Pre-schools photo update

Pre-school and children at Nyhinila the smaller village.

Pre-school and children at Chitemo village.

We hope that our pig project will be a success and the money earned from selling piglets will go towards maintaining the schools and paying the teachers.

November 2017-Update - Oink! Oink!

After almost a years delay because of the swine fever we now have great news our first pigs are in their new homes in Nyhinila and Chitemo villages.  The sows have been serviced by the boars and now we wait to see if they will produce  piglets  in the near future. The villagers have decided to name the first adult pigs as you will see.

Angela, very clean and dainty!

Angela is a supporter of our projects.

 

Jacqui, where has it all gone !

Jacqui is one of our Trustees

Mzengo (Oliver)- big boy ate it all!

Mzengo is our eldest grandson who visited Tanzania in June 2017 and was baptised into the Gogo tribe, hence the name. Mzengo means builder and as he is training to be a teacher he will build the future of children.  How thoughtful is that?

 Rebecca, she always was a mucky kid!

Rebecca, daughter and secretary/administrator of SEEDS

 Trevor, what big ears you have !

Trevor, husband and Gofor of SEEDS.

 Yolande!

Yolande, that's me.  I am either shy or have been naughty!

Future piglets will be named after the supporters who donated funds to the pig project.

We shall be purchasing more sows once it has been established that the project is progressing well.

This is so exciting - how we have progressed since establishing our charity in September 2011.

We hope and pray this project will achieve the results we need to enable the villages to become self-supporting and independent.

GREAT NEWS - PIGLET PROJECT IS UNDERWAY

After a disappointing long delay due to the swine fever outbreak in the area we now have pigs in our pigsties.

Interior of a pigsty before building was completed.   The pigs also have an outside area.

Our vet Yohana Ngoso who is overseeing the project.

12 months pig feed for Chitemo and Nyhinila

Yohana disinfecting the pigsties before installing the pigs.

One of the sows to be purchased.

Looks like one of the boars being checked out by Yohana

The pig in its new home

And another one!

It was decided because of the delay in the project the purchase of   adult pigs would be more sensible than piglets thereby speeding up the  production of piglets.  To start each village with have two sows and one boar.

We have supplied the villages with 12 months of pig feed. Those who are looking after the pig project have been trained and we now have Yohana Ngoso a  vet to oversee the project until it is felt that those in charge are comfortable with their role.

SEEDS will continue to fund the schools and pig project until 2020.   It is then hoped that the villages will have accumulated sufficient funds and together with continued  sale of piglets will become self-supporting and independent.

General informaiton

8 October 2017

SEEDS held its annual Tanzanian service at All Saints, Orpington, Kent.  It was a most colourful and joyful occasion particularly as this year we had Rev Canon Agripa Ndatila as our guest.  Canon Agripa is the Principal of St Phillips Theological College in Kongwa, Mpwapwa Diocese, and also the coordinator of the relationships between Rochester Diocese and Mpwapwa Diocese. 

Resplendent in our Tanzanian costumes

22 October 2017

I was invited to give a presentation in the morning service at Emmanuel United Reform Church, West Wickham, Kent.  Again a wonderful service where I was made most welcome and the church are kindly supporting SEEDS as their overseas charity for 2017/18.

PONCHOS

A number of ladies have kindly agreed to knit ponchos for the little children in Chitemo and Nyhinila pre-schools.  The beauty of the ponchos is that one size fits 3 - 7 year olds.  It may seem odd knitting for children in Africa where for us it is hot all year round but for the locals some months for them are cool so knitted items are most welcome.  We only need 200!!  Keep knitting ladies.

October 2017 Update

Pig Project-Chitemo and Nyhinila

Good news the swine fewer has been eradicated and we are able to move forward with the piglet project.  We have transferred funds to cover all equipment and vaccinations required for the pig breeding and for one years supply of pig feed for both villages.  Also funds have been transferred to purchase 2 adult sows and 1 boar for each village.  It was decided as there had been a delay of a number of months in producing piglets due to the swine fewer adult sows who had already produced one litter of piglets would be the best way forward to get production started as soon as possible. Once the project is seen to been running successfully more adult sows can be added to each village.  We are very pleased to have Yohana Ngoso a young qualified vet to oversea the project on our behalf.

Bore- hole - Nyinila

The bore-hole  has been repaired and the people are now able to access water.  Long may it last.

Schools - Chitemo and Nyhinila

The number of children attending the schools remains steady and we have just transferred the funds to purchase a variety of teaching materials. 

Maasai Orphans - Kiteto area

We are continuing to support these children with food and the opportunity to attend school.  The area is seriously lacking water because of the poor rain fall this year.  The only water available is by digging pits in the dry river beds 20 to 30 feet deep.

Maasai orphans

Accessing water

Update September 2017

My last up- date was some months ago as we have had many challenges to overcome since then.

Thankfully the pre-schools are doing well. The 5 trained teachers, 3 in Chitemo, 2 in Nyhinila are working well together and the children are enjoying their schooling.  2/3rds reached the required level to move onto the government schools at the age of 7.  Those who are a bit slower stay on at the pre-schools until they have improved.  We do have the challenge of continuing to pay the teachers a monthly allowance and supply the schools with teaching materials.  This will continue until the end of 2019 when it is hoped the villages will be able to self-fund.

The bore-hole at Nyhinila continues to have problems maintaining the working of the machinery to pump water.  Yet again the machinery has broken down which means the people have to revert to walking the 7 kilometres to Chitemo to access water which puts a strain on the water supply.  It is hoped that the problems will be overcome.  Water is so precious to the people.  

The 'piglet project' unfortunately has been delayed by a number of months due to swine fever sweeping the area.  All pigs had to be slaughtered.  Thankfully we had not taken delivery of any piglets or paid any funds.  I have recently heard that the swine fever is now clear of the area and we can progress with the project.  During our visit in June we met a young man who is a qualified vet and he has agreed to oversee the project on our behalf which will be a great help. Originally we were going to purchase piglets to start the project but because of the delay we are now going to purchase adult sows.  We will then hasten the process of producing piglets to sell and start accumulating funds over the next two years for when we hand over the project to the villages so that they can become self-supporting and maintain their schools and teachers.  In the meantime until the end of  2019 SEEDS will continue to fund the maintenance of the schools, pay the teachers monthly allowances and of course fund the piglet project.  

Pigsties in Chitemo similar in Nyhinila

Welcome from some of the pre-school children in Chitemo

Time for games

Parachute game is always popular

Inside main classroom at Chitemo

Always sad to say goodbye - Kwaherini!

Support is never ending!!

Some time again I was speaking with a friend, Angela, about the little churches in our villages of Chitemo and Nyhinila and how simple they are in building and interior accessories.  For one thing the altar is but a simple table with a very worn, what was once white, cloth to cover it.  No altar adornment Fontals that we see here in our churches.  Angela asked whether I would like her to make something for the altars.  Of course the answer was yes and I expected her to hem a white sheet that would be large enough to cover the altar table from top to bottom.  On Sunday after our church service Angela handed over her altar Fontals and what a wonderful surprise.  She had made from old curtains two beautifully adorned items for the altar tables in these little churches.  The Pastor,his team and the congregation will be so thrilled when I take them  in June.  Never had they had anything so grand for their churches. There will be much celebration.   It was Angela who also funded the making of baptism fonts for the churches when only a basin was used before.  I am not saying that it is necessary to have these accessories for people to be fulfilled in their worship but we all know that it can be  pleasing to the eye, the heart and lift the spirit. Also a retired priest in our Diocese is now a potter for relaxation and he lead a quite day for lent and used some of his pottery as images.  At the end of the day we took some items home.  I chose a prayer cup and have now been given another cup with two prayer bowls.  These will now go out to the villages churches and can be used for the wine and wafers used in Communion.  I know that the people will really treasure their altar Fontals and the pottery. 

Angela with an altar cloth

A prayer cup and bowl

Our final project 'Piglet breeding' update

October was our second visit in 2016.  All continues to move forward with regards to the schools and borehole. We now have 5 trained pre-school teachers.

Pigsties have been built in the villages of Chitemo and Nyhinila to specifications set out by the Animal Research Institute where we funded the training of 5 villagers in animal husbandry specifically  pig breeding. We visited the Research Centre during our October visit to organise the purchase of piglets for the villages.  4 sows and one boar for each village.  The numbers being kept small until those maintaining the pigs felt confident.  The piglets were to be delivered in November when they were able to leave the sow.  Unfortunately they died.  This was very disappointing but the good news is that piglets will hopefully be born in March and then delivered to the villages in May.  We shall have to wait until the piglets are 6 months old (July 2017) before they can be serviced and the gestation takes 4 month before piglets are born.   This has put the project back by a few months but we realise that this is a long term project and we need to be patient.  If all goes well we should have our first piglets in November.   In time the sale of piglets will  produce funds that will enable the villages to maintain their schools, pay the teachers and importantly  become independent and self supporting. Until the villages are able to do this SEEDS will continue to maintain the schools and pay the teachers.


We are returning in June and hopefully we shall see piglets homed in the villages and the start of the project.

Pigsties in the process of being built October 2016