There were troubled waters in the Mayega sub-village of Mikuyuni. As part of Phase 2 of the Mayega Water Project, the water distribution point (DP) at the village dispensary was planned to be shared with the families in the sub-village. Unfortunately, money got in the way! There was no way of calculating how much of the water used would be paid for by the dispensary and the amount that the families would be liable for.
Thankfully, Mayega District Council accepted that they should have foreseen the problem and committed themselves to resolve it. The Council has been good to its word and Mikuyuni now has its own DP.

The Mayega Water Project has benefitted greatly from the involvement of council staff. They have planned the water works, purchased the materials and managed the construction and installation. So much can be achieved by combining knowledge, skills and experience, and the Water Project is no exception. A very well done to the Council, Mayega village and, of course, Busega Scotland, who come together as the Mayega Water Group. They have delivered the first two project phases successfully and good progress is now being made in the plans for Phase 3.

The Mayega Water Day has taken place at Mosstowie Primary School in Moray, some 4,750 miles from Mayega village in Tanzania. Mosstowie is a small school with a big heart! After two talks to older pupils on the work of Busega Scotland, the school decided to hold a fun day and fundraiser for Mayega Children’s Centre.
The children at Mosstowie were surprised by their peers having to carry water from Lake Victoria, previously a prominent part of Mayega life. Not now, of course, as the Centre got a piped water supply last year.
Nevertheless, games with a water theme were invented, and all the Mosstowie pupils joined in. The centrepiece was a water carrying house competition, along with water balancing and drench your teachers! Christine joined in the balancing and John stood shoulder to shoulder with the Mosstowie staff in being drenched! Many thanks to headteacher Garry Forgie, his staff, parents and pupils for arranging and supporting the day.
For the record – Mosstowie has 71 pupils and 3 teachers whereas Mayega Primary School has 950 children and 11.5 teachers.

The fourth women’s group in the Family Support Project has admitted its final seven women, bringing the total number of Bujingwa members to thirty. We have now two complete groups in the town of Igombe (the birthplace of Family Support) and two more in the village of Chole. The groups in the two locations run very differently, reflecting the contrasting environments and local possibilities. In each case, the aim of Busega Scotland is to ‘let the groups fly’ and go forward independently, while holding onto their assets. This provides sustainability for the projects and an exit strategy for ourselves.

The Assistant Project Leader responsible for Family Support, Julieth Godwin, has started a period of maternity leave and is expecting her baby in July. We wish both mum and baby well and look forward to welcoming Julieth back to work later in the year. She is so important to the successful running of our women’s groups.
In Julieth’s absence, our secretary, Kabula Peter, made the business grants and vicoba (credit union) payments to the new Bujingwa women. While Julieth is away, Kabula will be covering some of her duties to ensure continuity in our services. She has been shadowing Julieth for a while, as part of the preparation for the expanded role.

The Busega Scotland website, under normal circumstances, only includes articles about our work in Tanzania and related matters. The one previous aberration was in 2018 when Scotland beat England at cricket. Completely understandable.
An equally momentous event happened on Saturday 1st June, when Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur to win the Champions League. John and Christine watched the match with family on Merseyside and then attended the homecoming on the Liverpool waterfront. Allez, allez, allez. A wonderfully multicultural crowd (estimated at 750,000) welcomed their team from many nations, in a typically tumultuous fashion. It was absolutely clear, that nobody in the Red family will ever walk alone.

It is not often that pupils get the opportunity to drench their teachers, but this will be happening at Mosstowie School during their upcoming Mayega Water Day. The privilege will cost £1 per pupil but many will surely think it a very good use of their pocket money. The event arose from two talks given at the school on the work of Busega Scotland. The children identified with their peers at Mayega having had to collect water from Lake Victoria (now happily a thing of the past) They worked with head teacher Garry Forgie on their fun filled event. John and Christine will be there and hope to remain dry, but neither are as quick on their feet as they used to be. Well, it is all in a good cause!