In June this year 5 students from the University Of Dundee travelled to Tanzania in Eastern Africa, to work in an Orphanage in the small village of Tosamaganga. The village has been an Italian mission station for a few years now. In the village there is a small hospital, a church, a convent and a monastery. The village is made up of a very rural population of around 500 people. The University Of Dundee’s D.A.R.E society (Development And Research Expeditions) has a strong link with the orphanage and have been sending students out for nearly 10 years now. The society is run by students who organise and facilitate sending students to projects all over the word including Guatemala, Romania, Nepal, Borneo, Cambodia, Ghana and Bulgaria. All volunteers pay their own expenses, including flights, vaccines and accommodation costs. They also fundraise before their project, and every penny is spent on the people they go out to help.

The June Group was made up of 5 students:

Niall Mc Goldrick: (1st Year Dental Student)
Emma Sizer, (1st Year Medical Student)
Jessica Butler, (3rd Year Law Student)
Georgia Cockerill. (1st Year Art and Design Student)
Elizabeth Armour: (1st Year Art and Design Student)

Below are some examples of the activities and work of the team and also a quick look at everyday African Life.

 
This is a picture of some school children. Each day the team would teach English to the children, some of the kids where from the orphanage and others came from the surrounding area. The level of teaching was basic, as the kids where around 4-5 yrs. We were teaching the children colours, animals and everyday objects in English etc. It is vital for Tanzanians to learn English as education is the key to getting out of the   poverty cycle.
 

 
The orphanage has its own self contained farm, which includes a large rice field, vegetable plots e.g. tomatoes, carrots, sweet potato, and a chicken coup. All the harvesting is done with hand tools and is a lot of hard work. Here you can see rice being thrashed in the fields, the older kids (14-15 yrs) help out in the field during their school holidays. You can also see one of the older nuns working in the fields.
 
Sdc 10489, SDC 10628, sdc 11009,sdc11337

 
The team redecorated 2 of the dormitories in the orphanage. The large rooms held around 30-40 children in each, the rooms were dull and needed attention. With the money we fundraised, we were able to buy enough paint to redecorate the toddler’s room and also the 5-6year old’s room. This meant the children had a friendlier and more welcoming room to sleep in and play games.
 

These are some of the brothers who live in the village. In their monastery they have many workshops and training facilities to help the local community. It includes a sewing school and carpentry workshop. 
 

The living quarters at a secondary school in northern Tanzania. Students have to pay fees to attend the school and the majority are borders. Many children never have access to secondary education because their families can’t afford the fees, which are often the same as a years wage for some Tanzanians.
 

 
This is the group, with two of the younger Sisters, Sister Witness and Sister Jen. Ten sisters live in the orphanage and also some of the workers live in the orphanage. The workers are usually children who have grown up in the orphanage and now work there. 
 
Sdc10586

 
The school children in the yard at lunch time.
 

 
Some of the children helping to wash up the tin dishes after the toddlers had their tea. The children mainly eat rice and beans , and in the evenings they have a porridge like food supplement that contains some vitamins etc.

 

Emma and some of the children.
 

 
The community returning from a celebration in the Monastery.
The celebration started off in the Chapel, the Mass lasted 3 hours and then we walked from the Chapel to the Monastery singing hymns, we then stayed their for a further 2 hours. The entire service was in Swahili, although we did recognise the odd hymn now and again. 
 
 
Thanks to everyone who donated and helped with the fundraising. The money went so far in Tanzania where £1 = 2100 Tanzanian Shillings. The combined total that was brought out to Tanzania, which includes fundraising in Dundee, was £1565.
 
Below is a list of what the money was spent on:
 
School:
 
215 exercise books
200 pencils
Batch of Erasers
Batch of Sharpeners
8 reams of A4 paper
Teaching equipment brought from home…General word flash cards, colour flash cards, animal flash cards, timetables posters, art and craft materials and a few other things.
Large communal lates for the children to eat out of at lunch time
 
Hospital:
 
Locking drugs cupboard for the female ward( 2mx2mx.5m)
5 manual blood pressure machines and 5 stethoscopes
5 glucose machines for use with diabetic patients
5 months supply of stripes for glucose machines ( 5 months for each ward)
10 digital thermometers
50 dressing forceps (for dressing wounds)
15 dressing scissors (for dressing wounds)
Privacy screen for female ward
Small amount of hand wash
Stationary for each ward 
 
Orphanage:
 
16 different kinds of balls
54 pairs of sandals for the younger kids
Redecoration of 2 dormitories
40-50 litres of paint, paint brushes and rollers
New curtains
25 copies of teaching the time books (in English) for the older kids.
Also a £200 personal cash donation to the orphanage from a lady in Emma’s Parish.