Question: What came from  the fusion of the creativity of children in a Tanzanian orphanage, with the skills passed down over the centuries in a small Scottish woolen mill? The answer – the Mayega Shuka. If that isn’t enough, the design came from children who had never used paint and paintbrushes before and, to the best of our knowledge, there are no other woollen shukas produced anywhere else in the world.

The project arose from the generosity of two Busega Scotland trustees who underwrote the production costs,  so presenting no risk to the charity. The shukas are £95 each but made of pure new wool, are top quality and only 4O have been made . All profits from their sale will go towards caring for the children at Mayega Children’s Centre.

What can a shuka be used for? Thought of going to a fancy dress party as a Masaai or, more mundanely, use one as a bedspread, car or picnic blanket or even a table cloth. They are large The (197 x 158cm) and the most unusual of presents.

Shukas are available from the Knockando Woolmill online shop, by looking for Busega Scotland Shukas at https://www.kwc.co.uk/

or for local customers, John and Christine have a stock.

THE MAYEGA SHUKA – YOUR FOREVER MEMORY OF MAYEGA CHILDREN’S CENTRE.

Water is needed to sustain life in many different ways and is absolutely essential to develop a vegetable garden at Mayega. Although so close to Lake Victoria, the rainfall is sparse and unpredictable leading to a sandy, arid environment. However, Busega Scotland is nothing without ambition and with piped water and a fence, the Mayega Teaching Garden is taking shape. The land was secured through careful negotiation by Arnold Barrow and Ernest Damiano (Co-ordinator of the Mayega Water Group) with the village authorities and we have been granted a 25 by 15m plot, adjacent to the Children’s Centre. Training Garden? The plan is to teach the children horticulture as a life skill and do something similar with villagers, in collaboration with the agricultural extension service. The District Water Engineer, Mohamed Yamlinga, is also talking about trialling simple irrigation techniques – watch this space!

Arnold and Valerie Barrow completed their very successful trip to Tanzania on 17^th February. The couple were able to complete a project that has been a long time in the planning. The fantastic (and quite emotional news) is that Mayega Children’s Centre now has its own water supply! The pressure seems fine, the water clean and available from 3pm to 9pm. With the storage tank kept full, this means a round the clock water for the children and staff. Busega District Council was responsible for bringing the mains supply to the village and Busega Scotland has funded the connection into the Centre. The news gets even better! Busega Scotland has also used its funds to connect up Mayega Primary School, so that they have a standpipe also. A small but significant step forward for the 850 pupils.

Walking 85 miles over the wild and rugged landscape of the Speyside Way is no easy matter – especially for 60 and 65 year old ordinary mortals, Cenzo Main and  John Carney. So, training has to be done. On Saturday 18^th February a modest 7 miles was completed, including an ascent the 294 feet high Binn Hill (that sounds more impressive than 89 metres!). The codgers were accompanied by Jenny Wallen, Peter Anderson, Islam Mahmoud  and his talking Egyptian dog, Marley. You can guess who was the fittest, although he does have two extra legs!

The walk is to raise funds for Busega Scotland’s Family Support Project (already helped 110 families) and for the Moving-on Project (12 young people in college this year). It is possible to donate online at  www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/oldcodgers

Please support the walk if you can.

John and Christine attended a dinner at Elgin Rotary Club on 8^th February and made a presentation on progress at Mayega Children’s Centre and on the village water supply. The Rotarians were delighted with what has been achieved in Tanzania and we are working together on a two phase programme to improve water and sanitation facilities.

Phase 1 – toilets for the primary school, and washing facilities and vegetable garden for the Centre.

Phase 2 –  sanitation facilities for villagers and an associated health and hygiene education programme.

The Carneys have been visiting other Rotary Clubs in Moray to seek their support and special mention must be made of the Mayega Water Group in Busega District, who have done fantastic work on the ground to bring a mains water supply to the village.

Many thanks to Vito.  John and Christine were in Edinburgh recently to meet Vito Longi, the proprietor of the Jolly Ristorante on Elm Row. The Jolly is the first restaurant to join Pizza Aid, whereby for every ‘Jolly Pizza’ sold Vito makes a donation to Mayega Children’s Centre.
Vito selected the ‘Jolly Pizza’ as his best seller but it has recently been over taken by a peperoni pizza. While tempted to make a ‘switch’, John and Christine kept to their vegetarian principles and stuck with the Jolly, which is an onion pizza!
Vito presented Christine’s great nephew, Sean, with a full Busega Scotland collecting can and was assisted by chef, Salvatore. Sean also learned some of the Jolly’s pizza secrets. He helped to retrieve a Jolly Pizza from the wood fired oven and couldn’t believe how hot the oven was.

Vito’s Pizza Aid commitment has interested Edinburgh’s principal newspaper, the Evening News. They sent a photographer along to the pizzeria and John and Christine were later interviewed by a reporter. We are hopeful of a near full page spread in the paper.
Many, many thanks must go to Vito for his generosity, as the donation in the can amounted to £74.80. Magnificent.
Vito repeated his straightforward motivation towards helping the Children’s Centre – ‘everyone needs a chance in life’ and has now moved on to filling his second can.

Debbie and Robin Hill, who made a return visit to Tanzania as Busega Scotland volunteers last summer, have a converted barn in Shropshire. When they aren’t using it themselves they allow family, friends and former work colleagues to stay but don’t make a charge. The Hills publicise the work of Busega Scotland and guests are delighted to make contributions towards its work.
Robin said folk using the barn are ‘eager to support a charity without large administrative costs and salaries, and where they know that the use of the money in Africa is properly audited and accounted for’. Their generosity raised £1,155 for Busega Scotland (including Gift Aid) during the last financial year, as well as comparable amounts in the two previous years.
If that isn’t enough, Robin and Debbie are busy planning a quiz night at Leamington Irish Club on Saturday 7th April. The facilities are free of charge, so all money raised will go to Busega Scotland. The Hills will be delighted to provide further details (01926-424332) to anyone able to attend or would be willing to provide a raffle prize. It is hoped that Christine and John will be able to link up with the quiz night via Skype; they’ve already sent some questions for the round on Africa.

Cenzo Main and John Carney reach major personal milestones later this year. John is 65 on 23rd March and Cenzo is 60 on 30th March. What could be better than connecting the two birthdays with a sponsored walk for Busega Scotland? They are obviously too old for birthday presents!
The walk will be along the length of the iconic Speyside Way from Aviemore to Buckie, a total of 85 miles. That will be over a half-marathon length every day for 6 days – not bad for the golden oldies?
Training is about to start. Walk information will be on the website and circulated to supporters over the next while.
We are keen to see many friends joining in. Jenny Wallen has signed up for the whole walk, Peter Anderson also (probably) and Margaret Dickson may. Others will do days here and there. Please  contact John if you are interested in any way. email : busegascotland@gmail.com

Piped water has reached Mayega village for the first time this century! A pipe has been laid the last 5km and standpipes constructed. We received a video clip on 24th January showing a running tap. The pressure was low but the technicians are working on that.
Big congratulations must go to District Water Engineer Mohamed Yamlinga and his team, for all their hard work. The potential is there now to develop facilities in the Children’s Centre, school and village. Work is going on with the Rotary Club of Elgin to those ends. Volunteers, Arnold and Valerie Barrow are in Tanzania at present, with connecting the mains into the Centre on their work plan – subject to sufficient water pressure. After that, they will move on to arranging kitchen construction. Again, teamwork is bearing fruit.

The Baby Bundles project, conceived by volunteer Judy Campbell and based on the Scottish Baby Box, is going from strength to strength in Tanzania. While the project is part of Busega Scotland, it is so unique that work is underway to develop its own identity. John recently represented Judy at a presentation for HNC Visual Communication students at Moray College.
The students were presented with a brief for a Baby Bundles logo. The work will be carried out as if it were a commercial contract, giving the students experience in design and business standards. Thanks go to lecturer, Lynne Strachen, for supporting the project. The finalised logo should be available in April, by which time Judy will be back from Tanzania.
This is the third design project worked on jointly between Busega Scotland and Moray College. Our current logo came from another collaboration and Computer Aided Design students drew up plans for a guest house at Mayega (these are currently being converted to architectural drawings by CM Designs, who are very kind supporters of Busega Scotland).