The hard work begins!

What an incredible few days we've had so far. It has been really exciting to meet Arthur who has been a key figure in our plans and negotiations for a remote village school that is desperately poor called Nyansa. Arthur is an extremely well educated Tanzanian who left an excellent job as a chemical engineer to work for the local diocese as an education link officer - his job is to coordinate education in the Mara region. Arthur is a very able but compassionate man who clearly has a concern for the most vulnerable children in Musoma. Nyansa School has been on his heart for a long time and he has been waiting for the right opportunity to help them as he feels they are well organised and trying hard with basically no resources.

There are about 480 primary aged pupils there, many of whom walk incredibly long distances to get to school. They bring no food or water to with them as they are so poor and will only eat once a day. Textbooks are few and far between, the classrooms are dark and bare, some with uneven muddy floors, and jotters, pencils and pieces of manilla card to make posters are sparse to say the least. There are 7 teachers including the headteacher called Juma - they have no toilet or chairs to sit on. We had hoped to be able to help this school and it was incredibly exciting to visit it and to meet with the teachers to find out what their biggest needs are. We were immediately able to employ fundis (workmen) from the village to dig the 2.4 metre hole needed for the pit latrine that we hope to build for them. We had previously  constructed the timber form for casting the concrete lintels and brought that with us on our first visit. How amazing was that first morning - school stopped as the children carried up buckets of water and stones from the valley to mix with the sand and cement we had ordered.

Arthur and the teachers, the whole school and our two families worked together to mix the concrete and managed to get it into the moulds where it will set for 7 days. Andrew from Go MAD was a fantastic help as he directed proceedings, negotiated prices and displayed endless patience as we rapidly learnt new skills. The sun shone, the sweat poured and we left filthy - but with an overwhelming sense that this is the right place to be working in and to be spending our fund raising money on. The next day Peter, Susan and Lisa were able to observe some lessons there and to take part in a a small way. They also made arrangements for concrete floors to be started and got lists of basic essentials that we can buy in town for the school. We also hope to start a water tank that will provide much needed drinking water for the children. This will be finished by Go MAD when we've gone.

Back at Eagle Lodge we've also been busy learning to saw and use drills and impact screwdrivers that we've used to make the frames for our toilet doors and the doors for our goat sheds. Today we worked tirelessly to make the initial platform for a goat shed that will provide a valuable income for the next person on Rafiki's list. Rafiki is a cooperative group who manage the goat project that allows many women to have a good income instead of having to turn to prostitution.

We've also fitted in visiting the Blind and Albino school which we found very difficult, but were able to bring large amounts of Sudocrem and sunscreen that many had donated for this purpose. Lisa, Susan and Kate also helped out at a home for babies that have been "thrown out" or whose mothers have died in childbirth and have no one to look after them. This was an amazingly clean and well organised operation run by a Finnish lady in her 70s. The babies are so well cared for and her vision is to place them with family members or new families by the time that are two years old. It was a joy to see this incredible place that lavishes excellent care on little mites that have been left for dead or whose mothers have died because of a lack of basic healthcare. The dads and boys went to a "club" for boys in the village with another Go MAD team and played football and games with them whilst their older sisters who care for them or their teenage mums had time out to do crafts and watch some drama led by the Go MAD volunteers. They also did a short talk on John 3:16.

As you can see it has been very busy and there has been a lot to take on board but everyone is coping well. We are so hungry after working that we're all devouring our lunch at the hostel - rice, beans, cabbage, goat meat or tilapia (fish). We meet each morning to do a short devotion and to pray for the day ahead and usually have a team debrief each evening at Eagle Lodge. We are very aware that many people are praying for us and we thank you for that

If you pray, please give thanks for:

- Great Go MAD staff - Graham, Andrew, Deb and Claire who have looked after and taught us new skills so well
- Settling into accommodation where the kids are making friends with the staff and teaching them to play cards!
- Much appreciated good food at Eagle Lodge
- Arthur and good initial links with Nyansa School
- Andrew from Go MAD who has the know how to make building activities happen much quicker than normal  "African time"
- Good team work and a willingness to work hard
- Generally good health

Pray for:

- Whole school assembly on Friday when the school committee will also be present to receive resources and chairs. Arthur has been very keen to involve the whole community so that they have ownership of what is happening. He is emphatic that "education is the key to life" which delights and excites us
- Safety as we bounce around in land rovers and travel to the school half an hour away
- Ideas in our heads that are forming about how to feed the children a meal of maize porridge each day at school over a sustained period of time, so that the children can focus to learn
- Wisdom to know how to really meet the needs of the children. We are aware that the teachers need lots of help and encouragement to know how to be effective but it's impossible to be able to make any real impact in the short time that we are here.
- For good team work and the chance to build one another up
- For safety on Saturday/Sunday as we travel to/from the Serengeti for a short safari trip