Action in Africa Annual Report
2020-21
Our Mission Statement.
The objectives of Action in Africa are to provide relief from poverty and sickness and to deliver funding for education, in two
areas of Tanzania – Nyaishozi and Mtandika. The beneficiaries are the people of the area, irrespective of race, religion or gender. We work through local committees representing all races and religions, men and women; helping them to develop a better future for themselves and for others.
The Chairman’s Report
It gives me great pleasure to present Action in Africa’s Annual Report, which sets out for our supporters and the general public what we have achieved in the past twelve months and our future plans. The timing of the Covid 19 global lockdown has run in parallel with the beginning of our reporting year. It has been our endeavour to support Nyaishozi and Mtandika through this crisis, whilst still providing the funds they need for ongoing projects. 2020/21 has still been a good year for the charity. As detailed below, we did not allow the pandemic to impinge on our work.
Nyaishozi
A Covid 19 fund was sent to Nyaishozi to enable the purchase of protective equipment against the virus and to underwrite two local educational radio campaigns.
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As fundraising was not possible during Covid 19, due to lockdown, we appealed for donations. We would particularly like to thank the Oakdale Trust, Scott Bader and Heb Ffin – charitable trusts who came to our aid, in addition to our loyal supporters who also generously gave so that Nyaishozi was had the tools it needed to protect itself from the pandemic.
Although there was very little news trickling out of Nyaishozi during the months that Covid 19 took hold, one project which was near completion was the Maize for School Lunches. Father Vitalis was able to take photos of the harvested crop. He believes that this has been a bumper year and the resulting grain should be able to feed the whole of the school for twelve months. Below right, the maize is being bagged and below right are the sacks ready for storage.
Dean Macklin, teacher at St Andrew’s Secondary School and our Marathon Man 2020 suffered a setback with the iconic race being postponed until 2021. It has been confirmed that Dean will be able to run in this year’s marathon, which is great news. He is keeping up with his training – the photo above taken at the Surrey Half Marathon, which fortunately took place just before lockdown
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Monies were sent to facilitate the large-scale purchases of disinfectant, gloves, masks and hand sanitisers. Father Vitalis, pictured above, acted as coordinator and with the help of his committee, has distributed the goods to the local schools and community.
Pictured above left are Nyakasimbi Secondary School children, who are seen accepting their gifts. The older students at Rugu Secondary School (above right) look less impressed with having to wear their masks!
It is believed that besides running Covid initiatives in the local schools, educating the local ladies is another way to ensure a vital message is taken into the home and good practice passed to all generations. This is especially pertinent with Covid, where mask and glove wearing is critical when a population cannot social-distance or self-isolate. Personal hygiene such as hand washing is also important. Below are photographs of one of the Covid 19 educational programmes for women that were carried out in the region.
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Wash stations have been set up outside classrooms, ensuring that students have access to hand washing facilities throughout the school day. Also, very simple solutions, such as ‘tippy taps’ have been constructed from readily available materials and work just as well. Teaching the children, the importance of good personal hygiene, as seen below by Nyaishozi’s deputy head teacher, has been imperative to keep Covid at bay, in a community where social distancing and self-isolation is impossible.
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Pictured below is a photograph that captures the arrival of a suction machine. This piece of medical equipment is critical for mums and could save the lives of their babies. Kibogoizi Dispensary is situated in the heart of an inhospitable, isolated part of the region and in order to serve the local community properly, it badly needs life-saving equipment. The medical technicians are a very professional, dedicated team, but have only the most basic of resources at their disposal. Kibogoizi was the first dispensary to benefit from our motorbike for nurses’ scheme and it is hoped that we will continue to help supporting this well deserving clinic in the future.
Kibogoizi Dispensary has also benefitted from the arrival of a blood pressure machine – crucial for new mothers and those who are still awaiting the arrival of their babies. The machine is pictured below in the arms of Father Vitalis. We had initially sent funds for the medical equipment before Lockdown came into being – for these clinical technicians and patients, the long wait is finally over!
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Maize gruel makes up the main meal of the day for most school children and for schools which cater for boarding students and Rugu Secondary School is no exception. We have contributed to a diesel milling machine. The impressive looking piece of kit, pictured below, will grind the maize for the students’ nutritious daily snack. It will also bring in some revenue, as locals will pay to have their home grown grain milled there too.
While Covid 19 restrictions have meant that we could perhaps take life a little easier, one local lady, Mary Merrett, pictured right, used her time to create components for over 250 Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits (also pictured right). Mary was undeterred by the mammoth task – ordering fabric and poppers and then went on to make over 1400 liners, 500 shields and 250 bags.
We are so grateful for her dedication to this cause, which now makes creating over 1000 kits achievable. These kits are earmarked for all the Nyaishozi secondary female students and will be hand carried out to Tanzania by Guildford High Schoolgirls who will hopefully be visiting the community in the summer 0f 2022.
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Although most of our external funding has been in support of our Covid 19 initiatives, there was one particular charitable trust who helped us elsewhere. The Pignatelli Foundation donated a whopping £2,500 to provide mosquito nets for boarding students (some of which are pictured below) and individual solar lamps. These were also distributed to schools, so that their campuses, which are often off the electricity grid, could be lit after dark. We would like to thank the Pignatelli Foundation for their generous donation.
Each year Action in Africa holds a Christmas Appeal at St. Michael’s Catholic Church here in Ashtead. This was unable to take place in 2020 as Covid restrictions made it too difficult. That did not prevent the charity from sending out the funds for Father Vitalis to buy food stuffs and basic medicines to be distributed amongst the most vulnerable in the community.
Pictured below are some of the parishioners of Nyaishozi who benefitted from the Christmas fund.
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Saying Goodbye to Father Vitalis & Welcoming Father Hans
It is with great sadness that we have had to say goodbye to Father Vitalis, (pictured below, centre, with the Action in Africa Ashtead committee) who has been our chairman since 2015. During that time, the charity has gone from strength to strength. We are so proud of all the good that we have achieved with his help during this time. He has embodied what Action in Africa is all about – helping those less fortunate than ourselves. He has provided us with a solid foundation on which to continue our work with our new chairman, Father Hans.
Thank you for all your hard work, Father Vitalis!
Father Hans centre back with Father Vitalis alongside him on the right, with our sponsored students from Ruhinda Secondary School.
Father Hans is no stranger to the charity – we met him during our visit to Nyaishozi in 2015. At that time, he was working as an accountant for the diocese. We would like to welcome him to the Action in Africa family and hope that he settles in quickly to his new role not just as our chairman, but also as the Nyaishozi parish priest.
While we focus on our sponsored children, we are so grateful that we have strong leadership from our new chairman in Nyaishozi. We are planning fundraisings and the resumption of our development projects. There is much to do in the year ahead.
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Mtandika
St Agnes Vocational Training College, as the Mtandika Trade School is now registered with the Government’s Vocational and Educational Training Authority [VETA], continued to develop during 2000/2021 under the management of Principal, Sister Damiana Kikoti, Vice Principal Shabani Bilaly and Bursar, Sister Restituta Msemwa.
Apart from one change, Peter Madeba replacing Okea Mheni as teacher of English and Communications, Technical Drawing and Life Skills, the lay teachers remain as before, with Shabani Bilaly as Vice Principal and teacher of Electrical Engineering and Engineering Science, Yohana Mtagawa as teacher of Computer Studies and Mathematics and Sylvia Mfalamagoha as teacher of Tailoring, Business Studies and Entrepreneurship.
Left to right: Yohana Peter, Sylvia and Shabani
A VETA team from their Dar es Salaam Head Office carried out an inspection of the College in February 2021. Their report was very complimentary. The number of classrooms and dormitories were more than adequate but they asked that a new toilet block be constructed for day students and that the outside of the buildings be repainted. The painting was done by the students soon after the visit. VETA requested more tools and materials be purchased for the electrical course and sewing machines for the tailoring course. In addition, some of the computers needed upgrading. They checked the teacher’s qualifications and contracts and were satisfied with these and were complimentary of the teaching standards and the results being attained by the students.
Repainted buildings
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Following the first cases of Covid 19 in Tanzania in March 2020, the late President Magafule closed all schools, colleges and universities for a few weeks. However generally the Mtandika area of Tanzania seems to have been comparatively unaffected and the College has been open for most of the year.
This year has continued to be a period of consolidation for the college. The tailoring and electrical courses are now well established, with 35 students in total spread over two years. There continue to be several female students on the electrical course.
Tailoring Class Second Year Electrical Students
Feedback from past students shows that they have all ended up with very good, well-paid jobs. Many of the electrical students end up working for Tanesco, the state power company equivalent to UK’s National Grid.
Past Electrical Students
As reported in previous years, the College continues to be self-sufficient in terms of growing their own maize, cassava, rice, beans, onions, tomatoes, bananas and papayas. This year has been particularly good for maize and bean production.
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Maize in February 2021 before harvesting Harvested maize drying
Whilst most of the College students pay annual tuition fees of TSh 700,000, about £280, we continue to sponsor 10 of the 35 College students who are orphans or from very poor families, through the generous, regular donations from our sponsors. These include 6 students sponsored by TWOAT, the Tadworth and Walton Overseas Aid Trust. In addition to the older College students, half a dozen young
As well as paying for some of the running costs at the College, including £2000 from TWOAT to supplement the teachers’ salaries, our sponsors continue to support the education of six students boarding at secondary schools away from Mtandika, as well as six students studying for Degrees or Diplomas at universities or colleges. All of these are either orphans or from very poor families. The university students include the five mentioned last year, who will graduate at the end of 2021, plus a new student Monica Chambo who started reading for a degree in teaching at the end of 2019.
Monica Chambo reading her joining instructions
to study at the University of Dodoma
Fundraising is extremely important but this year this has been severely curtailed by the Covid virus restricting gatherings for fundraising events such as the annual quiz and garden party. Fundraising has thus mainly come from regular cake and jam sales, as well as several generous donations from friends. Finding funds for necessary rehabilitation of buildings and critical equipment such as the solar and
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diesel water pumps, computers, photocopier and maize milling machine has thus been extremely difficult, so careful scheduling of the transfer of funds has been required.
Accounts
The Accounts for the year 2020/2021 are appended to this report.
Thanks
As Chairman, I would like to thank the Trustees who sat on the Action in Africa board this year, Tina Rayburn (Vice Chairwoman), Carolyn Higgs (Treasurer) and Michael Andrews, for all their hard work. I really feel that the Charity continues to make a marked difference to the lives of so many people living in the Nyaishozi and Mtandika areas of Tanzania.
Michael Agius
Chairman
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ACTION IN AFRICA (Charity No. 1072661)
Receipts and Payments Account for the year to 5 April 2021
Receipts
| Fundraising Donations received Gift Aid receipt Total Costs Administration (Tanzania) Administration (UK) Cash transfer costs Fundraising expenses Total Net Income Payments to beneficiaries Education Development Health Total Funds at 6 April 2020 Excess of receipts over payments for the year Funds at 5 April 2021 |
£2,321 £31,192 £3,778 £37,291 £973 £100 £547 £20 £1,640 £35,651 £23,474 £2,252 £7,689 £33,415 £11,415 £2,236 £13,651 |
|---|---|
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| Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 5 April 2021 | |
|---|---|
| Assets | £13,651 |
| Liabilities | £0 |
| Note to the accounts: |
Net Fundraising proceeds (fundraising was on hold for most of the year due to Covid-19 resrtictions)
| Marathon 2020 (postponed to 2021) | £101 | |
|---|---|---|
| Jams/Cakes/Small church donations | £2,220 | |
| Total |
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