Village Africa

Desk Appeal

Desk Appeal Updates

Desk Appeal Supporters

February 2013

• Rotary Club of Workington Derwent gives a generous donation following a talk by Ewan Wilson (one of Village Africa’s founding Directors).  A special thank you to John Wilson and all the Rotary Club members.

January 2013

• Village Africa’s ambulance arrives and is put ‘into service’ to take seriously sick patients on the 3 hour journey on rough terrain to hospital. Many thanks to the thousands of people who helped to raise the £40,000 needed to buy it and put it on the road. Please share this good news with them. Together we did it!Special thanks to the major sponsors of the Village Africa Ambulance Appeal: Helen O’Grady Drama Academy; Southern Ambulance Preservation Society; Cartridge World; Meetings Industry Meeting Needs (MIMN) and St James’s Place Foundation.

• Ele Porritt completed the ‘Tough Guy’ challenge in aid of Village Africa. ‘Tough Guy’ bills itself as ‘The Safest Most Dangerous Event in the World’ and was made even harder this year by the bitterly cold weather. Ele was a Village Africa teaching volunteer in Milingano. A BIG thank you to Ele and all who kindly sponsored her.

• School textbooks donated to Yamba Primary School by Lynncroft Primary School and Nursery.  The money was raised by a Rainbow Walk.

• Village Africa gives two tables and three chairs to Kwembalazi Primary School which is seeking government registration.
• Skynetworldwide kindly sends more secondhand clothing.  This will be distributed to local volunteers to encourage them as they maintain the road (the route to hospital) and carry heavy items (eg medicine) up the steep mountain.
• Queens Inclosure Primary School in Waterlooville welcomes Caroline Johnston (Village Africa Director) to give another school assembly.  The topic was the school curriculum in Yamba.
• Walk from Tanga to Yamba -  Doug Brazenall is undertaking this five day trek to raise funds for the charity in March 2013.  This is the emergency trip to hospital route (in reverse).  Babu Doug was a Village Africa teaching volunteer in Yamba and is a regular visitor to the village. To donate, please see http://www.mycharitypage.com/BabuDoug/

• Village Africa starts building two classrooms for Kweulasi Primary School.  This work is most generously funded by the Zoe Carss Education Trust.
• Donated envelopes needed for our UK office to keep our costs to an absolute minimum.  DL, C5 and C4 sizes needed.  Please contact info@villageafrica.org.uk if you can help.
• Kilimanjaro Marathon -Tom Dickin will run in this event in Mar 2013 in aid of Village Africa.  Tom was a Village Africa teaching volunteer in Yamba and regularly visits to catch up with local friends.  To sponsor Tom, please see http://www.mycharitypage.com/tomdickin

December 2012

• Victorian Volleyballers in Australia send money to buy sports equipment for the children of Yamba.  Thank you to Ebony Steward for organising this.  Ebony visited Yamba in 2012.
• The Brazenall family gives a donation to Village Africa in lieu of exchanging Christmas presents.  A big thank you to all involved.
• Secondhand spectacles and mobile phones collected by Bettina Blass in Germany.  Bettina was a volunteer in Yamba.
• Chapel Allerton Primary School sends more penpal letters to Yamba Primary School pupils.
• Loose change donated by Joanna Leigh (nee Elgar), family and friends.  Joanna was in the first group of Village Africa teaching volunteers.
• Raspberry Pi and a monitor kindly given by a supporter in the UK.  This is a credit-card sized computer that can be used for many things like spreadsheets, word-processing and games.
• Zoe Carss Education Trust kindly funds classroom furniture and textbooks for Std IV and V at Kweulasi Primary School.
• Secondhand spectacles donated by the Central Methodist Church, Dudley and Five Ways Methodist Chapel, Gornal.  Thank you to Doug Brazenall for organising this.  Doug has volunteered for Village Africa in Tanzania several times.
• Lynnhurst Primary School sends cards and letters to Milingano and Yamba primary schools.
•  A big thank you to MOO for kindly donating more printing support to Village Africa. It’s great when high tech companies are able to support villagers living in very basic conditions.
  MOO is a digital printing company based in London (UK) and Rhode Island (US). To see its latest services, please see http://uk.moo.com/

• VILLAGE AFRICA CALENDAR 2013 – We’re delighted to announce the calendar is back! Only £8. Please place your order by Wednesday, 12 December for UK Christmas delivery (Calendars will then be printed and posted on 19 Dec). Calendars ordered between 13 December and 2 January will be printed on 3 January and posted shortly afterwards.  Last year we sold over 150 copies.
  Please send your order to info@villageafrica.org.uk stating the number of calendars you want and your name and address. Please pay online at http://www.mycharitypage.com/villageafrica or post a cheque made payable to ‘Village Africa’ with a donation form  MANY THANKS (asante sana)

• Make a difference this Christmas and buy a Life Changing Gift.  Choose from trees for planting £8, Health care priorities £10, School essentials £15, Building equipment £20 and Emergency trip to hospital £50.
  With every gift we will send you a card that explains the gift for the recipient.
  To order Life Changing Gifts you can pay online or by post.

• MUSIC from Yamba and Milingano (CD or download). The people of Yamba and Milingano were delighted to hear their songs and music recorded. We hope you enjoy them too.
  A fabulous collection of 32 tracks performed by local groups and individuals singing in Kiswahili and Kisambaa. Available as two CDs and/or to download. The double CD is £14 (plus delivery charges). Order by 18 Dec for UK Christmas delivery. Orders after this date will be posted as quickly as possible. Download the individual albums for £5, or 89p per single track. http://villageafrica.bandcamp.com/
  A big thank you to both Live Wire Duplication Ltd (the printers) and Bandcamp for kindly giving discounts because we are a charity.
  Music recorded by volunteer Bee Taylor and Village Africa managers John Shekuamba, John Samweli and Maiko Paulo.

• Raise funds easily for FREE! Whenever you shop online, please remember to find the store you want through www.easyfundraising.org.uk! When you make your purchase, they will donate a percentage to Village Africa with no extra cost to yourself.

November 2012

• Newquay Tretherras sends in a donation following its non uniform event in aid of Village Africa.  Kathryn Culkin, a teacher at Newquay Tretherras , was a Village Africa teaching volunteer at Mibukwe Secondary School in Milingano.
• Two volleyball nets and a set of boundary lines sent from Australia.  Thanks to visitor Ebony Steward and her friends for organising this.  Special thanks to Express Post International for providing free delivery to Tanga.
• Secondhand pillows, clothing and shoes gratefully received from Kipepeo Beach Resort in Dar es Salaam.  Many thanks to the managers for collecting items for many years.
• Six school toilets and three water tanks for Mkurumuzi Primary School built by Village Africa and handed over to the school.  Many thanks to Kids Helping Kids, a US charity, for funding this work.  This is the fourth school where Village Africa and Kids Helping Kids have worked in partnership.

• Claudia Brown runs a Christmas stall at her school, Liskeard School and Community College, to raise money for Village Africa.
• A group of past volunteers hold a get together to catch up with all the news and fundraise for the charity.

October 2012

• Congratulations to Peter Mathayo who becomes the first ‘Simba’ to graduate from Mibukwe Secondary School after being sponsored through Village Africa’s primary and secondary school student sponsorship schemes. A huge thank you to his sponsor.

• Zoe Carss Education Trust agrees to fund two classrooms for Kweulasi Primary School to be built by Village Africa.

• Calendar photo competition time – We are delighted that the calendar is back for the THIRD year running! We are now in the process of designing one for 2013 and we want to include your best photos.  Please send your entries to christina_lh@hotmail.com, with your name and a brief description by Monday 22 October 2012.  We’ll then enter them into a competition, alongside those we received last year, and announce the winning thirteen on our Facebook page.  Last year we sold over 150 calendars, so thank you to all who ordered them. They make excellent Christmas gifts and we’ll let you know how you can buy them when they are ready.  We look forward to seeing your pictures!

• Village Africa Desk Appeal over halfway to its £9000 target.
• Secondhand spectacles distributed at Mkurumuzi village.
• Sarah Curgenven runs the Royal Parks Half Marathon for Village Africa.  Sarah is a Village Africa Director and former Village Africa office volunteer in Yamba.

• National Geographic Traveller (UK) chooses Paris Ackrill as a winner of its photo competition.  The photo was taken in Yamba at James Dunn’s leaving party.  Paris was a Village Africa teaching volunteer in Milingano and James was the first Village Africa Volunteer Liaison Officer.
• Village Africa’s building team completes five toilets for Kwembalazi Primary School. School toilets are a requirement for registration and it is hoped the school will be fully registered next year. A big thank you to the US charity, Kids Helping Kids, for donating these school toilets.

• Village Africa installs three water tanks at Kwembalazi Primary School. Kwembalazi is at the foot of the Yamba mountain. Kwembalazi children currently go to Yamba Primary School but it is a very steep one and a half hour climb up the mountain every morning. Many thanks to Kids Helping Kids for funding this work.

September 2012

• Daniel Growcott visits Yamba.  Daniel is from the UK and is a football coach who has taught in the USA, Canada and the UK. He played for Yamba adult football team twice – once against Mibukwe Secondary School students and once against Bombo Village. He scored goals for Yamba which made him very popular in the village! The children loved him and enjoyed spending lots of time with him throughout the fortnight.

• Gifts received from the UK: footballs and pumps, toothbrushes and toothpaste, educational posters, school stationery and clothing.
• Accommodation for John Shekuamba completed.  John is Village Africa’s most senior member of staff.

• Magda returns to school to further her education.  She is studying in Korogwe.  Magda was a Village Africa translator/manager.

• Village Africa revives the art of clay pot making in Yamba. The pots can be used for cooking, storage or as fridges. The clay teachers and their pupils are shown here together with Village Africa teaching volunteers Bee Taylor and Karen Nivala and Village Africa translator/manager Maiko Paulo.

• Skynetworldwide sends secondhand clothes for local volunteers.  Villagers maintain the access road to Yamba and carry heavy items (eg medicine) up the mountain.
• Postcards on sale for Village Africa - Bettina Blass (recent volunteer) sells postcards from Germany to raise money for the charity. Please click on this link to see them and buy. If you need help with the German, please let us know.
• Maiko Paulo (Village Africa translator/manager) leaves the charity to go back to school. He will be studying in Korogwe, starting on Mon (24 Sept). Village Africa will greatly miss Maiko and all his hard work but wishes him all the best for the future.
• Calendars 2013 – Michael Maye is selling artistic calendars of Cologne in Germany and giving a donation to Village Africa for every one sold. To buy one, please click on this link.
  If you need help with the German, please let us know. Michael heard about the charity via Bettina Blass (recent Village Africa volunteer). Thank you Michael and Bettina!
• Milingano Dispensary – John Shekuamba of Village Africa hands over the keys to 4 new toilets and a water tank to one of the nurses at this government dispensary. The toilets will be used by patients, mothers, children and babies attending the MCH (Mother and Child Health) and those attending the family planning clinics, plus of course the doctor and two nurses. This project was funded by Village Africa’s Simba Club Community Fund. The final touches (the doors and windows with mosquito netting) took some time due to a timber shortage in the area. MANY THANKS (ASANTENI SANA) to all Simba sponsors. This will help hundreds of children who come from many villages to access some of these services.

• Milingano Primary School – two water tanks installed by Village Africa. Rainwater is collected from two classroom rooves. The water can be used to clean classrooms and in the school toilets. This project was kindly funded by Kids Helping Kids. A big thank you to the donor.

• Kids Helping Kids (a US charity) donates school textbooks and dictionaries to Mkurumuzi Primary School.  Village Africa was happy to order the books in Tanga and transport them to the school.

August 2012

• Binit sends more gifts to the children of Yamba – football shirts and raincoats.  www.binit.org

• Congratulations to past volunteer Joanna (nee Elgar) on her recent wedding to James Leigh. A big thank you to Joanna for donating books to Yamba Primary School in lieu of traditional wedding favours at the reception. Joanna was in the first group of Village Africa teaching volunteers in Sept 2006 and has been a brilliant fundraiser for the charity ever since.
• Baby Karen named after Village Africa teaching volunteer Karen Nivala.

• Pens donated to pupils at Yamba Primary School by the father of a past Village Africa volunteer.

• NEW! Village Africa greetings cards for sale. Specially designed by past volunteer Linsey McGregor. Inspired by her stay in Yamba and her love of the khanga cloth worn by local women and children: http://villageafrica.bigcartel.com/products. Please buy as many as possible to help the charity.

July 2012

• Emma Southey and Jonny Southcombe climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to raise money for Village Africa.  Well done to them both for making it to the top!  Emma is a former Village Africa Volunteer Liaison Officer.  They received a letter of congratulations from Emma’s MP.

• Jam making in Australia raises a large donation for Village Africa.  Joy  Lemin (the mother of recent building volunteer Rosy Lemin) made lots of  delicious jam and sold it at her church and the hairdressing salon owned by Rosy’s aunty.  Rosy’s aunty donated some hairdressing products for a raffle too.
• Kids Helping Kids (a US charity) agrees to fund 6 school toilets and 3 water tanks to be built by Village Africa. They will be in Mkurumuzi Primary School (instead of driving up to Yamba, you continue for 6km on the flat passing through Kwembalazi). This will be the fourth school where Kids Helping Kids and Village Africa have worked in partnership. This grant provides further work to Village Africa’s skilled building team. A big thank you to Kids Helping Kids.

June 2012

• A set of Kiswahili-English dictionaries donated to Mibukwe Secondary School in Milingano by a Village Africa volunteer. These will be kept in the school for use in the classroom.
• Oxford University students vote to give a second large donation to Village Africa.  The money comes from the Somerville College JCR Battels Fund.  Many thanks to Flo Avery (past Village Africa teaching volunteer in Milingano) for nominating the charity once again and being so successful.

• Ebony Steward visits Village Africa from Australia and presents volleyball equipment to local schools (Mibukwe Secondary School and Yamba, Milingano and Kweulasi primary schools).

• Football and pump kindly donated by a Village Africa volunteer and presented by John Shekuamba to Kwagogo football team.  Kwagogo is between Yamba and Milingano.

• Baby Bee named after current Village Africa Teaching volunteer, Bee Taylor.

• We would like to thank the kind people at MOO.com for providing printing support to Village Africa. MOO are a digital printing company based in London (UK) and Rhode Island (US) who print business cards, postcards, stickers, labels and greeting cards. Using MOO’s unique ‘Printfinity’ technology, customers can upload a different image onto every card at no extra cost. Either select one of MOO’s designer business card templates to customise, or upload your own artwork or designs to create truly unique print products. Visit MOO online at http://uk.moo.com/

May 2012

• Buongiorno kindly donates mobile phones for Village Africa’s staff.  www.buongiorno.com

• Gifts received from the Netherlands: clothing and windup torches.
• Luke Dacres-Cogley visits Village Africa and enjoys living with the community and learning about this very traditional culture.

• Andy Matfield finishes his placement as Volunteer Liaison Officer for Village Africa.  A big thank you for all his hard work, unstinting enthusiasm and cheerfulness.  All good wishes for his future.
• Baby Jessica named after current volunteer Jessica Broughton.

• Zolfo Cooper in the UK kindly donated hard hats for the African building team as worn below by Peter Sebastian (Head builder).  Zolfo Cooper is a leading independent provider of restructuring, financial and corporate advisory solutions. www.zolfocooper.com

April 2012

• Baby clothes sent by Alli Shaw and friends. Postage costs were raised by selling toys and household items on eBay. Alli was a teaching volunteer in Milingano and is now a Village Africa Director. A big thank you to all involved.
• Eye department at the Antrim Hospital in Brunssum, The Netherlands donates more secondhand spectacles to Village Africa.  Thank you for the ongoing support.
• New volunteers join the charity in Tanzania – Bettina Blass, Heike Neurohr and Roland Auer from Germany, Rosemary Lemin from Australia and Andrew Cross from the UK.  Bethany Taylor from the UK returns for her second visit and Karen Nivala from Australia for her third visit.

March 2012

• Ramsgate Community Church holds African meal and quiz to raise funds for Village Africa.
• Buongiorno has decided to continue supporting Village Africa as one of its chosen charities.  Caroline Johnston (Director) made a presentation in London to its staff to tell them how the money they so successfully fundraised has been used and Village Africa’s plans. www.buongiorno.com
• Stonesfield village in Oxfordshire took up the challenge to raise money for books for Yamba Primary School.  Stonesfield Primary School collected money during Book Week when the children dressed up as their favourite book character.
• Sheila Maclean (past volunteer) held a very successful Cheese and Wine Party.
• Peponi Beach Resort in Pangani, Tanzania donated secondhand clothing, plates and bowls.
• A netbook and solar charging system was bought for Village Africa by Felixstowe Academy. This was made possible by the sponsored maths challenge organised by the school and the informal 10 miles sponsored bike ride organised by some of the girls. A big thank you to all the teachers and pupils involved and to Bee Taylor (past volunteer) for giving talks at the school.
• Cisco Live Team kindly sent T-shirts to Village Africa.  These were distributed to local volunteers and to Village Africa’s managers and drivers.

• Kathryn Culkin returns to volunteer at Mibukwe Secondary School for the second time.

• Baby Andy – the second baby in Yamba named after Andy Matfield, Village Africa’s Volunteer Liaison Officer. The baby is the son of Teacher Adamu, a teacher at Yamba Primary School.

• Baby Sean is named after Village Africa volunteer Sean Campbell.  The proud parents are Mathias (the Assistant Catechist in Yamba) and his wife Sophia who is Sheki’s sister.

February 2012

• February volunteers arrive.  Emily Curtis will be teaching English and sport at Milingano Primary School and Jessica Broughton and Sean Campbell will be teaching sport and building in Yamba.  This is the second visit for both Emily and Jessica.
• Secondhand clothing sent by Skynetworldwide.  This will be distributed to local volunteers to encourage them to continue helping with development in their community.
• Cambridge University students donated to Village Africa.  Sidney Sussex College Student Union unanimously voted to support the charity.  Thanks to past volunteers Fran Doherty and George Roberts for organising this.
• Ten sewing machines and cloth were kindly donated by the Pontesbury-Muheza Link.
• Clothing was sent by many donors from the UK.  Thanks to Hereford-Muheza Link Society for sharing its container and also to Skynetworldwide for its special parcel rate.

January 2012

• Coseley School and Sports College received a talk from Doug Brazenall (past Yamba volunteer).
• Secondhand clothing donated by Kipepeo Beach Resort in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
• Sponsor a Secondary Student Scheme started by Village Africa responding to need.  Many families cannot afford or struggle to pay school fees and related costs.  To sponsor a student, please contact info@villageafrica.org.uk.  Only £20 per month.

• It is now possible to donate to Village Africa by text. Use modern technology to help villagers and children in a remote African village.Text VATZ33 followed by the amount you wish to donate to 70070. You can donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. For example, to donate £5 text VATZ33 £5 and send to 70070.  All the money you donate goes to Village Africa and your network provider does not charge for the SMS you send to make the donation.  For more info, see http://www.justtextgiving.co.uk

• Qualified accountant found to help Village Africa 1 or 2 days per year on a voluntary basis.
• Mark Matfield joins Village Africa’s Board as Finance Director.
• Krystal Lapierre from Canada becomes a Village Africa teaching volunteer for Mibukwe Secondary School in Milingano.  Stephen Brazenall and Amy-Lea Gardiner start as Teaching Sport and Building volunteers in Yamba.  This is Stephen’s second visit
• Village Africa Desk Appeal launched.  Village Africa needs to raise £9000 to provide 450 desks for primary schools.  £20 buys a desk and the planting of two trees.
  There is a severe shortage of desks in the primary schools and many children sit on the floor which can be dusty or muddy depending on the weather.  This leads to poor concentration and poor handwriting.  Village Africa wants to provide desks to Milingano Primary School, Kweulasi Primary School and Kwembalazi Primary School.  The desks will be made by local carpenters in Tanzania, thus providing much needed employment.  For every desk, Village Africa will plant one timber tree and one cash crop (eg cloves).
  After the huge success of Village Africa’s Ambulance Appeal, we hope supporters will like this appeal and want to help.
  Groups donating one desk or more will be listed on our website if they wish and will receive a certificate of thanks.
  Please visit Desk Appeal page.

• Destination Events kindly donated Tshirts to the young people and local volunteers in Yamba.  www.destinationevents.com

• Secondhand phones were donated by individuals in the UK.
• Village Africa Ambulance Appeal target reached!  Village Africa will now buy the vehicle to take seriously ill patients (including many babies and children) on the 3 hour drive to hospital.  Special thanks to the major sponsors of the Appeal (Helen O’Grady Drama Academy, Southern Ambulance Preservation Society, Cartridge World, Meetings Industry Meeting Needs and St James’s Place Foundation) and all the organisations, groups and individuals who helped. A massive achievement (£40,000) in a short time (18 months) during a world recession.