK for the swings.  We aim to build two pairs of swings for the older children 8yrs + and one pair for the younger children. Two sets of goal posts (large and medium), a set of netball nets and posts for the girls. We are also hoping to build a set of four small towers 6mtrs square. Click here for pics
Ongoing Global Financial Crisis  more GOOD NEWS:

The exchange rate is now over 2,000Tsh per £1 which is much better than it has been in the recent past.  Money has been released for the kitchen and dining room roof - which is now completed.

Dave and Vicky Shaw are continuing to work hard supplementing the ‘education’ our primary and secondary children are receiving especially English. Dave and Vicky are also helping at the local government primary school (one day per week). Click here for Dave’s pics
Karen Ross returned to the UK on the 15th July having completed nearly 12 months unpaid voluntary work at Bethany.  Karen has done a wonderful job nurturing our pre-school children. It is sad that there is no-one else who could follow up this work. Click here for Karen’s photos (72pics),

Students in England: China, Emma and Jesca are doing well, Emma and Jesca are waiting for the results of their GCSE Maths and English whilst studying hard for their GCSE Science. They enjoyed their trip back to Bethany and are looking forward to the next three girls who are hoping to join the course (Sophia, Minza and Fatuma). They are also looking farward to the choir coming. Click here for photos taken by the girls on their visit back to Bethany

Inappropriate Behaviour:
We are pleased to tell you that the majority of our children are well behaved most of the time. However we have to report that Phabian (20yrs) a boy finishing form four at secondary school felt he did not have to follow the rules regarding attending meetings or asking permission to be away from site.  He is now being accommodated in a local house and no longer allowed on site. This will continue for the foreseeable future until he finishes school and  goes for further training.

Older Children (leavers):

Angelina Cosmos is still working part time for both Forever Angels. 

Rehema Kasimu and Eva Joseph are still doing well at Isamilo International School where they teach English curriculum in English using English methods. They have broken up for their summer holidays and are now back at Bethany for 6 weeks helping with the teaching of English and nurturing the little ones. Eva and Rehema are looking forward to helping the two groups of visitors who are coming in July.  Click here to see the latest photos taken by China Emma and Jesca

Mwita and Labanai are doing well.

Frank: visited Bethany for a couple of days and says he misses Bethany very much as he is now living on his own.

Immakulatha: Now looking after her baby and working at Forever angels

Mwanaidi, Neema and Hollo: All appear to be doing well and are still at Forever Angels. Mwanidi and Neema both made a 70,000Tsh donation to Bethany to help with the ongoing work.

Sophia, Fatuma and Minza: all doing well and making progress with their English, Child Care and IT studies in preparation for their study at Accrington and Rossendale College..

Other standard 7 Leavers:

Boys: Bujimbu Zacharia still at the local secondary school.

Emmanuel Charles, John Juma, Joseph Pius, Kulwa Mussa,   Labazu Daniel, Daniel Juma, Ramadani Thobias are all doing various VETA vocational training courses.

Peter Chezela, is now working at Fortes Garage and has recently been promoted.
Tabaji Chezela, Doing well on his computer training course.
Kwekwe ( Moses) Shibandiko: doing two short computer courses in Mwanza with Tabaji

Evarist Shaban: No news since he left Bethany and living with an uncle who is reported to be providing secondary education for him. 

Girls: Mpelwa Juma is now at the local secondary school:

Pendo Malale Jesca Juma and Sumai Makoye are now receiving training at Forever Angels

Ghati (Pendo) Wambura has now for a full time job at Hillfront hotel. See pics

Rwechungura: is still sharing a room (in Mwanza) with Tabaji and Kwekwe and has been given a temporary job with Mr. Bryson.
Ghati Daudi is now doing a hotel management course.

Secondary school children:
Boys: Phabian Juma, Hamza Issa, Nyamarige Mussa, Bujimbu Zacharia and Elijah Benard are all working hard at secondary school.

Girls: Rehema Joseph is doing well and is now joined by Mpelwa Juma. 
Bore-holes:
No further developments

New Children: report later

Children: All doing well.

Choir: Still enjoying practicing hard and looking forward to visiting England again this year if funds permit.

Building work progress: Three major projects. To firstly double the size of the dining room,  build a new boys dormitory and a half way house for the older boys.

New boys dormitory:  No Progress. As you may already know we have the drawings for the new boys dorm. It will hold a maximum of 148 boys which  will double our accommodation capability from 130/140 to over double that number. The plans show two toilet blocks and one shower block, 7 dormitories and 2 smaller rooms for older boys/ storage. David our Treasurer has estimated the cost to be about £80,000 which we haven’t got so we will build as funds allow. Click here to see the plans  (Click here for pics of our present boys dorm).

Dining room and Kitchen:  The roof is on covering the new kitchen and dining room. We still have to complete the roof on the smaller side kitchen which we will use for cooking with wood. We still need to render/plaster all the internal and external walls, provide doors and windows, and perhaps tile the floor. We will then perhaps need to install any new electrical kitchen equipment we can find etc etc.

Half Way House: We believe it would be beneficial to  provide accommodation for our older boys away from the Bethany site for various reasons. 

Children’s health:   No problems at present.

Children’s behaviour: No problems at present now that some of the older boys have left.
Monthly Supporters / Enquirers Meetings: The dates for the next 5 meetings which are all on Sundays at 2pm are:  They are held at Christ Church Hall, Christ Church Street, Roughlee Road, Christ Church Square, Accrington Lancashire. BB5 2LU.  Everyone welcome. (click here for details)
Pen pals group web site: This group continues to write to our children with letters of encouragement. We are always hopeful that some pen pals will one day become sponsors. Our visiting teams help write letters for the children. Click on the headings to see the photos:
Letters received,

Future Trips:  See details on our home / index page.

Please email if you are at all interested

____________________________________________________________________________

Sponsorship - Finance: As ever - finance is an ongoing concern.  For those still considering sponsoring or co-sponsoring please see our list of names for sponsorship. Click here
To learn more about sponsorship we have produced a 4 page Question and Answer sheet (click here).
_____________________________________________________________________________
 

Money boxes: As you can see our total collected from the money boxes is over £10,326.29 as of 29/10/2008.  Cathy Riley is still looking after the new money boxes, both issuing them, banking the proceeds and issuing receipts. If you want one email Bex and she will pass on your request to Cathy.

Satellite Internet:  No further news. Still too expensive

Possible bore hole: no news 

UK team changes: We are pleased to tell you that Ms. Annemarie Morgan (teacher) has joined the team and her details will shortly be added. Please visit the home page for a link to details of our UK team members.

Tanzania team changes: Please visit the home page for details.

OTHER NEWS

And Finally:  Thank you so much for being interested enough in our work to be reading this. Even more if by your donation you have made this work possible.

N.B. (Please note that this web site is accessible world wide and so we are very careful to only publish the bare facts as truthfully as possible. There are often circumstances upon which decisions have been made which we feel unable to publish. Please contact us directly if you need to know more)

 89 children still need
sponsors/co-sponsors.
Here are some of them
Click here to go to our sponsorship page

Support/Sponsorship Click here

March 2009 Trip (Over 500 Photos)
March best pics (19pics),  Video update March (1 video 9mins),  Karen’s (72 pics),

Dave’s (94 pics),  Power & Water (22pics),  Calf (5pics), New Girls (2pics),

Letters (54pics),  Older Girls (3pics),  Older Boys (12pics),  Children in standards (9pics),

 Sophia, Minza and Fatuma (6 pics),  Building work Video (1 video),  John Brindle’s (44pics),
Views (22pics),  Bethany staff (2pics),  Sunrise-set (16pics),  Just children (21pics),

Choir practice (100pics),  Food (19pics),  Chores (18pics),  Learning (13pics)
NEW NEW NEW VIDEO CLIPS now on GOOGLE PICASA

Video Clips (via google picasa web album)

January 2009 Trip (Over 650 Photos)
Best Photos (26pics),  Jemma’s photos (109pics),  Karen’s photos (51pics),
Letters Received (16pics),  Temporary Dining room (21pics),  Choir (31pics)

Prospective UK students (3pics),  Local Village School (13pics),  Classrooms (7pics),
New Dining Room and Kitchen (12pics),  Rain water harvesting (7pics),  For Training (13pics),
Fun and Games (44pics),  Individual Children  (33pics),   Chores (56pics),
Groups (22pics),  Eva and Rehema (17pics),  First day at School (22pics),
Funny faces (4pics),  Baptisms (109pics), Sunrise-set (42pics)
NEW NEW NEW VIDEO CLIPS now on GOOGLE PICASA

Video Clips (via google picasa web album)

November Trip (Over 1,700 Photos)
Selection (39pics), Houses around Bethany (39pics), Cow (6pics), Farming (22pics)
Staff/workers (19pics), Meal Time (15pics),  Cooking-Food (36pics), Volunteers (13pics)
Prospective UK Students (4pics),  Children and ex-children (533pics), Karen’s photos (128pics)
Football - boys versus girls (88pics), Letters received (47pics),  Sunrise/set (55pics)
 Girls Netball/football (50pics),  Choir Practice (41pics),  Chores (109pics)
Play (59pics),  Building progress (59pics),  Wildlife (15pics),  Views (29pics)
Teaching (21pics),  Hired Tractor (19pics),  Groups (39pics),  Individuals (49pics)
Jemma’s photos (80pics),  Dave and Vicky’s photos (114pics), UK Students (5pics)

Extract from a letter from a teacher at a supporting school

August Trip Photos (108 assorted pics), Festival of Song (38pics)
Students in England (19pics),  Bethany students visit Hollins School (7pics)

November Trip.

Dave, Vicky and Karen (32pics),  Children (42pics),  Bethany Leavers (6pics),
Growing things (25pics),  Building work (27pics)
Photos from the July 2008 trip (over 300)

Parachute Fun (11pics), Serengeti trip (25pics), Jesca’s village (38pics),
Various (10pics), Letters (48pics),  Eva’s boys (12pics),  Returned students (2pics),
Chores (33pics),  Prospective students (7pics),  Individual children (15pics),

 Choir Practice (34pics),  Groups (22pics),  Volunteer teachers (12pics),
Volunteers (36pics)

Photos taken during the April - May trip 2008 (over 400)

Chores (64pics),  Hippings School (6pics),  Letters (51pics),  Computers (10pics),
Assembly and Presentations (12pics),  Choir Practice (109pics),  Building work (30pics),

Volunteers (83pics), Girls at Forever Angels (2pics),  Games (6pics), Groups (27 pics),

Individual Children (69pics), New girls (6pics)

Photos taken during the January -February trip (over 500)

Agriculture (54 pics),  Dairy Cows (37 pics),  Toddlers Dorms -refurbishment (39 pics),

UV Filter (8 pics),  Small solar water heater tower (78 pics),

Large solar water heater tower (92 pics), Groups of Children ( 40pics ), Sunday Service (26pics),

Individual Children (99pics),   Boys Portrait Pics ( 61pics),  Girls Portrait Pics (62pics),

Standard 1 Children (9pics),  Swinging Fun ( 20pics),  January trip volunteers (38pics),

Letters received (31pics), Danger children at work ( 81pics),  Views around the site (22pics),

Sunrise-sets (40 pics),  David’s Pictures (69pics), Eliada and Daniel’s new baby (4 pics),
(Captions with names of children have been added by Eva, Jesca and Rehema)

Extract from ‘Amy’s News’ from the Forever Angels web -site

Photos from the September trip 2007  (over 500)

Mwanza Lion’s visit ( 3pics), David’s Pics ( 30pics), New Manager’s house (14pics)

Around the site (12pics), Beans and Rice! ( 16pics), Old Boys dorm (17pics),

Tint Tots dorm (13pics), Letter writing ( 28pics), Local school bore-hole (4pics)

At Play ( 19pics), Agriculture (23pics), New Multi-purpose building (16pics),

Education ( 6pics), Letters received ( 85pics), Groups of children (26pics)

 Singing and Dancing ( 62pics), Individual children (81pics), Chores (59pics)

 Ian Redfearn (15pics),   Sunrise/sets (34pics), Best Photo’s (36pics)

Report: by Ian Redfearn

Latest News September 2007: Our 8 students have now just finished their first day at Accrington and Rossendale College. Here are the latest pictures:
Welcome for Students at Accrington and Rossendale College (65pics)

Day out to Lord’s House Farm (30 pics)

A walk in the countryside (72 pics)

_____________________________________________________________________

Photo’s from the July-August trips: (over 600pics)

Mkula Orphanage (3pics),  Letter writing (43pics),  Rounders (36pics),

Letter received (44pics),  Skipping (23pics),  Play (21pics),  Football (8pics),

Crop growing (38pics),  Groups of children (36pics),  Lessons (13pics)  Chores (64pics),
New Children (9pics),  Individual Children (71pics), Singing Practice (45pics),

Building progress (26pics),  Visitors (52pics),  Views (39pics),  Thumbnails (40pics),
Minibus  (9pics), Accrington College students (8pics)

Photos from the May trip (800+)

New wedge-wood Shoes (16 pics),  New children (11 pics),  New bike (12 pics),
Volunteer joiners (120 pics),  Chores (28 pics),  Building work progress (29 pics),
Letters received (16 pics),  Lessons (77 pics),  Games (15pics),  Play (25 pics),

Singing practice (126 pics), Groups of children (45 pics),  Individual children (65 pics),
May visitors (65 pics),  Village school (38 pics), Views (120 pics),

Last day at Bethany - all children with work done (67 pics)

Reports from May trip:

Report by John Brindle and Pat Bridge,  Report by Victoria Delaney,

Education facilities (as of May 2007),
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos from the April trip (52):  Assorted (52 pics)
Report from April Trip: by Heather Jeffery

Pictures from the March 2007 Trip (over 500)

Maize harvest (40 pics), New Children (8 pics), Letters received ( 51 pics),
Letter writing (17 pics),  Individual children (50 pics), New multipurpose block (29 pics),
New volunteers accommodation (22 pics), Choir (58 pics), Children playing (20 pics),
Children at Work (24 pics), Food! (22 pics), Groups of children (22 pics),
Jemma and Roy (25 pics), Jemma’s (51 pics), Roy’s (66 pics),

Sky (47 pics)

Photos taken on the January 2007 trip (over 300)

Portrait Pics of girls (57pics),  Portrait Pics of Boys (49pics), New Children (3pics)

Children at work (47pics),  Groups Children (36pics), Individual Children (48pics)

Letters log-book (4pics), Accy College Students (8pics),  New Exercise books (13pics)

Sunrise-sets (152 pics)

Photos taken before, during and after
the children’s visit to the UK (Sept 21st  - Nov 6th)  (many)
Thumb nail pics (27pics), Manchester Science Museum (47pics), Letters received (75pics)
Nyangeta’s new leg (6pics), Baby Ruth (22pics), Forever Angels (1 pic), 
Groups of children (43 pics), Singing Practice (73 pics),  Blackpool Zoo (142 pics),
Asda Accrington (9 pics), Fire Station - Accrington (50 pics), Ger-Hana (47pics)
Blackburn Rovers (24 pics), Gifts from America (7 pics), October 20th (36 pics),
Accrington College awards (15 pics), Bethany Hillside Nursery (19 pics),
Paul and Rebecca’s wedding (66 pics), September 28th (25 pics), Trutex Boxes arrive (4 pics)
St. Thomas’s Centre (43 pics), An English Playground (10 pics), Schools Work (92 pics)
B&Q visit (14pics), Ripon Cathedral (9pics), Central Gospel Mission, Nelson (27pics),
Local Primary School Tanz. (23 pics), Jemma’s Pics (23pics)
Children at work (32 pics), At Play - Tanz (14pics) Individual children (101 pics),
Water carrying (20 pics), Hapiness (2 pics), Manchester and Doha Airports (13 pics)
Arrival - Bethany (17 pics), Nairobi Airport 4hour wait (27 pics), Trampoline (18pics),
York visit (19pics)

Video footage:

Accrington College presentation (2.28mins - 28meg)

Photos taken on the July - August trip (over 800)

New outfits for the Bethany Choir (34pics), Doing the chores (16pics), Line dancing! (96pics)

English Lessons (34pics), Skipping and Games (25pics), Groups of Children (14pics)

Individual children (56pics), Donated percussion Instruments (9pics), Letters received (46pics)

Letters sent (3pics), Letter writing (67pics), New children (12pics), Return trip (52pics)

Singing practice (137pics), Sunrise - sunsets (70pics), Donated towels & clothes (11pics)

Trip -outbound (38pics), Views from the water tank (14pics), Visiting Teams (70pics)

Wildlife (20pics)

REPORTS by visiting group members:  Cathy Riley, Rebecca Dyer, Karen Ross,

Photos taken on the July trip:

Letters received, (53pics), General interest (24pics)

Photos taken on the June-July Trip (over 750)
Dave at work (11pics),  Amy Tew (15 pics),  New girl - Pendo (4pics)

Building work (30pics),  Rhona and Stanley Burns (12pics), English Exams (32pics)

Stanley and Rhona’s photos (63pics),  July Volunteer’s children (17pics),

Children working (21pics),  Children Playing (29pics) Individual Children (79pics),

Groups children  (16pics), Waiting for the bus (38pics), Sleepinn arrival (50pics),

 Sleepinn breakfast (24pics), Children with passports group A (12pics),

Children with passports group B (11pics),  Children with passports group C (11pics),

Bus depot -1 (28pics), Bus depot -2 (20pics),  Children and chips (17pics),

Letters received (43pics), Letter writing (33pics),  Satellite Dish (11pics)
Children practicing dance and singing (95pics), Sunrise (34pics)

2min VIDEO ‘FUN DANCE PRACTICE’
click here to download (low qualilty),  click here to download (medium qualilty)

Photos from the April trip (over 550 photos)

New Children (13pics), Children at work (31pics), ‘100th Child’ party (50pics)

Building work-new classrooms etc. (28pics),  Letters received (34pics),

Letter writing (12pics), Joinery work (50pics), Plumbing work (26pics),
Teaching the children (English) (17pics), Children’s tooth care (9pics), Play (27pics),
Games (14pics),  New seesaw (21pics), Singers (30pics), Visiting team (43pics),
Sponsored children (28pics), Groups of children (35pics),  Individual children (50pics),

Members of the July Trip (4pics),  Sunrise/sets (29pics)
Reports on the trip by: John Brindle, Wendy Whitaker
and from a previous trip July 2005 by Gary Nolan

Photos from the March Trip (over 360) click on the various headings

Airport (15pics), Building work (29pics), Famine relief (8pics), Food! (37pics),
Groups of children (57pics), Individual children (88pics), Letters received (35pics),
Letter writing (25pics), Melissa (7pics), New children (22pics), Sunrise/sets (46pics)
Children working the land (22pics)

Photos from the January 2006 Trip (over 300) click on the various headings

New children (8pics), The visiting team (65pics), Villagers (105pics)

Inividual children (108pics), Groups of children (19pics), Activities (9pics)

Dining room (17pics), Singing (45pics), Awards (9pics), Letters (70pics)

Return to Past news page

Click on pictures to enlarge

For ten years of past news reports  click here

FUNDRAISING?
We have  joined ‘JUSTGIVING’
which should be a great help for those thinking of raising money through sponsored events
(e.g. Marathons etc.)
Click here for more information

Fatuma, Sophia and Minza

Free Mossy nets!

Choir hopefuls

Emily with Class

Tracy with Class

Progress on new Kitchen and Dining room

 - YouTube -
Link to all 60+
video clips
July 2009
Choir introductions
Aims and Objectives
Zim bam bu
Come now is the time
to worshp
How Great thou art
I close my eyes
Joyful Joyful
I am not forgotten
March 2009
New Video clips
Dave’s and Vicky’s update
Walk round Bethany (1-4)
Building Work
We are marching - HD
Mariam & friends sing
Maize Harvest
Video Jan. 2009
Message from
Eva and Rehema
Video Nov 2008
Bethany intro 4mins
Videos added Nov 2008
I have decided to follow
Sukuma tribal wedding song
Gateway Ch. York visit 2004
Medley of songs for visit 2006
Whim away-Lion sleeps tonight
Video July  2008
Visitor’s Choir - John3:16
Visitor’s choir- Thank you
Bethany choir song
Parachute fun
Soon and very soon
Oh be careful little eyes
Kum Ba Yah
Video May 2008
Sunday Service song
Our God is an awesome God
Sunday Service fun time
Eva Joseph teaching
How great thou art
It would be really helpful if supporters would rate and comment on the videos via Youtube

Countries wealth compared
For every £7 the Tanzanian government has to spend (GDP) on each person these are the figures for comparison

Tanzania

£7

Kenya

£12

Uganda

£17

South Africa

£121

United Kingdom

£309

As you can see both Kenya and Uganda have nearly twice as much money to spend per person as Tanzania whilst the South African government has 17 times the amount to spend on it’s people.
The UK government has 44 times the amount to spend per person.
Click here to see  the source of these figures.

FREE DOWNLOADS

Click here to download MP3
‘Our God is an awesome God’

Click here to download Video
‘Our God is an awesome God’

Click here for short
Video tour of the new dorm

Plans for new boys dorm to accommodate 148 boys.
click here for larger plan

Below are listed the videoed songs in WMV format.
Even though each one lasts no more than a few minutes they are large files and may take several minutes to download
(especially if you only have a dial-up modem).
Click on the title to download

Blessed Assurance

The lion sleeps tonight

Any dream will do (Joseph’s - dreamcoat)

I the Lord of sea and Sky

My Jesus my Saviour

Lord I lift your name on high