Busega Scotland is taking its responsibility towards the 21 children and 6 staff very seriously.
In collaboration with Tanzanian colleagues, we have:
A general Covid-19 Action Plan in place
Bought PPE, in case of an outbreak at the Centre – face masks, disposable and heavy rubber gloves and aprons
Face guards are on order
Plenty of soap, disinfectant and hand sanitiser
An outbreak plan has been co-ordinated with Busega District Council
Our staff have carried out training and on 21st may the District Health Officer addressed the staff and children
The children are on lockdown and only essential visitors are allowed inside the Centre
There is a handwashing station outside the gate for everyone entering to use
We have a supply of food and other supplies to last until September

The latest information from Busega District is of no confirmed cases locally. One risk is the main road running through Mayega to the Kenya, as many lorry drivers have tested positive at the border (which is currently closed). Tanzania has been in partial lockdown but colleges and universities are open from 1st June. We expect schools to follow shortly.

Life is never dull at Mayega Children’s Centre.
During lockdown, Mwalimu Reni and Patron Emma have been keeping the children going with schoolwork. Reni has been checking the learning with testing. He believes Mayega pupils have done poorly in the past because they were not familiar with examination conditions. He is committed to changing that and the extra teaching will also help.

In a recent storm, part of the fence was blown down. This really was Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The damaged section was holding up the passion fruit vine! It is so dense it acted like a ‘sail’ in the typically ferocious tropical wind.
Our project leader, Gadlord Deuli, travels monthly to the Centre (a reduced frequency due to Covid) and we hire a car to reduce infection risk. Public transport can be very crowded. During his last visit, a contract was signed with Fundi (tradesman) Deus to repair the fence. Deus has become our ‘go to man’ for repair and maintenance tasks.
Work is going on now to review the Centre’s menu. The children get a varied diet – rice, maize, cassava, wheat flour (as mandazi – like doughnuts), beans, meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, and fruit.

The children have preferences and we are trying hard to incorporate these. Scales have also been bought to help the cooks with portion size and to avoid any waste. As you might imagine, we get regular feedback on the diet from children and staff!

Busega Scotland interacts with the Covid-19 in different ways. One of our Mayega and Moving-on graduates, Happiness, has started making face coverings for sale in Mwanza. She is qualified tailor but the market for wedding dresses at the shop where she works has dried up. Indeed, the economy of the city has taken a significant downturn and prices are rising. Residents, like Happiness, have to make a living in whatever ways they can. Face coverings are now compulsory in many public places, such as banks and the shopping mall.

Our Project Leader, Gadlord Deuli, has one but we are not sure if Happiness was the creator. Reports we are receiving from Mwanza suggest that case numbers are rising and there is a quarantine camp on the outskirts of the city. The cost of PPE in Tanzania is increasing all the time. Our recent purchases from the government’s medical store, for the Children’s Centre at Mayega, are a bit eye-watering.
£19 for a box of 50 pairs of gloves.
£47 for a box of 50 face masks. The gloves and masks, along with aprons and face guards, are only to be used if we have a suspected case at the Centre. We are co-ordinating with Busega District Council in planning our response. We have received no reports of any confirmed cases in the district.

Along with all other charities, Covid-19 is presenting Busega Scotland with unprecedented challenges; from keeping the Mayega children safe and increasing costs in Tanzania, to raising enough funds to meet our existing commitments.
We are facing a loss of income of about £1200 from fundraising in the first half of the year and we do not know what the ‘new normal’ will then allow us to do. Understandably, local, and national grant making organisations are concentrating on the situation here without the capacity to look overseas.
Could you help?
• Regular donors may feel able to increase their donations or supporters may wish to become new regular donors. One-off donations can also be made. All this by clicking https://busegascotland.co.uk/donate-now/
• Alternatively, you may wish to sponsor John walking 15 miles on the Edinburgh Kiltwalk in September, using the following link https://edinburghkiltwalk2020.everydayhero.com/uk/john-8 (the Hunter Foundation will add 50% to any donation you make)
• Maybe family, friends and workmates can club together, using spending that cannot take place due to lockdown – work travel costs, the coffee shop, meals out, hairdressing, sporting activities, cinema etc and make a joint donation.
We appreciate that the current situation can impact adversely on supporters’ incomes and fully understand if it is not possible to help.
With all good wishes from Busega Scotland.

Busega district has no reported positive cases of Corona virus. There have been suspected cases, and despite its very rural nature the area is clearly at risk. The last national figures showed 480 cases and 16 deaths.
Busega District Council is making preparation in anticipation of cases occurring. A secondary school in the town of Nyashimo has been designated as a triage centre and the district hospital has wards set aside for quarantine. Schools in Tanzania are all closed.
Personal protective equipment is available through the government medical stores department but in limited supply. The district pharmacist is demonstrating full Covid-19 protection, alongside the district medical officer.
At Mayega Children’s Centre we have masks, gloves and aprons for use if someone is suspected of having the virus. Our Covid Action Plan is stopping access to the Centre, keeping the children inside and promoting good hygiene practices. We have adequate supplies of soap and hand sanitiser.
We are working with the district medical officer to co-ordinate action if we have a suspected case. We hope that this will not happen but we are preparing as best we can.

Partnership working is both a joy and a necessity in Tanzania. It has its tough moments but the rewards for the community can be so valuable. Busega Scotland has been chairing the Mayega Water Group for the last couple of years and its endeavours brought piped water to the village.
A step change in the project was joining up with the Rotary Clubs of Egin in Scotland and Igoma in Tanzania. This allowed Busega Scotland to do the groundwork, along with Busega District Council and the water authority, RUWASA, to prepare a Rotary International Global Grant application, which Elgin submitted.
The tremendous news is that the application was a success and, when local contributions from the Council and RUWASA are added in, the next phase of the water project is benefitting from £50,000 worth of funding. Igoma Rotary and RUWASA are responsible for implementation and Busega Scotland continues to play a co-ordinating role.
Mayega Primary School will benefit from proper toilets, the village will have 7 new water distribution points and family toilets will be piloted. To support the expanded facilities, a new mains pipe will be installed along with a chlorination unit. The project will be backed-up by sanitation training and education in the village and school.
Talks have already been held between Igoma Rotary and RUWASA on how the work can proceed safely. At present, there have been suspected cases of Covid in Busega District but none confirmed.

Despite Tanzanian schools being closed, our Mwalimu (teacher) Reni and Patron Emma (also a qualified teacher) have been keeping the children going with lessons and testing. Reni is a great fan of regular tests and that mirrors what goes on in school. There are internal school tests, groups of schools run the same tests and compare results and national testing goes on throughout a child’s education.
Some of the Mayega pupils have done very well recently. Johana, for example, was top in Mathematics in a cohort of over 200 and little Boazi is shaping up to be an exceptional pupil. While Johana is a star in Maths, Elizabeth outstripped him, and did very well, in English. This improved attainment is down to the children’s application and the work of Seba (our first teacher) and now Reni and Emma. Reni is a Maths and Science graduate, which is gold dust in Tanzania.
The photos show a selection of 92(!) photos sent by Reni of the children displaying their recent ‘lockdown’ test results.

The cumulative total of reported cases was 46 on 13th April with 3 deaths. The majority of cases are in the largest city, and commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. One case has been reported in Mwanza. Seemingly, a man was quarantined in Dar but left and travelled to the Rock City. One private hospital has now been sealed off and it is assumed that is where he now is.
As with UK, the number of reported Tanzanian cases will be an underestimate through a low level of testing. The worry remains that the virus will spread rapidly. The government has upped its response by closing airports to international flights, as of 12th April. Schools and colleges are closed and large gatherings banned. Social distancing should be practised and overcrowding on buses stopped. Controversially, services at churches and mosques are still allowed. President Magafuli said that the virus is the work of satan and requires divine intervention to be quelled.
In a broader context, there are worries that if a lockdown is introduced there will be a danger of starvation as many people live from day to day, working and buying food. No danger of stockpiling. Also, the government is in no economic position to underwrite business costs (or vastly expand health services). The dilemma of protecting the population from Corona but at the same time damaging people and the economy in other ways is most apparent. It remains to be seen if any lockdown would be obeyed or could be enforced. The hope is that the virus doesn’t spread so rapidly for reasons particular to the Tanzanian population and environment.

There have been plenty of photographs in our news posts of the hedging and trees flourishing at Mayega. One thing we haven’t shown is the beauty of the passion flowers.

Also, our vegetable garden has benefited from the recent rains with the biringanya (aubergine) and nyanya chungu (white tomato) doing particularly well. The white tomato is also called African egg plant and is an indigenous type of aubergine.

The garden produces a mixture of local and introduced vegetables. The benefit of all this activity is dinner at the Centre. Easter Sunday was celebrated with a special meal of beans, meat, rice, vegetables, fruit and sodas.

One of the key commitments in the Busega Scotland Covid-19 Action Plan is to ‘monitor the availability of food and other supplies in Mayega and Mwanza and ensure the storeroom at the Children’s Centre is well stocked’.
We normally keep up to four months supply at the Children’s Centre and the last bulk food delivery was in February. Acting on advice of our Tanzanian colleagues, we decided to bring forward the next shipment and so have 6 months supply on site. There are worries about price and availability.
We have seen panic buying/stockpiling of food in the UK, despite the unlikely prospect of food shortages. In Tanzania, people really have something to worry about. We would be surprised if any of the children at Mayega had not experienced real hunger. Indeed, two recent arrivals had swollen tummies. A sure sign of malnutrition.
So when the lorry arrived last weekend, we were delivering not only supplies but also comfort to the children that they would not go hungry.