The Parish Magazine - Parish of Greater Whitbourne

Page 8The Parish MagazineTanga in Touch is our localcharity, created to manage thelink with a parish in Tanzania(Mapinduzi, in Tanga) whichwas set up by our Rector,David Howell, on his visit in1999. He also set up a linkwith Misufini, a leprosy centre.I went to Tanzania in2001, to teach I.T. for fourweeks. As a result, I startedsending out recycled computersand ran a few coursesfor teachers, few of whom hadused a keyboard before, letalone a computer.We started Tanga in Touchnine years ago, in 2002, andbecame a registered charitythe following year. Our aimwas to support the two linksand to help schools etc. bysending computers. At presentwe have four trustees:our Rector, David Howell;Rev. Walter Gould, formervicar of Bromyard and nowDiocesan Tanzanian Link Coordinator;Sue Morris fromBromyard, and me. Our fifthtrustee, Yvonne Evans, sadlydied earlier this year.In those nine years we havehelped Mapinduzi quite a lot.We had a sponsored climb ofKilimanjaro in 2005 to raisemoney to help them completethe building of a hostel. Weinstigated a micro-financescheme to help the women ofthe parish. We have an annualChristmas Appeal to help theyoung AIDS orphans withschooling costs. We sponsorseveral teenagers through vocationaleducation. I havevisited Tanzania once or twicea year since 2002 to makesure the money goes whereintended. Often Sue has comewith me (she is also Secretaryof the Bromyard link). Wealways pay our own expenses.We have sent out more thanfour hundred computers aswell as quite a lot of sewingmachines, books and otherthings. We have started anothermicro-finance scheme inAmboni, a parish to the Northof Tanga. We have helped theLeprosy Centre at Misufiniwith livestock, water storagetanks, a cowshed...We are now at something of acrossroads for several reasons.Yvonne helped us enormously,producing and sellingher cards and paintings andhosting events at Longlands.There is not so much neednow in Tanga for computers:many new schools and universitiesare being built in Tanzaniaand many teachers are doingdegree courses. There isthus a severe shortage ofteachers and just not the timeor energy to set up computersin schools. Other charitiesare stepping in to helpMisufini. However, there isstill a lot of poverty in Tanzania.We now have manyfriends there and do not wantto lose touch with them. Butwe might change our focusslightly.I am looking for help – eithersomebody to help organiseevents and raise money, orsomebody who would be interestedin coming to Tanzania,to see what it is all about.If you would like to find outmore, please get in touch.Brenda Allan (821450)Whitbourne’s WomblesAt the end of last year, children of WhitbournePrimary School got busy in the community, litter-pickingaround the village at the instigationof our Eco Committee, pictured here – Olivia,Billy Bob, Millie, Callum and Jack. They felt thatWhitbourne was in need of tidying up and sosent off for sacks, gloves and special litter pickers– Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 went out one morningwell-equipped and managed to fill several bagswith rubbish. They thoroughly enjoyed themselvesand earned thanks from residents too.Rachel Evans