Over the last while there has been a big push at Mayega to improve the environment for the children. Much maintenance work has been carried out and everyone has embraced the tree planting. The passionfruit hedge is producing beautiful flowers and fruit. Another 50 seedlings have arrived for planting out, as the ‘green revolution’ continues.

Our colleagues from the fisheries department delivered 70kg of confiscated fish from illegal fishing (free of charge). This was gutted and laid out on the woodstore roof for drying.Our December arrivals, Daudi and Margaret are settling in well, and were joined recently by Yasini. Already, he seems reassured by the welcome he has received. The staff and children are excellent at this.

Late last year the electrics in the Centre were made ready for mains electricity. There are encouraging signs that the connection will soon be made as poles have been erected and wires hung. Then all we will have to do is pay the bills!

It is always a matter of great excitement when the lorry leaves Mwanza and then arrives at Mayega, with essential supplies for the next 4 months. Coming from a society where the next bit of shopping is only a trip to the supermarket away, it is perhaps hard to appreciate the importance of a well stocked storeroom at the Children’s Centre.

The children come from backgrounds where the next meal cannot be guaranteed and hunger was an ever present risk. Indeed, new children at Mayega are often seen to eat excessive quantities of food, until they become confident and secure in the knowledge that their needs will be met. On the last trip there were chairs and mattresses to replace broken and worn out items. We are also pleased to report that the lorry was successfully dug out of the Mayega sand.

An application is about to be submitted to Rotary International, seeking funds to implement Phase 3 of the Mayega Water Project. Phases 1 and 2 have already been completed.
Phase 1 – mains connection into the village, School and Children’s Centre
Phase 2 – water distribution points (DPs) in each sub-village and kitchen constructed in the Centre
Phase 3 – further DPs, constructing school and village toilets and community sanitation training
Three major partners in the project are the Rotary Club of Igoma in Tanzania, the Tanzanian Rural Water and Sanitation Agency and Elgin Rotary Club in Scotland. The relationship between these organisations is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding. The final signature has been added by the President of Elgin Rotary, Margaret Stenton. Elgin’s project lead is Ash Major. Busega Scotland has a co-ordinating role.
If successful, the Global Grant will amount to $40,000US and the project implemented this year. There is a Curry Banquet at Elgin Golf Club on 31st January to complete Elgin’s local fundraising. Many thanks to the numerous folk who have contributed to the Mayega Water Project. It has brought clean water to the community for the first time in over 30 years.

The conference brought women together from our groups in Igombe and Chole. Read the report through the following link:https://busegascotland.co.uk/reports/

A previous article can be found on the Latest News page on 3.12.19 ‘Learning from experience’.https://busegascotland.co.uk/3-12-19-learning-from-experience/

The admissions to Mayega Children’s Centre are through referral from Busega District Council. The Council is connected to vulnerable children through committees at village level. By this process, we heard about Daud, aged nine, and his sister Magreth, who is seven. It is an exciting time at the Centre when new kids arrive. Our staff and the children are excellent in helping their new ‘brothers and sisters’ settle in. Empathy is very powerful.

As well as youngsters arriving, we also say cheerio (but not goodbye) to our ‘Mayega graduates’. Our Moving-on project swings into action and the well practised supports are now picking up Malesa and Jeremiah.

The photo shows them visiting Nyakato College with our Patron, Emmanuel. The boys have passed their entrance exams and will soon begin their national certificate courses in domestic electrical installation (Malesa) and welding (Jeremiah).
We wish the boys well in their studies.

Christmas and New Year are busy times everywhere and Mayega is no exception. Caring for twenty-two children and young people is surely a challenge.
It has become a pre-Christmas tradition for the children to have a day out in Lamadi (the nearest town) for lunch and shopping. It is so important that the Mayega kids have some money to buy their own clothes; managing a budget and making style decisions! Important life skills.

Two special meals are prepared for Christmas and New Year. How nice and colourful the dining room looks and don’t you wish you were there for the food? We do!
Busega Scotland and the children at Mayega wish all our friends and supporters a very happy New Year.

Recent posts on the Latest News page of our website show the efforts being made to promote the social, emotional and educational wellbeing of children at Mayega Children’s Centre. This is the creative and inspiring work, but the compound at Mayega is large and the climatic conditions harsh. Periodically, we have to check the state of the buildings, and surroundings, and undertake upgrading and maintenance work.
We employ local fundis (tradesmen), who are keen to do good work as they know that they will be engaged again. We have a contracting system as standard practice. It requires estimates to be submitted, contracts signed with payments not concluded until work is complete and to a good standard.
Recent activity has included repairs to the fence and to damp walls in the dormitory building. Windows have been repaired and damaged mosquito screens replaced. Walls have been tiled around the shower rooms and sinks.
However, our real improvement is a couple of picnic benches to go under ‘the big tree’! These will allow the children space for study, playing games, chilling and for meetings. We provided drawings for the fundi, who followed them faithfully and has done a super job.

Busega Scotland promotes the welfare of vulnerable women and families through women’s groups. They are collaborations with the women and other local organisations. Our aim is always sustainability and independence, and the four groups we have worked with so far are all now self-managing. 130 women been supported.
The centrepiece of each group is a vicoba (village community bank) that allow women members to take interest bearing loans, to grow their small businesses, and for the vicoba to grow its capital (that is owned by the group).
The real experts are the women themselves (and Julieth Godwin, our Assistant Project Leader, who supports the groups). We are planning three new groups in 2020, and so arranged a seminar in Mwanza, inviting group members from the town of Igombe and village of Chole to attend. The women described their successes and challenges and ideas for improvement. A Community Development Officer advised on the help available from the Tanzanian government.
The event was a great success, and ended will a lovely meal in a local café. We are grateful to a Dar es Salaam based charity, called The Goat Race, for sponsoring the event and Julieth is producing a conference report, that will be available on our website in due course,

Jenny Wallen has just returned to the UK , after a month assisting with reading development at Mayega Primary School and Children’s Centre.

They must have thought I was mad; we’re going to teach reading with books with no words (the beginning of the Oxford Reading Tree), we are going to read the pictures …….but everyone was far too polite to say so.

Read Jenny’s article in full here.

https://busegascotland.co.uk/volunteers/

Graduations in Tanzania are such joyous occasions. There are the obligatory speeches, and these include student representatives publicly thanking teachers for their help and support. The graduates sing and dance to entertain the crowd and then comes the celebratory meal, enjoyed by all.
Ex Mayega students have graduated recently at Kalwande (Leukondia – Diploma in Motor Vehicle Mechanics) and Nyakato (Happiness – Certificate in Tailoring and Design and Tabu and Magreth – Certificates in Domestic Electrical Installation). Busega Scotland staff attended both ceremonies, as they really are ‘family’ to the young people.
At Nyakato, the audience was asked to say something in support of the college and students. When nobody came forward, our Julieth stepped into the breach. Impromptu public speaking is no problem for our Assistant Project Leader.

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