Our soon to be Trustee has a very special day!

Seeds4Tanzania is delighted that Jacqui Weale will soon be  joining the team. Jacqui has been a supporter of SEEDS for some time and will be a great asset to the future development of projects.

On Sunday 20th April Jacqui and her husband celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary with a very special blessing service at All Saints Church, Orpington. The service was attended by 70 family and close friends and was followed by a  delicious  ' Champagne High Tea'.

She did it! Ran the Marathon in 5.22hrs - Arrived as fresh as a daisy

 London Marathon Sunday 21 April 2013 - What a fabulous day with perfect weather.

 

Left home 10am with husband feeling really excited to be joining the thousands of spectators at the London Marathon but most important to cheer on  Tracy Clark who was  running her first marathon and in  aid of SEEDS4Tanzania.

 

    

                                                           

London was heaving with spectators and the atmosphere was electric. Really lucky to have a position by the road side in between Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross almost next to Cleopatra's Needle. It was a treat to see the runners of various abilities but all with the same purpose - to complete the race.  Many charities were represented and some very moving stories told.

 

How thrilled we were to see Tracy approaching and looking so good. She ran a brilliant time and we are so grateful for all her efforts during training and completing the race.

 

 

                   CONGRATULATIONS TRACY - WELL DONE

                                         YOU ARE A STAR!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Marathon 21 April 2013 -' GO GO GO TRACY'

We are delighted to have Tracy Clark a local nurse running in the marathon to raise funds for SEEDS.  Tracy is running her first marathon and has been training for many months on her only day off from her demanding job as a nurse. She is also married with children so it is a huge committment.  Tracy said ' Its a great way to get fit now that I have reached the ripe old age of 40! SEEDS4Tanzania is a fantastic cause'. Tracy's family, friends and community including All Saints Church, Bark Hart Road, Orpington,Kent are all behind her.   SEEDS supporters will be there on the day to cheer her on. A BIG THANK YOU,TRACY, for your support and all the personal effort. If you would like to support Tracy please go to our donation page.

 

 

 

 

A big 'THANK YOU' to Hawes Down Infant School

On Thursday 28 March - Maundy Thursday in the Christian Calendar - the parents and pupils of Hawes Down Infant School,Hayes, Kent met at the Methodist Church for their end of term Spring Festival service. The parents and children have been supporting the SEEDS project. Parents  donated school uniforms no longer used by their children and the children searched through their colouring pencils, colouring books, reading books and soft toys to donate to the orphans in Chitemo and Nyhinila.

 

Mrs Duffin the headmistress invited myself and Rebecca (daughter and SEEDS secretary) to the service and also  gave me the opportunity to say thank you and speak for a short while about SEEDS.

 

 It was a pleasure to be with these little children and see them dressed up in the Easter crowns they had made and listen to their little voices singing songs about Spring time. As always on these occassions when watching and listening to such little innocent children it brought tears to the eyes of the guests. One  song was titled 'A tiny seed was sleeping' which I found appropriate having been invited to speak on SEEDS. Our charity started with the germ of an idea, a little seed, that has grown and taken root and with the help of others, like these little children it will continue to grow and flourish.

 

At the end of the service  a collection was taken,  the parents gave generously and the school donated the money to SEEDS.

 

This showing of love and caring for others was very appropriate to have happened on Maundy Thursday the day that Jesus commanded:

 

' And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.' John 13.34

Excellent news - the foundations are in!!

This week I received photographs of the foundations that have been built in the villages of Chitemo and Nyhinila. An enormous amount of work has been undertaken to get to this point. The collecting of stones, sand, making bricks and then transferring them to the two building sites. As you will see the areas are rural - and no machinery just hard manual work.  The next stage will be erecting the walls. The only way is up!!  Fantastic, well done the building team.   I can't wait to see the progress when I return in June.

 

These photographs are amazing!

 

Pre-School teacher training

Great news!   SEEDS transferred funds to train a pre-school teacher. I have recently heard that a young mother from the village of Chitemo has taken up the challenge. She is now at the the teacher training college in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania, training for the next year as a pre-school teacher. This is a huge commitment for her as she has a baby who is now being looked after by relatives during term time. We are hoping that in due course others will come forward to take up the training. I hope that I shall be able to meet her during my visit in June and post some photographs. Fantastic!

 Swahili congregations Pastor and visitor

Rev Canon Yolande with Pastor from Dodoma

 

 My daughter Rebecca in the congregation

 

 

Sharing the Peace

 

Music group 'Annointed'

 

 

 

On Sunday 3 February I was invited to speak at St Agnes and St Anne's Gresham Street in the City of London.

 

It was a great pleasure and privilege to be invited to attend the Eucharist service and share in the Peace with the  the Tanzanian congregation. At the end of the service I had the opportunity to speak to them about SEEDS4Tanzania. It was such fun to  start my talk in Swahili and I  was delighted that they understood what I was trying to say - or were they just being kind! It was a relief,however, to revert back to English and tell them about our projects.  Also at the service was a visiting female pastor from the Dodoma area and now we hope to be able to communicate with each other and perhaps have the opportunity to meet when I am in Tanzania.

 

The congregation were very gracious in their response to my talk and I was thrilled to be told by the pastor that they would try and fund bags of cement for the building project. What kind and generous people particularly as they are facing a great challenge.  Their lease has expired for which they have been paying £4000 per year. This seems a large sum as they only use the church between 2pm and 4pm  on the first Sunday in the month. The diocese of London have now asked for £25,000 per year to renew the lease.  This huge sum is out of the question for the congregation and after 50 years of using the church they do not know where their future lies.