MARMBA NEWS
Dear Friends,
A Tanzanian meeting was held in the Old Chapel in Hereford Cathedral on 6th March when members of the links in the Hereford diocese attended and Helen Gould joined me to represent the Tenbury/Maramba link. Helen has been involved in raising money to repair the Buhuri dam in the Tanga diocese which collapsed a few years ago. Plans have been drawn up to make the repairs which have yet to be approved by a professional engineer appointed by the Tanzanian government as stringent safety regulations now have to be followed. The total cost is estimated to be £57,000 and the fund so far has only reached £4,000! Helen suggested that it would be far more sensible just to dig a borehole which would meet the water requirements of an increasing population in that area and the money already raised would probably be enough to complete such a project. This idea will be forwarded to the engineers for consideration and hopefully they will follow it up.
Steve Chandler reported that the position in the educational field was dire as classroom-toclassroom exchange visits are no longer taking place due to the lack of funds. The British Council used to grant money for these visits, but these funds are no longer available. The possibility of such a scheme being reintroduced is very slim particularly as the government is planning to reduce the foreign aid budget due to the need to spend more on defence.
Dr. Karylin Collins who looks after everything to do with health and particularly the running of hospitals reported that the Hereford/Muheza Link Society is just coming up to its 40th anniversary. Through this link medical staff come over here to experience and learn about medical procedures in Hereford hospital. Four staff from St. Michael’s hospice are planning to visit Muheza hospital very soon.
Finally, these meetings are chaired by Bishop Michael Westall who is also responsible for raising funds to sponsor students at St. Mark’s Theological College in Dar es Salaam. After three years training these ordinands qualify as full-time priests and the amount he raised for 2024/2025 was £6,103.
In Tenbury we try to help our friends in Maramba, but I hope I have been able to demonstrate that there is a lot more happening at the same time. Long may it continue.
Peter Metcalfe.
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