April 2017 Students, students everywhere!

The Moving-on Project now has ten (ex-Mayega) students in vocational courses in the Mwanza area. Ester and Kabula are about to graduate with diploma qualifications in primary education and secretarial studies, respectively. The ‘Kalwande boys’ are in second year of their mechanics courses and are now out on field placements.
Our first years, Monica and Mazebuka, are at Nyakato Vocational Training Centre. Monica is following a course in domestic electrical and Mazebuka motor mechanics.
Both have done well in their recent examinations and Monica is somewhat breaking the gender mould. Only five of the thirty-five students in her class are female, although one of her tutors is a lady. Mazebuka also has a woman teacher of mechanics.
Supporting young people to gain worthwhile qualifications is only one part of making a successful transition to adulthood. Busega Scotland also takes the emotional, spiritual and social aspects of Tanzanian life very serious indeed.
Just recently Julieth Godwin conducted a seminar with Monica, Kabula and Ester to consider the life skills they have, and will need when they are living independently. The girls also fed back to Julieth on how
​ the​ Moving-on support can be improved and who better to learn lessons from!

April 2017 Drawing on Tanzanian expertise.

Busega Scotland brings many things to its ​work in Tanzania. But we can do nothing without the help and support of our Tanzanian colleagues and friends.

​ T​he invaluable advice given​ when we know little or nothing about a particular subject and the patience to help when we things go​ spectacularly wrong! So, who are these unsung heroes of Busega Scotland?
We have written before about Sebahane, our education adviser and now Mayega Saturday teacher. He was appointed in April and has a remit to improve the standard of English at the children’s centre. For the youngest new arrivals this extends to reading and writing in Kiswahili. This is no easy task but as Seba said, ‘he is willing to help the children learn’.
One of our successful initiatives at Mayega has been the Hen Project.
It has recently been evaluate ​d​and the review ​has been ​completed by a discussion with our ‘hen consultant’.
Mr Alan gave us advice at the outset of the project and it is timely that we call on his knowledge again.
Our second year mechanics students are  on three month field placements, to learn practical skills of a real working environment. This is an essential part of there technical education and ​Mr ​James  kindly offered two places in his repair business for diesel hydraulic pumps. Invaluable experience for our young mechanics.
One key focus of the Family Support Project is the health of families we support. Volunteers Robin and Debbie Hill have sourced health education DVDs from a UK charity called Thare Machi, that are translated into Swahili.
The programme will be delivered later in the year with the he help of Bugando University Hospital medical student, Kevin.
So these are a few examples of Busega Scotland’s unsung heroes. Without their willingness to help our projects would be seriously disadvantaged.

April 2017 Pastor’s House

The Tanzanian members of our leadership team are Project Leader Gadlord Deuli and his Assistant Julieth Godwin. To help review and plan work on a weekly basis there is a ​management team meeting. Once the practical business has been agreed there is an ‘issues’ slot, when a variety of different problems and situations are discussed. One recurring theme of these discussions is ‘Pastor’s House’. Pastor Deuli has great skills in bringing people together and says quite unequivocally that to succeed in our work we all have to be working to the same goals or be ‘building the same house’. This led to a short se​ssion​ recently when a ‘helicopter view’ was taken of how ​staff​ should interact together, and the disciplines ​that​ must be​ develop​ed​ , to build our house successfully. One of the most fascinating parts of the discussion was how cultural norms impact on the nature of communication. It is a generally accepted part of European communication that women have the same ‘permission’ to challenge male colleagues as their male counterparts do. In Tanzanian culture this is not the same and so building our house through open communication and being critical friends is a challenge.

To her great credit  Julieth has taken this on and while it may only be in the confines of Busega Scotland that this ‘permission’ exists, she gives as good as she gets in robust discussions! Taking this approach into

​Busega Scotland​ projects is a challenge for her but one that she is up for. As Julieth​ says, with a commendable strength, ‘I am learning all the time!’.

30.3.17 New Children settling in well

Salome, Michael, Gideon, Dotto, Kulwa and Emmanuel are feeling at home at Mayega.

They enjoyed wrapping themselves  in their new comfort blankets knitted by Lorna Logan of Gordon Chapel.  They have all started school at Mayega and are mixing freely with the other children and joining in with activities. They are already looking stronger and fitter thanks to regular meals and tender loving care from the Mayega Children’s Centre Staff.

We now have 11 girls and 8 boys at the orphanage. Another young boy has already been identified to join them and we expect him to be brought to the centre next week. We are working closely with the Social Services Department of Busega District to identify the children most in need of care. All the children have lost their biological parents and have been living with elderly relatives or neighbours in desperate poverty where food has been in short supply.

Over the next few months we will increase the number of children to 24.


27.3.17 STRIKING PARTNERSHIP!

 

Busega Scotland is delighted to announce a partnership with the prominent Mwanza-based safari company, Shrike Safaris. This is our first such arrangement with a Tanzanian company, and will result in donations made to the benefit of Mayega Children’s Centre.

John and Christine and family travelled to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater with Shrike Safaris last year and had a wonderful time. Since then discussions have taken place with Mark James, the founder and CEO of Shrike, who has been wonderfully enthusiastic and encouraging about the partnership.

The company is about to launch a new website and Busega Scotland will have its own dedicated page. Mark hopes that this will encourage his clients to support Mayega themselves. It also provides further worldwide exposure of the work of Busega Scotland.

It is the hope of our charity to host further volunteers in Tanzania. We think the combination of work with us and a trip to the Serengeti, is an unbeatable combination for our adventurous supporters. John and Christine would certainly recommend Shrike to fulfil the second part of the dream.

Finally, many thanks go to Mark and his team for their generous support of Mayega.

 

14.3.17 Avoid the bag tax.

Busega Scotland stalwart Ruth McIntosh has launched a ‘Bags for Busega’ project. Ruth has got together a group of skilled friends, who can turn cloth brought back from Africa into very attractive shopping bags. Ruth said that a Busega bag can be folded up and carried around in  a handbag, which is very convenient.
John and Christine brought the first cloth back from Mwanza and this has been added to by other supporters, who have visited Africa and even Tanzania itself. Their kindness is motivated by a wish to give something back to Africa.
The first Busega bag sale will be held later this month at a pop-up Traidcraft shop, hosted by Bellie Parish Church, High Street, Fochabers, Moray. Friday 31st March, 10.30 to 12.00 and 14.00 to 16.00.
Please attend the sale if you can. The bags are beautiful, unique and proceeds will support the children at Mayega Children’s Centre.
Many thanks to Ruth and her team.

9.3.17 Momentous Day

Two signatures brought Knockando Woolmill Trust and Busega Scotland together in a ground breaking partnership. The story began several months ago. Busega Scotland trustee, Colin Sanders, introduced John and Christine to the work of the mill. After several meetings at Knockando, the concept of a ‘Mayega shuka’ emerged. A shuka is a traditional fabric, worn as a garment in East Africa, and it has a striking resemblance to Scottish plaid. Templates were taken to Mayega Children’s Centre and coloured in by the children, using colours typical of the local environment and the Tanzanian national flag. From these stunning patterns, designers at Knockando have created a Mayega version, from which the unique woollen shukas will be woven.

The partnership signatories, Emma Nicholson, Marketing and Merchandising Manager at Knockando, and Mike McClafferty, Secretary, Busega Scotland, gave the green light to production. We hope a sample of the cloth will travel with John and Christine to Mayega later this month, to show the children what they have helped to achieve. Our shukas will then go on sale in the summer, with profits used to benefit the children’s centre. The project is truly remarkable.