The computer is working, hurrah!! I can't believe that tomorrow we shall have been here for one week. It has been full on from the first day. Having travelled for nearly 22 hours since leaving home our first morning was spent introducing Trinity School to Mpwapwa town. What an experience for them. They then wanted to go to the dress makers shop (shack!) to order traditional style clothes. You cannot swing a cat in the shop which is full of material, machines a counter. 8 of us wanting to be measured and me drawing the requested designs - patience of a saint comes to mind but we did it. We were then invited to the Cathedral to be introduced at the Mother's Union conference. Everyone had to introduce themselves, Trinity were brilliant when you thank this was a first and in a strange country. I had the usual guest speaker slot, starting in Swahili and then English which was interpreted. There were over 500 MU members.  Mpwapwa Diocese has over 12,000 members. That was the Saturday and the clothes were all promised for the following Tuesday, what service. We then went off to St Luke's maternity clinic with our suitcases full of baby clothes. Had a tour around the clinic and met two mothers awaiting their babies. One already had four children the other six and they looked no age. We had lunch at the Diocesan guest house - delicious as always prepared by Monica, Tanzanian style, spaghetti, rice, chips, beans, a little veg, a little meat in sauce all on the same plate and then the usual half an orange with a bottle of water and a bottle of pop. A little rest time was available before we returned to the Cathedral to take the 600 bras to be distributed amongst the women. A sight to be seen, photographs will follow and we had sufficient for every women there. The sizing was great fun - it took about three hours!!  We then went back to the guest house for supper and you have guest it - rice, spaghetti, potatoes this time, a little veg and meat and the orange!

It is 11pm must get off to bed will continue with Sunday 1 July tomorrow. All is well although we have five very tired young people who went off to bed at 9.30pm and deservedly so after all the hard work over the past four days. You will hear all about it in due course. Keep blogging, Yolande

Tanzania at last!!!!!

Yes, at last I am able to update the blog. It has been a mammoth task and loads of patience waiting for the laptop to work. Here we go! Our journey to Tanzania went smoothly. Heathrow was the first test having 9 of us with 27 suitcases. Thankfully only one had to be lightened by 3 kilos - one of mine! Ten out flight again no problems except I could not sleep the rest of the team had better luck. It was quite a challenge when we arrived at Dar es Salaam airport to find all the suitcases but eventually we were there  7.30am outside in the brilliant sunshine being met by the driver for Trinity School (rajabu) and the driver David accompanied by Sylvester from Mpwapwa Diocese. The journey to Mpwapwa went really well and was so exciting for Trinity, their first experience of Africa. We had a stop for samosas and tea and 8 hours later arrived at our destination the Abebi Lodge, Mpwapwa town. It all seems so long ago and yet it is only a week. So much has happened since. It is 7am in the morning and I have to rush to get ready for another days travel but hopefully will be able to connect with the blog again with news and photographs. This week has been such a huge learning curve for Trinity, the students, the Chaplain and assistant head teacher. They have been amazing with all they have had to cope with and I am sure particularly for the students this will be a life changing experience as it was for myself and Linda when we first arrived here 5 years ago. Keep logging into the blog, please be patient, news will be posted it is just very difficult. A sante santa. Yolande

Counting down the hours..........

My hall is full with 12 suitcases ready for my trip to Tanzania tomorrow 28 June. Flight from Heathrow to Dar es Salaam leaves at 7.20pm and it arrives 29 June 7am.  I am travelling with 8 others who will also have many suitcases. Our problem will be when we arrrive at Dar if our vehicles can't take all the cases. It happens every trip but 'where there's a will  there's a way' and some how we never leave anything behind except may be  empty suitcases where we have stowed the contents under seats or had to sit on them. Not the most comfortable journey especially as it  takes another 10 hours to our final destination, Mpwapwa town. The organising of this visit has been a particular challenge for all sorts of reasons,howevr I know that once I am on the plane I shall have no difficulty after a couple of glasses of wine of sleeping through the flight. Arriving at Dar is always exciting, so much to look forward to, so many wonderful people to meet and an amazing country to travel through. Hopefully I shall be able to update the blog during the time in Tanzania - electricty permitting!! Thank you to all who have been so generous in support for this trip - the 12 large suitcases are evidence of this.  Yolande                 

15 days to go!!

Only 15 days to go and it will be the long trek to Mpwapwa,Tanzania. A 10 hour flight to Dar es Salaam and then a 10 hour cross country journey by land rover.  The past month has continued to be very  busy collecting items to distribute amongst the people of Mpwapwa Diocese and the orphans of Chitemo and Nyhinila.  I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many people. There are now 10 suitcases in my loft ready to go!! My flight allocation is 3!! Thankfully the team  accompanying me from Trinity School, Belvedere, are only taking two cases each  so I shall be  able to share my excess amongst them. The cases are full of children's clothes, baby clothes, toys,500 bras, teaching equipment, blankets, costume jewelry to use as gifts and so much more.

The five pupils  from Trinity school have been working so hard with their Chaplain,Nicky,over the
past  months to raise the money for their trip to Tanzania. They specifically want to work with young disadvantaged children so will be spending much of their time with the orphans of Chitemo and Nyhinila. They will be teaching the children through games, music and song. To finish their time with the children a mini 'Olympic' sports day will be held. The time spent with the orphans will no doubt be a most  rewarding experience for all involved but it will also be most challenging for the five 18 year old pupils who will certainly be taken out of their comfort zone.

I have had the opportunity of doing some fund raising by giving talks and power-point presentations. On 20 May I preached at All Saints Church, Orpington, and   during the sermon gave an update  on the charity. After the service a great team helped me  serve a Tanzanian lunch to members of the congregation after which I gave a talk. The lunch  went down well and Tanzania  captured their imagination as these generous 'lunchers' including others who were unable to stay helped to raise £700 towards the pre-school building project. I must mention a dear friend at all Saints who  makes beautiful greetings cards and she donated a substantial sum from the proceeds of her sales. A real little angel.  Fantastic. Other sums have been coming in from various sources including another donation from the Totts group who meet every Thursday at All Saints. Also I have had offers to sponsor the payment of excess luggage.  I had an enjoyable evening with our Guides group and they were very enthusiastic to get involved with Tanzania and the orphan children.

The SEEDS4tanzania website is all set up and will be ready to go live once all the information has been added. How exciting! A big thank you to Gary who has put so much of his time into designing the website.   I do hope the building of the pre-school in Chitemo is progressing to plan and all will be revealed when I visit them. Fingers crossed all has been going well.

Holiday is over!!

I have been away for the past three weeks and returned home to a wonderful suprise. A letter from Churches together in Chilsehurst enclosing a cheque for a considerable sum of money to go towards the school building project. How wonderful is that.  On the 20 May a charity 'Tanzanian lunch' will be held at All Saints Church, Orpington. The first one was held last November and well supported raising also a very helpful sum of money. I am so amazed by the generosity showed towards this project. My sincere thanks on behalf of SEEDS4Tanzania.

The loft is filling up again!!

My request for items to take out to Tanzania on my next visit has been responded to far greater than I could have expected. I have nearly 500 bras to distribute amongst the women who will be over the moon with such a luxury. How we women take something like wearing a bra as the norm and not only that but we have the luxury of fittings,choosing shapes,colours etc and when we want to we buy another. I am also delighted with the amount of children's clothes and soft toys that have been donated. The orphans of Chitemo and Nyhinila will be so happy to have something new to wear and a toy to play with. The villagers are very poor and toys are not something that they are able to buy. There are many other usueful items that have been donated and all will find a home. My biggest problem will be transporting everything in our luggage allowance. The allowance is three cases per person of 26 kilos and as many extra cases as we wish but they come at a price, starting at £45 for the first extra case and the price goes up with every extra case thereafter. Where there is a will there is a way. On Sunday 20 May we are holding a Tanzania lunch at our parish church All Saints, Orpington. Not only will it be a fun occasion enjoying the delights of the lunch but hopefully we shall raise some funds to cover extra costs for the trip at the end of June. A big thank you once again to all SEEDS supporters you are helping to make a difference to the lives of little children.

Latest news from Chitemo & Nyhinila villages re pre-school building

I have recently received an email giving me details of the latest progress re the building project of the pre-school for the orphans in Chitemo and Nyhinila. The Pastor Festo Kizuzu of Chitemo has assured me that there is now a project committee of 15 members and a construction committee of 7 members. Two women have already been identified to train as pre-school teachers, their names are Hagali Maonezi from Nyhinila and Lutu Isaya from Chitemo. Obviously we are going to need more teachers but this is a great start

The land for the pre-school

Their working time table for the construction of the classrooms is as follows:-
JAN-MARCH 2012   Collecting stones in the Bush
APRIL-MAY 2012     ferrying stones and sand from the Bush to the site
MAY-JUNE-JULY 2012  Making Bricks, burning and digging of the Foundations.
JULY-OCTOBER 2012    construction of classrooms/possibly roofing depending on the availability of required materials.

I am so very proud of the people as it has not been easy speaking about the need for committees, bank accounts, being accountable for everything. Terminology that we are used to but not in small villages in Africa.

I have also been overwhelmed by the number of people who are coming forward offering their help in some way. When ever I get nervous about the whole project help seems to appear. You could say divine intervention!!

A very kind friend is designing a website for us which will be up and running in the near future. How exciting is that. Another friend has put our details on his Cool local website that promotes local small businesses and  helps to  raise the profile of small charities and community groups. Fantastic! I am being invited to speak to various groups about the SEEDS charity including a Tanzanian church in London and hopefully this will  help to raise its profile.

My loft is filling up with  clothes/toys  for the orphans, bras for the women, and many other useful items. I am not very good at asking this but what we need is funds. If you wish to donate our bank account is as follows

Seeds for Tanzania - account number  81671863 - sort code 40-09-25
Thank you for your interest and support. 
Rev. Canon Yolande Marcussen
Chairman
SEEDS4Tanzania