Society Projects

The Trust supports projects proposed by communities in all parts of Tanzania. It seeks to combat poverty and disease by the development of education, health and social services, the improvement of water supplies and other communal facilities and the promotion of self-help ventures.

NEWS FROM SOME OF OUR EDUCATION PROJECTS

 

For more than three years, TDT has been supporting two clusters of primary schools, one in Lushoto (Tanga region) and the other in Chunya (Mbeya region). The funding for these three year projects has come from the excellent Hilden Charitable Fund.

We have worked with clusters of 4 primary schools: each school receiving an equal annual boost to its funding, so that, as far as possible, we did not distort the pattern of admissions locally and so that schools were treated equitably.

For the first two years of funding, the Headteachers and Village Chairs, in consultation with the Divisional Education Officer, decided to put the money into infrastructure projects like building extra classrooms, blocks of toilets etc. Generally the allocation of money (about £2300) per school per annum was insufficient to fund a building, but in every case with local additional support, free parental labour etc. the buildings were completed. The Hilden money, funded through TDT, seemed to galvanise local determination and in one case at Mhelo School near Lushoto, the local community succeeded in doubling the Hilden grant.

For the third round of funding it was decided to concentrate on text books, readers, dictionaries, teaching aids and sports equipment. £2300 buys a lot of textbooks. One school ordered 1240 books, 4 charts, 80 Maths sets, a Science teaching kit, sets of anti-AIDS teaching materials, footballs, volley balls, sports team bibs and a lock up cupboard! I am Chair of Governors of a London secondary school and I just wish we could get as much for the money! The pictures above, taken recently by Tony Janes our Field Officer, show the delight of the youngsters.

KABALE SECONDARY SCHOOL, BUKOBA gets its 3rd Laboratory.

Kabale Community Secondary School was introduced to TDT by Bukoba local resident and TDT Vice-Chair in Tanzania, Professor Gelase Mutahaba.  He took the new BTS chair, Trevor Jaggar, to visit the school and Trevor was also most impressed by the commitment of the local community, staff and Headteacher.  Parents had started the school because they could not get their children into the highly selective Bukoba secondaries. The State then took over to pay salaries, making the school like a voluntary-aided school in the UK. The teachers work a double shift, teaching school pupils during the day, and adults who missed out on secondary education in the early evening. TDT has provided electricity for the school and a member paid for a water harvesting

and storage system. TDT was then asked to build a first laboratory, so that the school could provide a proper Science Education. We managed to do that and with the kind co-operation of the Lab Aid Trust, a good deal of equipment was also provided. In the picture above, outgoing BTS chair, Liz Fennell, is pictured with a group of teachers inspecting the Science equipment.

The school needed two more laboratories, but it was beyond the capacity of TDT to provide these and meet many other requests and commitments from all over the Republic. Thus we applied to the British High Commission in Dar-es-Salaam for a ‘small grant’ from the scheme administered in Tanzania by the Commission on behalf of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFiD). We were twice unsuccessful. In the meantime BTS member, Mbwana Alliy, then working for the high-tech company Qinetiq arranged a fund raising climb of Mt Kilimanjaro, and this provided most of the money for the second laboratory. Finally this year, on our 3rd application for a DFiD grant, we were successful, and work is now well under way to complete the final laboratory. Other donors to Kabale have included our American partners, the Friends of Tanzania, who built a girl’s changing room and cloakroom and Thomas Hardye School in Dorset, which also provided a grant for equipment.

This has been one of TDT’s major success stories and Kabale now has facilities better than most Tanzanian secondary schools.

MUSOMA VOCATIONAL ENGINEERING

This is a Further Education scheme set up in the capital of Mara Region to help disabled youngsters earn a living.  The project has a training centre where disabled trainees, aged 24 yrs and below, girls and boys, undergo one to two years of training in vocational trades. The trades offered include carpentry, tailoring and dressmaking, welding and leatherwork. When these youngsters complete their training they are given a  start up tool kit to enable them start their own business.  TDT was asked for help in providing 5 knitting machines so that disabled girls could make clothes for sale, and the Trust provided £2320.  The Centre leader, Denis Mahina wrote to us:

 “We have just received your good news with surprise. I have passed over the news to the female trainees at which they are very excited. Please receive and pass over our big thanks to the TDT team for their kind consideration. Our training programme is doing well and we recently graduated twelve trainees and gave them start up kits [tools] to enable them start their own projects. The parents on the graduation day admired the new knitting machine and wished the knitting skills could be taught to many disabled youths especially the girls. But we regretted that the machine is only one. With your donation  we are now comforted that we are going to have enough to cater for many trainees in knitting. Thank you in a big way.”

These are just three examples from the work of TDT in education projects during 2006. There have been many other successful investments in water and health schemes.  Sceptics often express doubt about the value of giving money to Africa and claim that donations are all swallowed up in administration or corruption. It is a joy that TDT can prove that money given by donors goes straight to excellent projects and that as a result our Tanzanian project partners are actually giving people new opportunities and changing lives.  Thank you all for your support.

Julian Marcus
Deputy Chairman