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In this issue:
Safe House is officially
opened - page 10
Foundation Stone laid -page 11
Plus
Shirati
Hospital
Energy Project
- pages 2-3
Raspberry Pi - page 4
BTS Scottish Group
News - page 13
Read about Ann and
Julian Marcus’s visit to
Tanzania - pages 6-11
BTS chairman, William Fulton, is declared a Prohibited immigrant
“Anyone who has visited Tanzania within the last few months will be very aware of the heightened interest in
politics, which is pervading everyday life in the country. With no front runners yet emerging to succeed the President in the October general election and with opposition voices highlighting the ever-present corruption, the politicians are finding many and varied reasons to justify to their constituents reasons for their failure over the last few years. The Tanzanian media publicise the scandals, which continue to grip the interest of the public. The Escrow scandal, involving the disappearance of $122 million from the coffers of The Bank of Tanzania continues to rumble on. One week the media is full of a story about Tanroads not being able to account for £30 million of their budget, the next week a government agency reports that the government has been paying £33 million a year to ghost government employees. It is likely that, in the coming months, more such stories will emerge into the public arena. If politicians can find a scapegoat for their lack of activity in their home constituencies, they will do so. This is what appears to have happened to me. I was invited by my local MP to come to Tanzania last December on the pretext that he would help me solve a local land issue. In the event, this was not solved. But the day after I left, local elections were held in which this politician’s party did badly. The rumour on the street the following week was that the reason I had come out to Tanzania was to bribe the voters to vote for another party (I know no one in that party). On my next visit in early February, I was declared a prohibited and undesirable immigrant and given seven days to leave the country. No reason was given for this action. I appealed to the Minister of Home Affairs within the seven days through my lawyer, but still two months later, I have had no response. Despite much work on the part of the High Commissioners in both London and Dar, I remain unable to return to Tanzania, a country that I love and which has played such an important part in my life for the last 47 years. My lawyer has managed to establish that there is nothing negative on my file at the Immigration Services Department or at the Ministry of Home Affairs, who claim that the prohibition order was “a directive from above”. In both the UK and Tanzania, several well-connected people have lobbied
on my behalf to no avail........ Continued on page 14
BTS NEWSLETTER
www.btsociety.org www.tanzdevtrust.org
May 2015 Volume 13 Issue
Volume 13 Issue No 2
Page 2 Shirati Hospital Energy Project BTS Newsletter May 2o15
Shirati Hospital Energy Project (SHEP) by Yvonne Baginsky
“This article is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Peter Rolf Baginsky, diabetes specialist, California and Josiah Magatti, Director of Medical Research Station, Shirati, Tanzania who both inspired the project and Chandra Aitken, midwife, Edinburgh, whose generous personal donation of £2000 - the first of many acts of faith by many others! – kick-started it”
Like the proverbial oak, the Shirati Hospital Energy Project (SHEP) started small, with a passing observation. In the summer of 2006, my brother, Dr. Peter Baginsky, Professor at Touro Medical University in California, was asked to be Field Supervisor on Touro's Global Health Initiative programme at Shirati Hospital, on the shores of Lake Victoria in Northeastern Tanzania, He invited me to accompany him and his wife and son to Shirati for a month: I was given the chance to run some art workshops in the local primary school. As a birthday present a few months previously, my niece had given my brother a special briefcase for his trip to Africa. Small solar panels on the outside of the case (see photo right) were connected to an electrical apparatus on the inside which could charge up cameras, computers, batteries, or mobile phones - just about anything electrical in fact - using the energy from the sun. This solar backpack was sitting out in the hot Shirati sun one day as my sister-in-law and I sipped ice tea in the welcome shade. My brother joined us and the Magattis, our host family, for lunch, just back from supervising his medical students in the hospital's operating theatre. There had been a power failure the night before and the
doctors, plunged mid-procedure into the pitch-black darkness of the sub-Saharan night, had been forced to perform an emergency operation by the light of their mobile phones. This was not, the Magattis assured us, an isolated occurrence. Power failures were common all year round, and when the Operating Theatre’s small, old
generator was out of costly diesel and no cars were on hand whose batteries could boost the energy supply, mobile phones were a necessary last resort. In a large regional hospital like Shirati, with a catchment area of over 200,000, hardly a day went by without emergency operations, and many of these took place at night. In Shirati, so close to the equator, every night lasts from 7 in the evening to around 6 the next morning.
It was one of those 'eureka' moments: my brother's backpack, slowly but surely charging up our phones in the hot Shirati sun, and just a few minutes up the road, a hospital operating by mobile phone-light because their whole power supply was down. The seed was planted. Over the next year my sister-in-law and I investigated renewable technologies, but it was only in late 2007 that an actual project began to take shape. Once again, it was one of those "coincidences". I had started working at
Screen Academy Scotland, part of Edinburgh Napier University. Our Film Academy had recently amalgamated with the seemingly unconnected School of Engineering and the Built Environment to form one Faculty. At the University's Christmas Dinner in December, I met Professor Ian Hunt, Head of the School of Engineering - and suddenly found myself talking non-stop about Shirati. A number of very productive meetings with keen Napier engineers followed. It turned out that Napier University has a long-term research - and practice-based commitment to alternative/renewable/sustainable energy: several of the people whom Professor Hunt gathered around the table to hear about Shirati Hospital and its power requirements were renowned solar-, hydro-, or wind- energy experts.
The project team came together almost effortlessly. From the very first meeting, Senior Lecturer Tom Grassie, an expert in solar thermal and renewable technologies, expressed an enthusiastic personal and practical interest in the project. He in turn suggested one of his PhD students, Peter Clarke, whose experience and research interest in photovoltaics would be an invaluable contribution. Likewise there from the very first meeting was John Paul McKeown, founder of Edinburgh-based charity EngineerAid: 250 professional engineers from around the world contributing specialist aid online to people and communities with engineering problems worldwide. The final member of the UK team was my daughter, Natasha Shea, a recent graduate in Architecture from Cambridge University, a school with a particular focus on sustainability in design.
Within weeks, John Paul and Tom Grassie had established contact with Emmanuel Birai, then Director of Shirati Hospital; Josiah Magatti, (photo below) Director of its Research Station; and Samwel Ogoya, Chief Engineer of Shirati Hospital. Together they forged the first professional connections between engineers in Edinburgh and Shirati, laying the foundation for the technical collaboration that would be integral to the project.
In June, five months after Professor Hunt and I first talked about Shirati at Edinburgh Napier's Christmas Dinner, Tom, Peter, Natasha and I were on our way to Shirati to meet Samwel Ogoya, Mr. Birai and Josiah Magatti. The seed of an idea planted in Shirati had sprouted in Edinburgh and was returning to Tanzania to take root. Together with Samwel Ogoye, Chief Technician of Shirati Hospital, the engineers carried out a complete audit of the hospital’s energy requirements.
Request for Information:
Development and maintenance of the Tanganyika, Uganda and Kenya Railways: 1922-1940. In 1922, my father Fred Ridley at the age of 23 after his service in the First Word War joined the Tanganyika Railways administration, travelling there by boat in 1922. His first station was at Kidete. In the following year my mother Gladys at the of 21 travelled to Dar es Salaam by boat – a journey then of six weeks, where they were married before returning to Kidete. During the next few years they moved stations – Tabora in 1926, Arusha in 1928 and Dodoma. In 1927, my eldest brother was born in England and returned with my mother to Tanganyika. In 1930, my twin brother and I were born in Dar es Salaam. My mother finally returned to England with her three sons in 1934. My father continued to work in Tanganyika, I am not sure at which stations, finally returning to England in 1940. I am currently writing a book on my family’s history and have always wished I had more understanding of these family years in Tanganyika – development of the railways and social life. If any readers have any history of this time I would
very much like to, learn more. Jeffrey Ridley [email protected]
Based on this audit Tom, on his return to Edinburgh, got to work to design a sustainable solar energy system which would supply an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) to the hospital’s Operating Theatre, the department whose need for energy was felt by Shirati Hospital staff to be most urgent. Fundraising over the next 4 years was slow and – in the days before Kickstarter and other crowd-sourcing campaigns took off - very hands-on, time-consuming, and personal: guests at four weddings and a funeral made contributions to SHEP in lieu of gifts and a funeral collection. Family and friends kindly left donations of £10 to £200 on the kitchen table. One supporter cycled from Canterbury to Rome to raise funds, and Tom Grassie organized and took part in a sponsored group cycle trip from Biggar, Scotland to Little, Ireland. When I encountered some unforeseen health problems in 2009, Tom carried on with the fundraising pretty much on his own, giving lectures around Scotland which encouraged more substantial and corporate donations – and by the beginning of 2012 we had raised £21,001. We decided to source all the necessary equipment locally in Tanzania. And in November 2012, Scottish engineers Tom Grassie and his cousin, Graham Smith, went out to Tanzania to join PowerProviders, an Arusha-based team of renewable energy installers, and Shirati Hospital technical staff to install a system of solar panels, backed up by the required inverters and batteries, on the roof of the hospital’s Operating Theatre. Tom Grassie reports: " After a 500 km journey through the Serengeti, on dirt roads badly damaged by the rains, the installation team from Arusha finally arrived with all necessary equipment at Shirati hospital. Travelling via Mwanza, a 5-hour bus journey from Shirati, Graham and I arrived the following day to join them, and the team, now complete, started to assemble the solar electric system that would provide uninterruptable power for the Operating Theatre. Under the watchful eye of lead technicians Shoyu and Steve of PowerProviders, the solar panels were installed on the OR roof on a specially designed frame, and all electronic and control equipment integrated with the existing electrical system. After a solid four days’ work, the system was in place, tested and fully commissioned.
In the past, if the grid went down at night- which on the equator lasts from 6 pm to 6 am the following day – the Operating Theatre would be plunged, literally from one moment to the next, into complete blackness. Now, if the grid goes down, the most that any surgeons working in the OR will see is a very slight flicker in the lights as the new system immediately switches over to the battery bank to provide power. The batteries can store enough energy to provide power for 2 to 3 operations, with the solar panels able to replenish this on a daily basis." The beauty of the system which Tom has designed is that it’s virtually self-sustaining, and that it works in tandem with the hospital’s own generator, using a series of inverters and batteries to store energy when the grid is operational, and allowing the solar energy system to kick in when the grid power cuts out. A more recent – and to my mind, brilliant! – improvement is that we are now able to see the system operating from Edinburgh, using a remote online system installed a couple of years ago. This later phase of the project was made possible by a second contribution from the family of Chandra Aitken, our first benefactor. When Chandra sadly died in December 2012, her family decided to dedicate the collection at her funeral in her name to the Shirati Project – she was very devoted to this project and,
although in her late eighties, had hoped to visit Shirati Hospital herself. The generous collection at Chandra’s funeral funded the installation of SHEP’s remote monitoring programme, which enables Tom Grassie here in Scotland to check how the system is working in Shirati, and, in the event of any necessary repairs, to liaise with our Arusha-based colleagues to carry them out. So far, things have been running very smoothly, but for those of you who know how often the
best-intentioned projects fall into disrepair and dis-use, this solution seems very inspired, and another feature of a project whose design, we feel, could be made available to many other hospitals, schools, churches, places of public use throughout Tanzania and Zanzibar. We are hoping to be able to progress this idea in the future - and would happily welcome any enquiries. Please direct all correspondence - and any comments most gratefully received as well! - to me at [email protected]
BTS Newsletter May 2o15 Shirati Hospital Energy Project Page 3
Bringing Wikipedia to a school without electricity, by Janet Chapman
Masekelo secondary school in Shinyanga has many challenges: there's no
electricity or water, so each pupil needs to collect 5 litres of water each day
and carry it to school. Until Tanzania Development Trust gave them a grant
in November there were insufficient desks or chairs and many had to sit on
the dirt floor. (See page 9)
The government has decreed that every
secondary school must have science
laboratories by the end of February. No money was provided for this;
they should come from parental contributions alone. When your parents
are subsistence farmers this is challenging.
The school has few text books or resources and a dire shortage of maths and science
teachers, but the dedication of its head teacher and staff now means they have the best
results of any government school in the district.
When I visited in September the dynamic head teacher, Steve Mihambo, told me of his
dream of a computer room, once they had power.
So I brought a Raspberry Pi computer, run from an external battery, with a 32gb
SD card with content downloaded from wp. This includes Wikipedia schools
edition, 2000 maths and science videos from Khan Academy, 800 classic books and
various health resources. A wifi stick in the Pi means any nearby smartphone, tablet or
laptop can access all this content.
I demonstrated this to the teachers and school board on
the 5 donated tablets I'd brought, plus a couple of staff
phones. They were astounded. "It's like a miracle", said
the board chair. "Now we are in the 21st century", added
a teacher.
You can follow the progress of this project, and the
school in general, on their Facebook Page.
If you would like to know more, or have an unneeded
tablet or laptop you'd like to go to a good home, please
email me at [email protected]
Page 4 Raspberry Pi BTS Newsletter May 2015
Bringing innovative educational technologies to children in poor countries.
The Global Learning XPRIZE is a $ 15 million prize to challenge teams from around the
world to develop open source and scalable software that will enable children in developing countries to teach themselves basic reading, writing and arithmetic within 18 months. According to an interview with Matt Keller (senior director of the Global Learning X Prize) which appeared in January’s issue of the New Scientist: “software will be loaded on to tablet computers and distributed to different sites in East Africa to test them out in 2016, probably Tanzania. Teams will develop software in both Swahili and English, in recognition that children have to learn to read in their mother tongue.”
http://learning.xprize.org/
.
In the last issue of the Newsletter and this, we are trialling having an article appear in both English and Swahili. Please feedback your views and ideas for future articles. Below is a book review extract detailing the growth of the Goan Community in East Africa. A Railway Runs Through: Goans of British East Africa, 1865 – 1980 by Selma Carvalho was sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund
Kitabu kinachohakikiwa Ilikuwaje kwamba watu wanaotoka nchi ya Goa
walichukua ukiritimba wakiwa
karani na wahesabu nchini Kenya
na katika serikali nyingine za
kikoloni za Afrika Mashariki?
Wakati ule Goa ilikuwa koloni ya
Ureno, siyo sehemu ya Uhindi wa
Kiingereza. Shirika la Kikoloni
liliwaajiri Wagoa badala ya
Wahindi kwa sababu gani? . . .
Hadithi hiyo inaanzia Unguja.
Mwaka 1865 kijana Mgoa, Caetano
do Rozario de Souza, alifika
akafungua duka. Wengine
walifuata wakaanza biashara za familia kule.
Kutoka mwanzoni maduka hayo ya Wagoa
yalitofautiana na maduka ya Wahindi. . . De Souza
alikuwa na mafanikio zaidi ya wengine na duka
lake lilizidi kuwa baa ambapo Wazungu
walikutana ili wanywe vinywaji na kukutana kama
kilabu. Alipendelewa na Sultani, Sayyid Barghash,
aliyemtunza medali ya dhahabu kwa ujasiriamali. .
.
Wakati huo Unguja ulikuwa mahali pakuu pa
kuvutia kwa Wazungu pale Afrika Mashariki. . . Si
muda mrefu hao Wagoa walijipatia vyeo vya juu
sana huko Unguja . . .
A book review How was it that Goans came to have a virtual
monopoly as clerks and accountants in
Kenya and other the colonial governments
of East Africa? Goa at the time was a
Portuguese colony, not part of British
India. Why did the Colonial Services
recruit Goans and not Indians? . . .
The story begins in Zanzibar. In 1865 a
young Goan, Caetano do Rozario de Souza,
arrived and set up store. Several others
followed and set up family businesses
there. From the beginning the Goan stores
chose to be different from Indian dukas. . .
De Souza was the most successful and his
store grew to become a bar where Europeans
gathered to drink and meet as a club. He was also
favoured by the Sultan, Sayyid Barghash, who
awarded him a gold medal for enterprise. . .
Zanzibar at the time was a centre for European
interest in East Africa. . . The Goans rapidly
acquired a dominant position in Zanzibar . . .
The above is an extract of a review written by Peter Fullerton (HMOCS Kenya, 1953-63), which appeared in The Overseas Pensioner (October 2014) published by the Pensioners' Association. The Swahili translation on the left is by courtesy of Donovan McGrath
Put your Swahili to the test!
It is now generally recognised that one way of staving off memory loss is to learn a new foreign language. Those members with a smattering of Kiswahili might consider putting their language skills to the test by studying for a recognised qualification in the language. Why not add another O level or GCSE to your impressive list of academic achievements? If you are interested, you could sit a Cambridge O Level – just google Cambridge O level Swahili or use this URL - http://www.cie.org.uk/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-o-level-swahili-3162/ Alternatively, you could sit for an Edexcel GCSE – see https://secure.edexcel.com/quals/igcse/igcse09/lang/swahili/Pages/default.aspx
Free Swahili Lessons As advertised in previous newsletters, several BTS members have all generously offered to assist members with some informal lessons and conversations. These could be one-to-one via Skype or in person, or in small groups, perhaps at a local coffee shop. If you are interested in learning or practising Swahili, contact Rachel Lindley [email protected]
BTS Newsletter May 2015 Swahili Matters Page 5
Nia njema ni tabibu, nia mbaya huharibu. A good purpose is like a doctor (it heals or keeps
you well) and evil purpose corrupts.
Nia zikiwa moja, kilicho mbali huja- when
minds are one what is far comes near.
6
“An inspiration and delight”
Julian and Ann Marcus describe their visit to Tanzania in February and March
2015.
Invitation to official opening of the Safe House
We were not going to visit Tanzania in 2015! Then after the triumphant visit to England of Mama Rhobi, came a pressing invitation to the official opening of the Safe House and Vocational Training Centre which TDT and its supporters, BTS members, friends and Trusts had done so much and worked so hard to build. As soon as we accepted, members of our church, All Saints Sanderstead, which had already contributed generously to the project wanted to know what they could send. We heard graphic accounts from Rhobi about the number of girls at the
Safe House going up - 50, 70, 100 and finally 134. Many of the girls were destitute. So the parish set about collecting girls’ pants, toothbrushes, toothpaste, flannels and soap. A marvellous lady made kits of washable sanitary pads. Then the fun bit - necklaces, bangles and ear rings, even toe and finger nail varnish. The boxes filled and filled. We were lucky that on the international flights we were allowed each 2 suitcases of 23kg each and generous hand-luggage- and we needed all of it.
Warm Welcome
We received a warm and gracious welcome in Tanzania from our friends Petronella and Danny Mwasandube. Danny used to be the TDT Treasurer, and now heads a team of Quantity Surveyors in Dar-es-Salaam, where he is also TDT’s representative. Pet and Danny looked after us marvellously and allowed us to use their home as a base.
Our first visits were to Lindi and Mtwara - an eagerly awaited first experience of
the South-East. On Friday February 13th (for us very lucky), we were up at 3.30am for our short flight south. As the plane flew along the coast, the sun rose like a golden God out of the water and turned the world light. We were soon spilling out of the plane onto the tarmac at little Mtwara airport, handing over an embroidered banner from Redditch to the Redditch-Mtwara One World Link. Then we were scooped up by the Rev Linus Buriani, our wonderful Local Representative for Mtwara and Lindi. Up and up the Land-Rover climbed, with glimpses of steep wooded valleys, and finally breasted the last steep hill and at 3000ft above sea level, we tumbled out onto the green campus of Masasi Diocese’s St Cyprian’s Theological College and
Secondary School at Rondo. I had heard much about this place from the late +Trevor Huddleston who was Bishop of Masasi in the 1960s and who with others founded the Britain-Tanzania Society and its Tanzania Development Trust. The centre of the campus is the chapel with its truly beautiful stained glass windows of the Creation.
Our real programme started with visits to three projects on the Rondo Plateau. One of these is an AFFORESTATION PROJECT which TDT has funded with a grant from African Palms. This whole plateau used to be covered with trees, but generations of ‘slash and burn’ shifting cultivation by the locals has caused much degradation of the landscape, as shown by the blackened tree stumps everywhere. The afforestation project will provide teak hardwood for high grade timber, mangoes and avocados for production and sale, and shade and nutrients for the soil.
Page 6 TDT News: Marcus’ Visit to Tanzania BTS Newsletter May 2105
7
Driving back to Masasi, we passed through Mtwara, which is bidding to be the Aberdeen of the south, a city built on gas from under the Indian Ocean. There was much evidence of new building and a Nigerian entrepreneur is building the biggest cement factory in East Africa, possibly in all Africa. The gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar cut a huge swath through the countryside.
Will there be an economic trickle-down effect so that the rural poor of Mtwara benefit? That’s impossible to tell. Certainly 10km from Mtwara town, most people are still subsistence farmers living in wattle and daub huts with grass roofs. One of our most enjoyable visits in Mtwara was to the very successful
MIUNGO WATER PROJECT, which has been sponsored by African
Palms Association. Miungo Village is really quite remote: 35 kilometres south-west from Masasi. We turned off the main tarred road, then on to a sandy road which fortunately had not been damaged by the heavy morning rain, but which gave joyful opportunities for children to splash in the streams we passed. We were accompanied to the visit by Linus Buriani who had arranged our visit so well and the Ward Executive Officer who travelled with us from Masasi. Finally we reached the substantial village of Miungo with a considerable population. We were met by a happy gathering of the community, predominantly Muslim, greeting us excitedly and with many Asante Sanas. After introductions, we were taken to see some of the water points, of which there are five strategically placed. The tap was turned on and out gushed with very strong pressure excellent clear and drinkable water. Miungo is a textbook case of excellent co-operation between a local Council, an energetic community and an outside donor providing capital. Our next visit was much more disturbing. Just below the Cathedral and Guest House in Masasi is the MTANDI PRIMARY SCHOOL. In the time of +Trevor Huddleston, this was a tiny special school for the blind
of 11 pupils and it was one of TDT’s first projects. Now there is a unit with 71 special needs children, mostly albinos who are blind or partially sighted, plus some with deafness and other disabilities within a large state primary school of 1,127. For the 1,127 pupils there were 11 teachers, 3 of whom had attended a Special Needs course. The children with disabilities come from all over southern Tanzania and board at the school, going home twice a year, escorted by adults. The school and boarding are provided free of charge to parents. The Head teacher told us that some money came from private donors (we later learned that this was for medical treatment,
not education), and it was clear that the school was very severely underfunded. We were allowed to visit a classroom for the disabled. It had no disabled access. There was a handful of desks and a few dilapidated wall posters- everything gave the appearance of lack of care and low morale due to absence of resources.
BTS Newsletter May 2105 TDT News: Marcus’ Visit to Tanzania Page 7
8
Mtandi Primary School, (continued from page 7)
In terms of teaching aids, the school lacks braille machines, any audio equipment and there are no hearing aids for the deaf children. We saw no partially sighted children with glasses. In addition to the equipment mentioned above, the Head teacher listed as needs: Audio machines, Hearing Aids, Spectacles, Toilets, Chairs, Skin lotion for
albinos, Hats, Uniforms and Food. What was most upsetting was the dejection of some of the children. One little girl sat on the ground with her arms covering her head as though she wanted the whole world to go away. We have made sure that the school gets an application form and are trying to mobilise help. Our time in the South reminded us, if any reminder were needed, just how privileged we are in TDT to work with such skilled and knowledgeable Local Representatives. Our visit was excellently planned and organised by Linus Buriani, and we also owe much thanks to his boss, Bishop James Almasi, who is visiting the UK this April.
After a very happy week in the South, in the course of which we visited twelve actual or potential projects, it was back to Dar and the hospitality of Danny and Petronella, before setting off for Shinyanga, via Mtwara and then on to Mara. Now the packing crisis became more intense. Everything we had been given for the Safe House had to be crammed into 2 suitcases and 2 pieces of hand luggage. Ultimately we more or less succeeded, and having left most of our own clothes behind and with several strokes of luck, managed to take just about everything needed and Fastjet allowed us on board.
Mwanza, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Mara and Kagera
At Mwanza we were met by another excellent Local Representative, William Shayo, who was to be our guide, philosopher and friend for the next 5 projects. Ann and I are both retired teachers and in the course of our visits to Tanzania (I think this was my 13th), we have visited a large number of schools and Ann has worked in one large girls’ secondary. Many of the rural secondary schools face huge difficulties. We are working with a group of 4 rural schools all with challenges especially lack of staff. But now we were in for a wonderful surprise.
MASEKELO SECONDARY SCHOOL on the outskirts of Shinyanga is a ward Secondary School opened in 2007. Very many such secondary schools were started after the promise in the 2005 General Election in Tanzania to build a secondary school in every ward. Like most of these, it has no
electricity and no water and no completed laboratories but that’s where the similarities end and we think it’s because they have 24 teachers for the 378 pupils, a Pupil- Teacher ratio of under 16:1! As a result in the Form 2 and Form 4 results in 2014, Masekelo was the top state school in Shinyanga region, and 4th of all schools in the region.
Page 8 TDT News: Marcus’ Visit to Tanzania BTS Newsletter May 2105
Unfinished Labs
TDT: TANZANIA DEVELOPMENT TRUST EVERY POUND GIVEN TO TDT GOES DIRECTLY TO PROJECTS IN TANZANIA
9
Masekelo School, contd. What is achieved in the results is borne out in what we saw of the very high morale and impeccable behaviour of the pupils, but what was most unusual was what took place at the celebration under the trees, where all the desks and chairs which TDT had donated were on display. There was a role play in costume in which a teacher taught a class where some pupils were sitting 2 to a chair, and when a class was upbraided for this, she explained that there was no chair for her.
The teacher went to tell the Head, who thought about what to do, applied to kind TDT and lo and behold, they had new desks and chairs! All was done with an inventiveness and sense of humour and confidence which we have not seen before. And that wasn’t all. The next act was (we think) the Emperor of China who appeared in wig and moustache accompanied by a flunkey with a sunshade. A female representative from Masekelo came to ask him about improving the school’s water. He talked in a kind of fast gibberish (trying hard to keep his moustache on) while the school representative explained the problem, and the children and staff and guests were falling about in laughter. Great stuff!
Read about Janet Chapman’s exciting account of bringing new technology to this school on page 4
Another first-class visit was to the BLEMA WOMEN’S SEWING PROJECT IN MASWA, the chief town of Simiyu Region. This project was started by a group of teachers to help women in very disadvantaged
circumstances (some with HIV) learn to support themselves. The tall man on the far right as we look at the picture, left is the TDT Local Representative, William Shayo.
BLEMA has rented a large former warehouse and turned it into a spacious workshop where women learn sewing and embroidery.
Most of the women are farmers also, and so their attendance is restricted by when they plant and harvest their cotton and food crops, but the teacher (himself disabled) and management have worked round this with flexible schedules. What is special about this project is the way that ‘graduates’ of the course are managing to set themselves up in business. We went to three such ‘outstations’. In the most successful of these, three ladies working in a team have negotiated a favourable deal with a fabric merchant, so they only pay for material when they use it. This is a very good project, but as William observed, they need more business training so that they make a more diverse range of projects and he is arranging this.
BTS Newsletter May 2015 TDT News: Marcus’ Visit to Tanzania Page 9
10
The opening of the SAFE HOUSE AND VOCATIONAL
TRAINING CENTRE IN MUGUMU, MARA REGION on
February 27th was a triumph for Rhobi Samwelly.
Large open-sided gazebos had been brought in from somewhere and were arranged along 3 sides of the paved area at the front of the building. This gave a splendid central area for the many performances of dancers and choirs. The whole Musoma Cathedral choir came and there were also choirs from the Mugumu Catholic church and Mennonite churches. Many members of the local Islamic community were present. The Safe House girls also sang and danced, of course. There were also local Kurya dancers in tribal dress and many of the words
of the songs had been changed so that they both challenged Female Genital Mutilation and thanked TDT for raising the money needed. There were sombre moments, too. Although at the maximum, 134 girls had been rescued and were housed (somehow), not all girls were saved. Here is 15 year old Nehma on the right, with tears running down her cheeks recounting how the old diocesan car that was collecting 7 girls from her village of Masinki to take them to the Safe House broke down, and 5 were snatched by their parents and subjected to FGM. Nehma and a friend ran into the bush and hid in the darkness. Finally one of our volunteers managed to locate them and escort them on to a bus and to safety. Nehma was weeping as she thought of her friends and most of the audience were tearful with her. Then the mood changed again as what seemed to be a whole new choir burst on to the stage with some of the women having flaming pots of fire on their heads, accompanied by an incredibly agile and somewhat demonic figure with his chest also painted blue and a fire stick which he waved alarmingly. It turned out that this was also the Cathedral choir!
There were many speeches, of course, but punctuated by choirs and dancing, so not too boring for the guests. The new young (Muslim) District Commissioner, only in post for 10 days spoke well, as of course did Bishop Hilkiah Omindo, for whom this project is the culminating event of his episcopate. He is a dear and kind man and much loved. My wife Ann and I delivered a speech in Swahili which had been kindly translated for
us and rehearsed by one of our committee members. It was well received and I made a special point of thanking the mosque for its support - this gained much applause. Ann presented a picture which had been specially painted for the Safe House by her sister Ruth. It is of a lovely hibiscus and is entitled ‘Joy flowers in Peace’- it was greatly admired. Peace is ‘Salama’ in Swahili, so the title refers to the Nyumba ya Salama.
Page 10 TDT News: Marcus’ Visit to Tanzania BTS Newsletter May 2015
11
Nyumba ya Salama Foundation Stone. I was then invited to
unveil the foundation stone and snip the ribbon across the front door, but Insisted that Rhobi’s hand was also on the scissors. As Guest of Honour, I was very mindful that I was representing all the generous donors to the project, and I can assure you that you were warmly and graciously thanked. I was also representing William and Gail Fulton and Ron and Liz Fennell all of whom hoped to be present but for them it was not possible. Their names are recorded above doors in the Safe House amongst those who
have brought this wonderful place almost to completion. Finally, after a 5-hour ceremony, we all adjourned for lunch, very hungry, at tea time, and a good time was had by all! The next day we handed over to the matron and social worker all the underwear and sanitary pads, toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap kindly donated by friends, relatives and churches and these were received with great thanksgiving - but then came the choosing by the girls of the jewellery, necklaces, bangles etc. which were greeted by ululations of delight. Finally the girls discovered nail varnish and other cosmetics and happy hours were spent painting each other’s finger and toe nails etc. This was just sheer pleasure.
WHAT NEEDS DOING STILL:
1. Finishing the Kitchen and Dining Room. The present kitchen (right) is quite inadequate. More funds are needed to build, furnish and equip the kitchen and dining room
2. A new solar installation for the Vocational Training Centre. The TANESCO power supply is sometimes off for 2 days at a time.
3. More sewing machines 4. A boundary wall or fence to demarcate the Safe House and VTC. This will be
particularly important before the next ‘Cutting Season’ to make it clear to any hostile parents that they cannot enter without police permission. A boundary fence will make it easier to protect the shambas (gardens) where girls are growing food, and if they decide to keep chickens also.
5. Contributions to support the on-going campaign against FGM. At the moment the campaign has targeted only 18 of the 85 villages in Serengeti District and so there is a long way to go. We visited a remote village where the girls had been cut in January and it was probable that several had died.
6. The greatest need now is to find a donor who/which could help provide a vehicle so that never again are girls snatched in the night and forced to undergo FGM. A vehicle would also help Rhobi transport the musicians, singers and dancers when she goes into the villages of Serengeti district campaigning against FGM. A suitable and reliable Toyota Land-Cruiser would cost about £25,000- £30,000.
HOW to DONATE – see page 12
There were still more visits to make and potential projects to investigate. If you have survived this account so far, you can breathe a sigh of relief that I shall spare you them. However I must conclude by saying that for us this visit was a great privilege and inspiration. We met remarkable people, including our Local Representatives, Danny, Linus, William and Rhobi (and fleetingly in Dar, Elias Mashasi). They are the eyes and ears of TDT and bring enormous strength and many skills to our work. In almost all cases, we found our project partners to be people of great integrity and commitment. In the villages we encountered women and men of initiative and determination, lifting their communities’ aspirations and living standards. We return happy and confident and proud of TDT and its work and thankful indeed to those who support us.
Asanteni sana. Julian and Ann Marcus
TDT: TANZANIA DEVELOPMENT TRUST
EVERY POUND GIVEN TO TDT GOES DIRECTLY TO PROJECTS IN TANZANIA
BTS Newsletter May 2o1 5 TDT News: Marcus’ Visit to Tanzania Page 11
12
Saving girls from the 'cutting season' There was excellent coverage of the magnificent work being by
Mama Rhobi for the girls fleeing FGM in Mara region by
Linda Pressly from BBC, Tanzania. “Escaping Tanzania's
Cutting Season” was broadcast on Assignment on BBC World
Service and again on Crossing Continents on BBC Radio 4 on
Thursday 2 April. You can listen to the broadcasts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nxh9x#auto and
read Linda’s article http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-
31604025
Julian Marcus, Chair of TDT has said “I thought you would
like to know that since March 1st, we have received the following on-line donations for the Safe House:
Just Giving - £1,309.25 including Gift Aid. Global Giving - £2590.52 where I have estimated the Gift Aid
on the UK donations at 10% to allow for the GG deduction of 10% and those who have not added GA, so
a minimum of £3,899, much following Linda’s broadcasts! Thank you Linda.”
A Toyota Land-Cruiser is needed to help support the work of Mama Rhobi - see page 11
Donating to Safe House: Go to www.justgiving.com/Safe-
House/
To donate to TDT go to TDT Website Page
http://www.tanzdevtrust.org/ and click on Mydonate
Send cheques to TDT
TREASURER: Sam Macaulay
317 Westmount Road, Eltham,
LONDON SE9 1NR. On the
back if you pay tax, please write
‘Please claim Gift Aid’ with
your address and signature.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
.
Page 12 TDT News BTS Newsletter May 2015
Rachel ran the marathon for TDT!
It’s not too late to donate
Rachel Lindley was running the London Marathon (26.2miles!) journey on April 26th for the Tanzania Development Trust. Please show your support for Rachel and TDT by donating via the link below
The site will still be live after the marathon so please go to the link below to give https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/rel
Donate a Chicken! If you want to buy a good gift that will last longer and do more good than a chocolate egg, consider donating a chicken to a group of women in Zeze village, Kasulu. Each group of 5 chickens will be looked after collectively by a group of 5 women and the eggs used to help feed their families. As their stock increases they will pass on new chicks to their neighbours to start more womens' groups. If you would like more information or to donate a chicken please email [email protected] - 1 chicken only costs £6!
13
BTS Scottish Group News The Scottish Group has held one meeting on January 10th at which Louise Johnston gave an update on the Ruvuma Development Aid project including fund raising, and the development of the Ntimbanjayo Memorial School buildings, library, playground and other facilities.
Ntimbanjayo Memorial School Thanks to the donations of art works by largely Scottish artists sold at three auctions a new double classroom in 2013 and a new double dormitory in 2014 was built. The library project has benefitted from the support of Professor Virginia Dike who visited the school in 2014 and held workshops in cataloguing, setting up a library and using the book collection to encourage interactive and self-directed learning for teachers and pupils.
In July 2014 the first group of 6 volunteers from One Solution helped to build a sports ground and an adventure playground for the children. There were 110 pupils last term and numbers are expected to rise to around 150 in January when the new term begins. There are 48 sponsored children already at the school and sponsors are being sought for another two children.
Ralph Ibbot gave an overview of the background to his book
Ralph Ibbott gave an overview of the background to his book ‘"Ujamaa: the hidden story of Tanzania's socialist villages". The book is based on his experience of working with the Ruvuma Development Association in the 1960's. Although the Ibbotts were forced to leave the country in some haste, Ralph managed to get his personal files about the project back to the UK where he then wrote up a detailed account of his time in Litowa, the first of the Ujamaa village. This book is based on that first-hand account and has been edited by Selma James of Crossroads Books. The book is available from Crossroads Books for £15.99. [email protected] 020 7482 2496 See details at http://crossroadsbooksonline.net/product/ujamaa-the-hidden-story-of-
tanzanias-socialist-villages/
All royalties from the book go to support Ruvuma Development Aid.
Progress in Zanzibar Cathedral’s Restoration On February 16 the Bishop of Zanzibar, Rt Rev Michael Hafidh, and Rev Nuhu Sallanya, Restoration Director for Zanzibar Cathedral gave a talk at St John’s Church, Edinburgh about the progress of the World Monuments Fund Project to restore and develop Zanzibar Cathedral. This was organised by Christopher Hall, a member of BTSS. Further information: www.zanzibarfriends.org
www.ced.org.uk/zanzibar‐cathedral/
BTS Newsletter May 2015 BTS Scottish Group News Page 13
Page 15
Donations
Sponsoring costs £25 per month and details about sponsoring can
be found on our website: www.rudatanzania.org.uk or you can
contact Louise directly at [email protected] For
regular updates see www.facebook.com/rudatanzania.
14
Continued from front page
“Over the last thirteen years, my organisation, The Mango Tree, has raised in the UK and spent in the local economy £2.9 million to support orphans and their communities. This support has resulted in over 17,000 young people receiving education and training, which has produced engineers – civil, mechanical, chemical – as well as doctors and nurses, accountants and bookkeepers, lawyers, bankers, and hundreds of teachers, as well as carpenters, masons, tailors, hairdressers, along with many with other skills and qualifications. Almost all these young people would have faced a life of poverty and subsistence farming without this support. We have also built a wonderful vocational training college, which has cost so far over £1 million and we have a further £200k to invest, once the local situation becomes less tense. In April last year, I co-hosted President Kikwete and several Government ministers at a reception at the FCO. None of this has protected me from this Prohibition Order, which was issued under the category for suspected terrorists, drug dealers and traffickers in human body parts. On Monday 23rd February, the Swahili newspaper, Raia Mwema, carried a libellous front page article about me, which was both offensive and inaccurate. The article, written by the politician’s brother, stated that I had been expelled from the DRC and Ethiopia on spying charges. It also accused me of being on the run from the Tanzanian intelligence services for over two years and for travelling around Tanzania, under the umbrella of the vocational college, gaining access to ‘political dealings’. The only correct fact in the entire article was the name of the hotel, where my wife and I were staying. We left the country same day for Nairobi. In so doing, we were, very sadly, unable to attend the opening of the Safe House for girls escaping FGM in Mugumu. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Membe, told the UK’s Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, at a meeting at the FCO in March, that he was very annoyed about my case, which is still under review in Tanzania. He was expecting this issue to be resolved ‘by the end of the month’. As yet, I have heard nothing. Some years ago, at the Harvard Business School, I studied the development of three countries from the 1960s: Venezuela, Ghana and Malaysia. These three countries had roughly the same size of population, the same GDP and the same land
mass. Venezuela had the benefit of oil. Ghana had gold and cocoa and Malaysia had tin and rubber (both of which were in decline). As we know, Venezuela and Ghana still struggle with extremely low-level economies and high levels of corruption but Malaysia is no longer in the same economic bracket. It is a middle-income country. The widening GDP in these countries is directly attributable to the levels of corruption. Whilst there is still corruption in Malaysia, it is not nearly as bad as in the other two countries. There exists a strong correlation between countries with high levels of poverty and conflict and high levels of corruption. Between 2012 and 2014, Tanzania has fallen from 102 to 119 in the Transparency International corruption index – see www.transparency.org. According to my HBS professor, in order for a country to develop strong governance, accountability and economic growth two key conditions need to be present:
1) a strong tertiary education system and
2) an honest ‘government’ with good judiciary systems, democratic electoral systems, and financial transparency.
The professor defined ‘government’ to include all agencies of government and the judiciary and a free press. He said that it is a normal human wish to raise children in a good honest stable environment. For that to happen, a citizen wants to know that tax paid will be used for the benefit of the citizen and their fellow citizens. If a citizen has a dispute, he or she wants to know that it can be taken to a court of law and he or she can expect a fair result. If none of these conditions appertain, and he or she has good qualifications, they are likely to leave their country for a country where these conditions prevail. Sadly, that is why so many qualified people from developing countries join the diasporas in the western world, thus slowing down the process of development in their countries of birth.
Let us hope that the current well-informed interest in politics in Tanzania will result in a change for the better next October.
I have obviously found myself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I very much hope that BTS members visiting Tanzania during the next few months are extremely cautious about any involvement with any politician from any party!”
Willie Fulton
Page 14 Prohibited Immigrant BTS Newsletter May 2015
15
Do you shop online?
Your shopping can help the Tanzania Development Trust
at no extra cost to yourselves.
It seems too good to be true; however, at NO
EXTRA COST to yourself, you can make a
donation to the Tanzania Development Trust
every time you shop online. All the well known
brands such as John Lewis, Argos,
Amazon,Tesco, Sainsburys, ebay, Waitrose,
M and S and 800 more shops. etc. are included on
this.
What do you do?
Go to www.thegivingmachine.co.uk . Join by filling in your details name email, password (takes
about a minute)
Then select up to 4 charities on their lists to support. For TDT search for “the Tanzania
Development Trust” and it will come up as listed in South Croydon. (you can chose 1 up to 4)
That is it.
Then every time you shop online if you go through the giving machine site, a % of your
purchases will go to TDT. The prices are no different from going direct to the retail outlet.
Although it is a small amount, regular amounts soon build up especially if a number are
involved. “haba na haba hujaza kibaba!”, and as we know a small amount will go a long way in
Tanzania.
Thank you for your support, David Gibbons.
£500 bequeathed to Tanzania Development Trust. TDT has received a letter regarding the estate of Miss Joan Haworth Whitworth in which £500 has been bequeathed to the Trust. Joan was Julia Carter's youngest sister, (the last of four), and Roger and Julia Carter both helped the Britain Tanzania Society set up the Tanzania Development Trust. The photo (right) shows Roger Carter at the inaugural meeting of BTS. Joan was a life-long Quaker. She trained as a physiotherapist and worked in Italy for the Red Cross at the end of the second world war. Subsequently she practised in the Lake District. Joan visited the family during their time in East Africa, and understood the value of Roger and Julia's work.
BTS will be 40 this year – see back page
BTS Newsletter May 2o15 TDT Funds Page 15
TDT: TANZANIA DEVELOPMENT TRUST EVERY POUND GIVEN TO TDT GOES DIRECTLY TO PROJECTS IN TANZANIA
16
BTS Who’s Who & Contacts
BTS CHAIR William Fulton 01513 367393 [email protected]
BTS MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Ann Brumfit 01737 210532 24 Oakfield Drive, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 9NR. [email protected]
BTS TREASURER Jill Bowden 020 8886 8141 17 The Green, London N14 7EH [email protected]
BTS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Dr Elizabeth Taylor 01869 243479 [email protected]
TDT CHAIR: Julian Marcus 020 8668 5230 [email protected] TDT TREASURER: Sam Macaulay 317 Westmount Road, Eltham, LONDON SE9 1NR TDT Communications Manager: Janet Chapman [email protected]
TDT card sales: [email protected] EDITOR TANZANIAN AFFAIRS
David Brewin 020 7727 1755 [email protected]
WEB EDITOR Tim Watkins-Idle [email protected] BTS NEWSLETTER EDITOR Sue Mitchell 02036651144 [email protected]
BTS President: HE Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania BTS Vice-Presidents: Sir Andy Chande, Derek Ingram, Esther Mwaikambo, Ron and Liz Fennell, Trevor Jaggar
BTS Tanzania Chapter contacts: Enquiries & Membership [email protected] Chair Hon. Paul Rupia +255 713 605151 [email protected] BTS (T) Hon Sec Patricia Mlozi [email protected] OR [email protected]
BTS Scottish Group contacts: Ann Burgess 07858 481038 [email protected]
NEXT NEWSLETTER DEADLINE
1st Sept. 2015. Send to Sue Mitchell
33 Viola Ave, London SE2 0TQ
Tel 02036651144 but email preferred
BTS Newsletter May 2015 Volume 13, Issue 2 Back Page
BTS will celebrate its
Fortieth Birthday.
The actual date is 4th November, but we are planning to hold a
celebration featuring Tanzanian music in Reading,
on a weekend close to that date.
BTS Vice president Trevor Jaggar will be 90 in September. Trevor has asked for contributions to TDT rather than presents.
Please note that our 40th AGM will be held on Saturday 14th November 2015.
Karibuni We welcome the following new
members: Ms Dativa Moshi London
I look forward to working closely with members to bring new ideas to our organisation. Dr Don Taylor Didsbury, Greater Manchester The Rev Amanda and Mr Patrick MacVean , Banstead, Surrey I Patrick, was involved in a water project four years ago. Mandy, my wife, was researching HIV and how the local church was dealing with it as part of her training for ordination into the church. Mr David Hooper Chafford Hundred in Essex The Rev D Stedman Budbrooke, Warwickshire Mr Michael Richard Martin-Short , Deal, Kent. Mr Adrian Strain, Leeds
