Volunteers Robin and Debbie Hill are organising another Quiz night in Daventry on the 10th May. If you live in the area please go along and support their efforts.

The proceeds will be shared between Busega Scotland and Amnesty International .  Details below.

The Drouthy Cobbler , in Elgin will again host a Busega Scotland Quiz night on 24th May.  Come along and join us!

Looking after 21 children and young people at Mayega Children’s Centre is no easy matter. As well as the basics – safety, food, education and health – there is the need to teach essential skills for future life. In some ways, this is natural and essential for the smooth running of the Centre. The children help with food preparation, washing dishes and clothes – no washing machine or dish washer! The garden provides learning opportunities in growing and caring for vegetables. The same applies to the chickens.

The latest addition to the life skills list is tree husbandry. One of our supporters in Tanzania, Phil Van Denburgh, sourced a variety of seedlings, for planting out at the Centre and to be cared for by the children. As there were more trees than we needed, we traded the excess with Mayega Primary School, who provided ‘black soil’ for the planting holes. Fair exchange.

Some are for shade, others for hedging and there are also mangos, avocados and passion fruit. Two trees were dedicated to the District Commissioner and the Executive Director of the local council, both of whom are great supporters of Busega Scotland.

The trees will, in the fullness of time, improve the environment of the Centre and the Tanzanian government has tree planting as one of its priorities, in helping to restore the country’s forests.

The Busega Boogie Band is returning to play for Busega Scotland, after a successful concert in Elgin a couple of years ago. Led by Gary Taylor, the highly talented band will play Blue Grass and other catchy tunes, at the golf club in John and Christine’s home village of Garmouth. Busega Scotland supporter, Amy Souter, has also organised a fantastic array of other local musicians, young and old, to support the band, and so ensure a superbly entertaining evening.
The proceeds will go to our Family Support Project, for women’s groups and vulnerable families. Busega Scotland has supported four groups so far, and plans are in place to commence two new ones later this year. That would bring the number of families involved to over one hundred and seventy.

Jarvis Cocker posed the question in the iconic Pulp song. He answered it in the context of his own community but what about Tanzania?
Christine and John have been in Mwanza for a month and have been struck again by the impact of illness on the ordinary people in their circle of colleagues and friends. Two children at the Children’s Centre have suffered malaria, along with one member of our staff. He also was diagnosed with hookworm and one of the Moving-on young men has typhoid. These are folk who are better off than most.
Other people in the community catch these endemic infections without the benefit of an adequate diet, clean water and access to medical help. If you are poor, you are reluctant to attend hospital and risk the treatment bills. The commonest dental treatment is extraction, for exactly the same reason. Treatable conditions get worse and complications ensue.
The results emerging from Busega Scotland’s health insurance scheme at Chole, reveal how often families access treatment at Bukumbi Hospital. This is causing financial issues for the hospital but is providing treatment for people who otherwise would not be able afford their care.

Ordinary people in UK can generally get by. This is not always the case in Tanzania. The subject of Mr Cocker’s song would not want to live like the common people here, we are sure!

Sanitation and nutrition training

The provision of running water at the Children’s Centre and in Mayega village, has created an opportunity. In the Centre, work has been underway for a while to improve nutrition. The kitchen garden is providing green vegetables and the ladies in the hen house faithfully produce their eggs. The kitchen has made food preparation easier.

The starting point for sanitation improvements was a meeting with Sudi Musa, the District Health Officer, and Rahel Membo, the District Health Co-ordinator(Education Officer) . The meeting involved Christine, Matron Leya and Cook Victoria. Ms Membo was very forthright in challenging current sanitation practices and would not accept ‘that’s how we’ve always done it’ as an excuse. A tour of the compound has led to an action plan and recommendations for physical improvements. The simplest change will be the purchase of bins to manage the rubbish more effectively. A further meeting will be convened to plan training with the children, so they and the staff go forward together.

We are also expecting the delivery of seedlings for fruit and shade trees, so we can produce some of our own fruit and have a nicer physical environment. The idea is to get the children to ‘adopt the trees’ and be responsible for the ones they are allocated. At Mayega, self-help is inevitably the order of the day!

We are delighted to report that a consignment of books from Lhanbryde Primary School in Moray has reached Mayega Primary School in Busega District. It consists of two full primary reading schemes, that are still used widely in Scotland.
The journey took the books from Moray to London and then by air freight to Belgium and Kenya, and finally arriving in Mwanza. The customs clearance at the airport took just 24h, and a very low customs levy of less than £5 was charged. Also, the clearing and handling agents reduced their fees, as a donation to Mayega Children’s Centre.

The books were collected by Ernest Damiano, Headteacher of Mayega Primary School, using a vehicle provided by Busega District Council. Ernest wants to use the reading schemes to start a school library and is seeking a budget for shelves, tables and chairs. He is determined that the resources will improve the educational attainment of his pupils.

Thanks must go to Lhanbryde Primary School, its Tanzania committee, and Busega Scotland trustee Jenny Wallen, who organised the shipment. The transport costs were met by individual donations and through a small contribution from Busega Scotland funds.

Busega Scotland has forged very strong links with the Rotary Club of Elgin. Previous news articles have shown the fruits of that relationship, with the construction of a kitchen at Mayega Children’s Centre and standpipes in each of Mayega’s sub-villages.
The next phase of the Mayega Water Project will include toilets at the primary school and other village facilities. This ambitious programme is dependent on a Rotary International Global Grant and Elgin will make an application later in the year.

President Zakaria Lang’o receives a gift from Elgin Rotary Club

Projects Co-ordinator, Moses Lauwo,  Igoma Rotary Club with Julieth Godwin, Busega Scotland

Global Grants require an in-country Rotary partner, and Igoma Rotary Club have been approached and agreed to join the project. A meeting was held with President Zakaria Lang’o and Projects Co-ordinator Moses Lauwo. Moses is also Assistant Director of the Rotary District, covering Tanzania and Uganda.

Representatives from Igoma will now join the Mayega Water Group, which is the planning and management body responsible for the project. We fervently hope that the Global Grant application will succeed and bring further facilities to the village.

As we all know children go through household items and an amazing rate. The kids at Mayega Children’s Centre are no different, and replacements are required at regular intervals. We also try and improve the general facilities there.
This requires a co-ordinated ‘supply chain’. Requests originate from the Centre, agreed items are then purchased in Mwanza, before a delivery by lorry to Mayega. A recent, and particularly large delivery, required storage over the weekend In John and Christine’s living room.

Try sharing your space with: 10 mattresses                                          
2 x 100kg bags of maize
24 pillows
24 blankets
48 sheets
24 pillow cases                                                                                                24 mosquito nets
4 flat pack cupboards
8 stacking chairs                                                                                             1 suitcase full of book                                                                                       a load of wood for repairs

All part of the Tanzanian experience and all the items were delivered safely!

Christine and John have had the pleasure of meeting Shida for the first time over the last month. What a wonderful, spirited and happy young girl she is. She has grown so such since her arrival, despite a completely new environment and the onerous journeys for her eye operations. The children have made her feel so much at home and Shida has a special bond with matron, who has been with her on each of the hospital trips (five in total and a distance of over 5,000 miles).
Shida has formed a special relationship with a little girl called Edina. One of the photos shows Edina helping Shida with her drawing and writing. While some sight has been restored in the right eye, the left one seems beyond repair. Nevertheless, Shida gets around unaided and while unable to join in volleyball she happily acts as ball girl.

We have yet to show her the video clip from the Shindig for Shida (we don’t want to overwhelm her) and she faces another follow-up at the Kilimanjaro Medical Centre in April. School is not yet a possibility, while her eye recovers, and where she will receive an appropriate education remains an open question. She has had no schooling at all up until now.

Many thanks to all who have contributed to the ‘Shida Fund’. We are heartened by how well she has settled at Mayega and what a special child she is.

We are delighted to say that the construction of the kitchen at Mayega Children’s Centre has been completed, with tap and sink and wood burning stove. This is not only a significant step forward for the Centre but it shows perfectly how contributions from different sources can make a real difference.The contributors to the kitchen project have included:
Elgin Rotary and Rotary District 1010
Forres Rotary Club
Strathbrock Parish Church      
Stowmarket Salvation Army
Busega District Council
The role of the council, and its engineers, has been significantly important. They have embraced the project alongside their normal duties, providing expertise in design, build and project management. Hats off to District Water Engineer Mohamed Yamlinga and his team. The facilities will be completed by the construction of an external ‘washing table’, for food preparation and pot washing. All waste water is piped to a soak pit for safe disposal.
The kitchen will act as a focal point to develop diet, sanitation and hygiene standards at the Centre. Christine is taking forward these priorities, with council colleagues and our Mayega staff.

The Right Honourable Tano Mwera, is the representative of the President of the United Republic of Tanzania in Busega District, holding the post of District Commissioner. The Mayega Water Group had the honour of Mrs Mwera chairing its latest meeting. The guest list included representatives from Busega Scotland, Busega District Council and Mayega village. The Mayega village chairman and district councillor both attended.
The meeting reviewed the successful completion of Phase 2 of the Mayega Water Project – bringing five new standpipes to the village and the construction of a kitchen at the Children’s Centre. Attention then turned to planning Phase 3, and finalising a consultation carried out by colleagues Paul Mashimba and Julieth Godwin.
All being well, the Rotary Clubs of Elgin and Igoma (a town on the outskirts of Mwanza) will take forward an application for a Rotary Global Grant, to construct toilets at Mayega Primary School and toilets in Mayega village. Deciding on a design suitable toilet for use in the village has taken much time and discussion. The District Council will now build a prototype to test out its suitability.
Many thanks to the DC for successfully chairing the meeting and bringing forth some important decisions.