Busega Scotland brings many things to its ​work in Tanzania. But we can do nothing without the help and support of our Tanzanian colleagues and friends.

We have written before about Sebahane, our education adviser and now Mayega Saturday teacher. He was appointed in April and has a remit to improve the standard of English at the children’s centre. For the youngest new arrivals this extends to reading and writing in Kiswahili. This is no easy task but as Seba said, ‘he is willing to help the children learn’.

One of our successful initiatives at Mayega has been the Hen Project.

It has recently been evaluate ​d​and the review ​has been ​completed by a discussion with our ‘hen consultant’.

Mr Alan gave us advice at the outset of the project and it is timely that we call on his knowledge again.

Our second year mechanics students are  on three month field placements, to learn practical skills of a real working environment. This is an essential part of there technical education and ​Mr ​James  kindly offered two places in his repair business for diesel hydraulic pumps. Invaluable experience for our young mechanics.

One key focus of the Family Support Project is the health of families we support. Volunteers Robin and Debbie Hill have sourced health education DVDs from a UK charity called Thare Machi, that are translated into Swahili.

The programme will be delivered later in the year with the he help of Bugando University Hospital medical student, Kevin.

So these are a few examples of Busega Scotland’s unsung heroes. Without their willingness to help our projects would be seriously disadvantaged.

The Tanzanian members of our leadership team are Project Leader Gadlord Deuli and his Assistant Julieth Godwin. To help review and plan work on a weekly basis there is a ​management team meeting. Once the practical business has been agreed there is an ‘issues’ slot, when a variety of different problems and situations are discussed. One recurring theme of these discussions is ‘Pastor’s House’. Pastor Deuli has great skills in bringing people together and says quite unequivocally that to succeed in our work we all have to be working to the same goals or be ‘building the same house’. This led to a short se​ssion​ recently when a ‘helicopter view’ was taken of how ​staff​ should interact together, and the disciplines ​that​ must be​ develop​ed​ , to build our house successfully. One of the most fascinating parts of the discussion was how cultural norms impact on the nature of communication. It is a generally accepted part of European communication that women have the same ‘permission’ to challenge male colleagues as their male counterparts do. In Tanzanian culture this is not the same and so building our house through open communication and being critical friends is a challenge.

To her great credit  Julieth has taken this on and while it may only be in the confines of Busega Scotland that this ‘permission’ exists, she gives as good as she gets in robust discussions! Taking this approach into