A local connection with John and Christine’s home village of Garmouth and a family’s historic links with Tanzania has led to a very kind donation to Busega Scotland. Sandra and Tricia Banks spent their early years in Tanganyika, where their father was a vet, Tricia being born there. Christopher was also born there, in Tabora, before the family returned to UK, due to the rise of the Mau Mau. Sandra and Tricia’s mother died and is buried in Tanzania, and with the youngest two children being born there, it was felt appropriate and fitting to mark the eldest sibling’s birthday to make a donation to Busega Scotland in her name, Sandra Aureli. Many thanks to the family and the funds will be used to support vulnerable children in our projects.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in attendance and John and Christine had to dress up in their finery. 
Unfortunately, the weather was typically Scottish but the refreshments wonderfully traditional – cucumber sandwiches and raspberry tarts. There were also chocolate cakes topped off with royal crowns – John didn’t know whether to eat or salute his!
John and Christine set up a stall at the annual Maggie Fair, in their home village of Garmouth, on the last Saturday in June. The fair has taken place annually for over four hundred years and trustee, Jenny Wallen, arranged Busega Scotland’s presence to promote our work and raise funds. We collected £78 during the afternoon.
Addressing the school assembly is both a pleasure and a daunting prospect but the children are incredibly interested in the lives of their ‘Mayega friends’. The school has become a very valued supporter of education at the centre and at Mayega Primary School – providing both money and resources. One P7 pupil, Jacob Wood, undertook a sponsored cycle to raise money for sports’ equipment at the school. The magnificent £145 will go to buy netball equipment. Many thanks to Jacob and his supporters – he covered 18 miles on what is a very hilly route!
John also met Phil and Janetta Vandenberg on another visit to Edinburgh (Christine was not available due to family duties). The Vandenbergs are from Canada and were very taken with the city and Scotland as a whole. They are working their way north and east ending up in Skye – they have been well warned about the midges! When in Tanzania, Phil works as an agriculturist and Janetta in a health centre, They are volunteers with an organisation called World Renew.
Tanzania is a country that likes to celebrate for a whole variety of different reasons. Recently, the Mayega children took part in Albinism Day, at a home for albinos some 5 miles from our centre, in a small town called Lamadi. It is extremely sad to say that albinos in the lake zone are under threat of attack as their body parts are used in witchcraft. The government is trying to stamp out the abuses and Albinism Day encourages people to celebrate diversity and help albinos feel more part of their community.
Once water reaches Mayega village we have funds from the Rotary Club of Elgin to bring the pipe into the children’s centre. What a moment that will be!
funding amounting to 4,590,000/-.
The Pastor visits twice per month and is in daily contact with the Matron ensuring that all day to day matters are dealt with. On this visit he was bringing some school text books to add to the Mayega collection. We try to make sure we have a copy of any books the children need for revision.