Registered Charity Number 1125285

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 And here is the news............

   February 2024

Please visit the LINKS page for access to my diary for previous diaries.

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Usalama House

FINALLY - we have been given our licence by the government. This has taken many years with a ridiculous number of hoops having been jumped through. Catherine’s patience and persistence is truly remarkable and as usual Faraja Support has much to be grateful to her for. The whole process will have to be endured again in three years time but hopefully it will much easier.

Over the past years we have had to deal with ongoing running repairs as with any house anywhere. This of course costs money. We have had to treat the metal corrugated roof, prevent termites from invading the house and repair underground water pipes. A new damp course has also been installed.

We have transferred the ownership of Usalama House to Mama Catherine. This will simplify matters in the future as the trustees get older. This will also enable the house to be sold at a later date in order to give both women a reasonable pension. This won’t happen  in the immediate future but as and when our brood become independent and leave home. As with most if not all African families,we know that our lovely young people will certainly care for Catherine and Anna as their “parents” as they move into old age.

Our Children

Grace has completed her three year course in animal health. She has now embarked on a three year degree course in Wildlife Management at Sokoine University.

  David  completed his 3 year diploma in logistics & procurement. He is now running his own business - he has bought his first tuk tuk with a bank loan and is working very hard to build up a clientele. He eventually hopes to buy more and sub-let them.

Elia is now in his final year of a Social Work . He has stated that he does not want to continue in the field once qualified. He may pursue a career in solar installation or similar.

Mercy, Goodluck,Aron and Dominic completed Form 4 last year. The three boys did well enough to get into government 6th form schools which are reputed to be good and will save us a lot of money. It   should also enable them to continue on into government universities - again this would save the charity a lot of money. Unfortunately Mercy underachieved at the end of Form 4- so was selected to go into  teacher training (primary) at Moshi. She wasn’t happy with this government decision but there is no right of appeal.

Joram is in Form 2 and doing well. We hope he will pass all  the exams and be able to continue his education in forms 5/6 at government school.

Jordan is now in his first year at Edmund Rice..He is doing well.

Joshua continues at Goodwill School until the end of next year We wait to see how he does in his Standard 7 exams in September 2025.

Juliana is proving to be a bright little girl. She is now in Standard 4 and is the last of our little brood still in primary school.

Faraja Support has agreed to pay the school fees for Juliana, Anna’s niece. Anna has taken responsibility for her since her sister was unable to cope on her own with six young children.

Our Staff

Mama Catherine - Manager - she is a remarkable woman and continues to care for the children with love and joy. She had a shock recently. When her mother died she discovered that she was actually three years older than she thought she was. She was not happy. Her knees are giving her a certain amount of pain.

Dada Anna - Assistant manager - continues to live locally with Juliana.

We continue to be very grateful to both our women for the long term commitment, love and care that they have shown to all our youngsters.

                                                                  Visit to Usalama House 2024

This will be updated at the end of March 2024

Climate Change in Tanzania

It is very clear that climate change is having a real impact on the weather in Tanzania.

Parts of the country have suffered from extreme drought for 3 or more years - cattle are dying and wildlife searching desperately for water is coming into conflict more often with human beings in the villages in the countryside. For example, elephants in the Manyara area have been encroaching on small holdings putting themselves and local people in danger on a regular basis.

When we were in Arusha in April 2023 it rained and rained non-stop for virtually our whole visit. The tracks leading up to the villages on the mountain side became impassable and we were really limited in our ability to get up to the house. The main road from Arusha to the airport suffered a flash flood/mudslide and a people carrier with five passengers and the driver was swept away in the river below the road. All five passengers died - they were relatives of our driver Silvester’s wife’s family. Tragic. It was really quite frightening and we were lucky to make it back to the airport for our trip home.