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NEWS FROM TANZANIA
Photos from the March 05 trip (over 300!)
Daniel’s and Eliada’s Wedding (65pics), Individual children (27pics),
Children’s portrait pics (35pics), Children group pics (13pics),
Children singing practice (30pics), Children working in the fields (10pics)
Meal time at Bethany (24pics), New girls Dorm progress (24pics)
Children at play (8pics), RAF Kitch/Dinning extension roof repair (11pics)
New septic tank (3pics), New underground water tank finished (8pics)
School children collecting water from Bethany (4pics), Surise-sets (21pics)
Latest group return: Graham, Sheila and Paul Pountain returned from a visit to Bethany Tanz on Friday the 18th March 2005. The trip was timed to coincide with Daniel’s and Eliada’s wedding (click here to see pics). Below is all the latest news they brought back with them including over 250 photographs.
News from Darwen Moorlands High School: Many of you will know by now that the students there have a young enterprise group ‘Rafikizetu’ who are busy raising an awareness of the work Bethany does and also raising funds to support the work. Joanne Davies from ‘Rafikezetu’ has been in touch with news that their new initiative - the ‘Give to Live’ wristbands are proving very popular. Many supporting schools to whom they have written have started by taking just a few and ended up ordering hundreds. So much so that we have decided to also advertise them on ebay.
The wristbands cost £2 each bought from Rafikizetu or £2.25p from ebay.
(click here for Rafikizetu website) (click here for ebay page)
Daniel’s and Eliada’s wedding: Many of you will remember Daniel and Eliada from their visit to England with the children last March. Then they were engaged - now they are married. The wedding took place in Eliada’s home village and there was a great celebration - with good food, much singing, a few speeches and great fellowship! (click here to see the pictures)
However, the best news is that Eliada has now joined Daniel on the Tanz team and will by now be working full time with the children living at Bethany.
CHILDREN
Schooling: We now have a total of 73 children (Abel returned to his mother and Ibrahim has started his 6 month mechanics course). Mr. Matiku is still helping Daniel and Onesmo with the supplementary education for both the Primary and Secondary children. Eliada is now at Bethany and we are hoping she will have a major input in this area. Graham, Elaine and Cathy (who return from their visit on 2nd April) want to assist in the whole area of education and on their last visit they set up the (very small) Bethany library. More news on this when they return.
Village Primary School: Ten of our younger children who started the Village Primary School are all doing well. Even Nyangeta (amputee) manages to walk (aided by crutches) the mile or so to school and back every day. However Wakuru (who suffers from epileptic fits) and who also has psychological problems is not attending presently because the teachers were beating her even though they had been made aware of her condition. The Tanz team are trying to find a way around this problem. (N.B. corporal punishment is the norm in Tanz schools and children are often beaten even for minor incidents). Over 50 of our children now attend the local government primary school (which has about 400 children attending). The rest are either at secondary school or too young to attend.
Proposed New School: No further developments (no funds!)
Health: We thank God that the children seem extraordinarily well.
New children: We are trying hard not to accept any new children at the moment because our accommodation is overflowing and will be until our new dorm is operational. Even so every other day other ‘care’ NGO’s (Non government organisations) and the social welfare in Magu are asking the Tanz team to accept more children - it’s hard saying no!
(click here to see the pics of groups of children), (click here to see the pics of Individual children) (click here to see some portrait pics), (click here to see the pics of the children at play)
Bethany Choir: The children are as busy as ever practicing dancing and singing. They went to Daniel’s and Eliada’s wedding where they sang several songs including one in Sukuma song about the pain of childbirth and the difficulties of bringing up children and now the parents should join in with the dancing as their children (Eliada and Daniel) are finally no longer their responsibility.
(Click here to see pics of the children practicing their songs and dances)
BUILDING WORK
The new dormitory: The work continues. The rendering inside and out is now complete - this work has taken about 6 weeks. The joiners have arrived to construct the roof and you can see pictures of the roof trusses being put together. (click here to see the pics)
Septic Tank: A hole is being dug for a new septic tank to be constucted to service the dormitory - so far just the hole. (click here to see the pics)
Water Tank: The new underground water tank is now complete together with roof and access door. Sadly however it is leaking and some remedial work will need to be done on the rendering on the inside. (click here to see the pics).
Roof repair: The roof blown off the kitchen/dinning room extension built by the RAF team has now been fully restored. This time the Tanzanian builders have built up a gable to give the roof more weight so it will reduce the effect of the lift from the wind and also add some weight to the roof. (click here to see the pics)
Clothes Washing Area: The concrete sinks are in place and a concrete base has been constructed (you no longer paddle in the mud) and the Tanz team are discussing the best way to roof over the washing area so that washing can continue if it starts to rain..They have also constructed some washing lines for hanging out the clothes to dry.
New Road Sign: The first was removed by the road builders because it was too near the road, The second was also removed by the road builders because it was too near the road. The third one blew down and the fourth one is now being salvaged from the blown down sign. It is being reduced in size and height and has stronger metal poles to support it.
Crop growing: The growing season continues but the rains are not as frequent and the harvest will not be as good as it might have been. However, the children continue to look after the Bethany crops. (click here to see pics)
OTHER NEWS
Possible bore hole: Still no real progress. Another drilling company has visited and promised to return to do a survey and give us an estimate. No news of their return as yet.
Sponsorship - Finance: We are grateful to our faithful supporters who continue to support us. We are pleased to tell you that our monthly income is still about £640 per month. (about a third of the amount we need to maintain the work). We are grateful that other monies come from individuals, schools, churches etc. Sponsorship, Supporting Bethany.
Monthly meeting: Our next meeting will be Saturday 9th April 2005. Click here for more details
Tanz staff changes: Eliada has now joined the team
UK team changes: None
Trips planned for 2005:
May trip: Has now been booked and consists of Graham Pountain, Dave Duxbury (plumber), Bob Simpson (plumber), Paul Smith and Christopher Gaster (joiner). The plumbers helped by Paul hope to tile the dormitory throughout and complete all the plumbing work (6 WC’s, 4 washbasins, 6 showers). Christopher hopes to build new tables and benches for the dinning room.
June-July-August-September: There is the possibility of three trips during the summer school holidays - which will be two weeks in duration. None of them have been booked so please let us know if you would like to be considered. We are hoping Graham and Elaine will lead one group, Graham Pountain has names (yours could be added!) of another group wanting to go, these include Gary Nolan (joinery teacher), Ian Kelly (joinery teacher), Robert (joinery student) and David Borland.
Adventure Playground: Paul Pountain and Rebecca Bell (in their early twenties) together with others (still time to join) want to go and help the children develop sports and play initiatives. Part of this may involve building an adventure playground and they are looking for a joiner/carpenter to join them. The trip they are planning will probably be the first two weeks of September.
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