Since its inception in May of this year, the garden has continued to produce vegetables for the children. The papaya trees which were planted in June are now bearing fruit too. Papaya is not only a lovely tropical fruit but an excellent source of nutrition for the children.
Thanks to the support of individuals, Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT), and a grant from the Bishop of Oxford’s outreach fund, Disability Awareness Training was delivered to a group of Christians at the beginning of this month. The training facilitators were RC priest, Fr Beatus (Director) and Special Needs teacher, Emmanuel ‘Mlegu (Deputy Director) from the Amani Centre for Persons with Disabilities in Morogoro.
Prior to the start of the formal training, Fr Beatus, Emmanuel and Rev Stanley Sewando (Anglican Priest and Diocesan Secretary in Shinyanga) attended Mass on Sunday morning at the Roman Catholic Cathedral where each of them shared the purpose of the training with the congregation and Fr Beatus preached, emphasizing the responsibility of every Christian to help children with disabilities.
The trainees were drawn from Anglican Parishes, the Diocesan leadership and, for the purpose of establishing ecumenical work, six from the Roman Catholic church in Shinyanga.
The training commenced on Sunday afternoon with an introductory seminar by Fr Beatus [Click Fr Beatus opens Seminar to hear an excerpt] during which he explained Bridget and Leslie’s involvement with the Amani Centre through their late daughter, Helena who volunteered there in 2005. He went on to explain the development of ecumenical work between the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in Morogoro, Rev Stanley’s involvement in that work and how this had led to Stanley’s commitment to empower the Christian community in Shinyanga to support people with disabilities in their local communities.
Click Emmanuel speaks at Seminar to hear an excerpt where Emmanuel talks about some of the challenges facing children with disabilities.
The training was well received; trainees felt empowered to start working to support families of the disabled in their local parishes.
Each group to prepare a work plan for visiting families of children with disabilities in their locality, identify and record details of the children and the challenges the families face. Every group will encourage members of their local churches to make contributions to support these children and families. Stanley will visit each of the groups to facilitate discussions and support them as they embark on establishing village community groups. It is hoped that, building on his experience in Morogoro, Stanley will encourage the groups to establish economic social empowerment projects.
Some of the trainees expressed a wish to visit the Amani Centre to learn more about their work. One, a teacher at Mwadui Primary School, asked to visit Amani Special School to learn sign language. Amani is happy to facilitate this. Some of the trainees will be able to self fund travel and accommodation costs but for others this will be rather more difficult. As the Shinyanga Diocese has very few funds, even to pay its clergy, this will be quite a challenge but there is an overwhelming enthusiasm and commitment among the Christian community in Shinyanga to drive forward this ministry to the children with disabilities. Let us pray for them and if we are able, consider making a regular financial commitment, through FOAT to supporting this work.
This is now up and running. We are delighted to report that a private charitable foundation has donated funds for the purchase of the lab testing equipment which has been purchased. The general election in Tanzania in late October has delayed the establishment of the lab and appointment, by the Local Health Authority, of lab technicians but this is expected to happen soon. We are hoping to report more about the medical centre in our next news letter.
A lot has happened in the three months since our last newsletter. Thanks to the support of Friends in the UK, the Anglican Church in Shinyanga is starting to make a difference to the lives of the disadvantaged and disabled. There is much to celebrate:
· The completion of a vegetable garden at Buhangija School for children with albinism
· The children at Buhangija are no longer facing starvation; they have an improved diet including vegetables twice a day
· The completion of the rebuilding/ refurbishment of Solwa Medical Centre ready for opening later this month – see below
· A ‘confirmation tour’ of the Shinyanga Diocese by Bishop Johnson and Rev Stanley Sewando, which provided the opportunity to raise awareness of our Christian responsibility to support and care for the sick and disabled in our communities.
And much more to be done: -
The plan to send a team from the Amani Centre for Persons with Disabilities in Morogoro to visit Shinyanga to share their knowledge and experience of working with people with disabilities was put on hold because of the Covid 19 situation. With the relaxing of Covid 19 restrictions in Tanzania, the heightened awareness amongst the communities in Shinyanga of their responsibilities and Amani’s commitment to sharing their experience as soon as possible, this training has now been arranged to take place over four days starting on 30 October.
We were fortunate in securing a grant from a charitable foundation to cover the cost of renovating the main buildings, toilets, and the houses for the medical staff who will be working there. A contract is now in place between Church and State whereby the Church owns the buildings and equipment and the Government is responsible for maintenance, paying the staff and running the Centre. The formal blessing ceremony took place on 19 September. To see some short videos of the blessing ceremony and introduction of Government Officials, click here Blessing Ceremony, Solwa toilets. You may also like to read a transcription of the speeches, appended to this newsletter.
The facility will initially be an outpatients’ clinic and will be critically important in an area where there are health problems such as malaria, typhoid and high rates of infant mortality. To assist the medics with disease diagnosis and treatment, one of the rooms at the Centre needs to be equipped as a diagnostic lab. The supply of equipment and associated transport costs a total of £8,000
Once the medical facility is running smoothly, we hope to establish a Vocational Training Centre and hostel where the children from Buhangija and other young people with disabilities can receive training and learn skills to support themselves. We are working with Bishop Johnson and Rev Stanley on detailed plans for this, and any help with funding would be very gratefully received.
Conducted by the Anglican Bishop of Shinyanga, Bishop Johnson Japhet Chinyong’ole.
Conducted by the Anglican Bishop of Shinyanga, Bishop Johnson Japhet Chinyong’ole.
Towards the end of March 2020, the Rev Stanley Sewando reported on the plight of the children of Buhangija, a residential school for children with albinism in Shinyanga. People with albinism in Tanzania face widespread persecution and most of the children resident at the school have been abandoned by their parents. With the fear of Covid-19, food prices had soared and the already very meagre local support they used to receive at Buhangija, had dried up. As a result, the 250 children were facing starvation. There was an immediate need to provide food over the next few months. Going forward, the plan was to develop a plot of land adjacent to the school as a vegetable garden. This would help to feed the children, as well as giving them an opportunity to learn new skills, and any surplus produce could be sold locally.
At the beginning of May 2020, assisted by a friend, FOAT Trustees Bridget and Leslie launched an appeal to donate towards emergency food supplies and for the establishment of a vegetable garden. Stanley Sewando filmed a short video (which you can watch by clicking here) to launch the appeal.
By early June 2020 some £8,000 was raised which enabled:
· Emergency food supplies to be delivered to the school on a weekly basis from the start of May*
· The purchase of 2 x 10,000 litre water tanks
· The purchase, supply and fitting of drip-feed irrigation pipes to the one acre garden plot https://youtu.be/4O6Pdkbk7Xc.
· The supply and construction of fencing around the plot
The children, staff and School Board have been involved throughout the process, with some of the staff and board members contributing funds for water to fill the tanks as the rains had all but finished by the time the tanks were installed. (You can watch some of the work going on here: scything , ground clearance, clearing land. Preparing pipe connectors, Competing to finish the task, Connecting side arms, and Run the irrigation hoses. Watch as the technician instructs a teacher and girls to position the irrigation pipes and secure them in place by tying the end of the pipe to a stick: Technician instructs teacher and girls, Teacher teaches girls, Girls practice what they have learnt.)
In due course, the Buhangija Community Garden will become the responsibility of the School to run and maintain. As soon as COVID-19 restrictions allow, there will be detailed discussions and a formal handover of responsibilities from the Diocese.
Click the links to see Masunga and Silverster expressing their thanks to the Bishop and their appreciation for the love shown to them by Friends in the UK and the Anglican Church in Shinyanga.
We have received the excellent news that the garden has attracted widespread interest in the local area. The municipal education officer in Shinyanga has instructed his staff to ensure the long-term sustainability of the garden by helping with any problems that may arise, such as providing water for irrigation and the school will use the garden as a learning tool for the children, teaching them important skills. In addition, we are delighted to hear that many other schools have come forward, wanting to learn from the Buhangija experience.
Most importantly of all, the project is helping to break down the preconceived ideas about disability and has raised awareness of what people with disabilities can achieve.
In due course, the Buhangija Community Garden will become the responsibility of the School to run and maintain. As soon as COVID-19 restrictions allow, there will be detailed discussions and a formal handover of responsibilities from the Diocese.
Projects amongst disadvantaged communities led by the Anglican Church of Tanzania in Shinyanga and supported by Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT) are independent from those at the Amani Centre, Morogoro. Funds for these projects are deposited into the FOAT account and ring-fenced for Shinyanga. Payments are made to the Shinyanga Care Mission Account which is administered by the Diocesan Bishop, Diocesan Secretary and a named church volunteer.
The constitution documentation of Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT) states that the application of income to the charity be used for:
· The relief of financial hardship in Tanzania, in particularly supporting the work of The Amani Centre for Persons with Disabilities, Chamwino, Morogoro
· To advance the education of people in Tanzania, in particular those with disabilities
FOAT Trustees reviewed the constitution at their meeting in December 2019 and agreed that the Charity could support work amongst the disadvantaged and disabled in Tanzania beyond the direct remit of the Amani Centre. Trustees Bridget and Leslie Green reported that Rev Stanley Sewando, Anglican Priest who had been Project Co-ordinator for the Ecumenical work at Amani, had been appointed Diocesan Secretary of Shinyanga, Northern Tanzania in May 2019.
At the invitation of Bishop Johnson, Diocesan Bishop of Shinyanga, Bridget and Leslie visited Shinyanga – one of the poorest regions in Tanzania - in September 2019 and saw first-hand some of the challenges faced by the communities there.
Learning from work with the disabled community in Morogoro, Stanley, with the backing of his Diocesan Bishop, is now developing initiatives in Shinyanga to support the disadvantaged and disabled community there.
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