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).

A piped water for Mayega is getting closer. We were excited to receive this email from Mr Mohamed Yamlinga, District Water Engineer for Busega District:

‘We are expecting to test the water piped network (to Mayega) full of water on next Monday. The  work will be completed on the 9th  January 2018’.

How fantastic that will be. A water supply for the village will allow us to connect up the Children’s Centre, construct a kitchen and begin the vegetable garden.

At Mayega getting the children ready for the new school year is a major undertaking. School skirts, shorts and trousers are made locally. Shoe shopping is a rare event and takes time when you have many children!
The Mayega children were fortunate to get new rather than second hand shoes. School bags , exercise books and maths sets were also needed.

To find out what has been happening in the Moving On Project, take a look here.

Latest Moving On project Report

Bundle of Joy!  A new beginning!  A time of fear and hardship?

Sadly, many babies in Tanzania are born to poor families who cannot afford even the basic necessities.

The health and development of mother and baby in the early stages after birth are crucial to positive outcomes. In Tanzania, we have a unique opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable babies and their mothers.

Judy Campbell is working with Busega Scotland and Bukumbi Mission Hospital, to pioneer a project to provide “Baby Bundles” for these poor families. They will be produced locally and distributed through local hospitals and other contacts. The cost of each bundle is £20 and will make a significant difference to the health and well being of a baby and mother.  Included with the ‘Bundle’ is the payment of the hospital delivery fee. At Bukumbi it costs £3 for a normal delivery and more for a Caesarean Section.

The Baby Bundle is packed into a basin and tied up in a kitengi, a cloth wrap worn by the mother. The basin will be used to bath the baby and to wash the baby clothes. Each pack contains baby clothes, nappies, hat, a blanket and mosquito net, as well as laundry soap and baby oil etc. There is a cloth to wrap the new born in and fortified flour for the mother.  Here in the UK babies receive so many gifts. Will you make a gift for a baby who really needs it? Donations can be made at https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/babybundles