2025-04-05-accounts - Action In Africa

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Action in Africa Annual Report

2024-25

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.

Nyaishozi

2024 has been such an exciting year for Nyaishozi. We would like to begin by thanking the Hilden Charitable trust who donated £5,000 to our appeal to raise funds to refurbish a classroom. The classroom is to be repurposed to provide a resource room for female students with varying disabilities at Ruhinda Secondary School.

City of London Freemen’s School is the first UK School to ever visit Nyaishozi. Headmaster and Nyaishozi Action in Africa General Secretary, Mr Ambruce, insisted on hosting the students at Ruhinda Secondary School. Ruhinda teacher and Nyaishozi Action in Africa committee member, Jovinus, acted as guide and chaperone for three weeks, while CLFS and Guildford High School worked on projects that they, themselves had raised funds for, back in the UK. Every Action in Africa supported Nyaishozi school participated in the programme and benefited from these groundbreaking trips. Besides working on long drop toilets, (pictured right), the refurbishments of classrooms and dormitories, the UK visitors found time to erect goal posts, organise friendly football and netball matches and take part in an impromptu choir practice (see the pictures below and overleaf).

In addition, we are delighted to announce that the visitors did not arrive empty handed but came with enough feminine hygiene kits to accommodate 1400 schoolgirls over five secondary schools! Pictured below is one of the Nyakasimbi Secondary School girls with her feminine hygiene kit.

Hand carrying this quantity of kits was no mean feat and we would like to thank Adventure Lifesigns Group, the trip organisers, for ensuring that the kits arrived in Nyaishozi safely. Consequently, this huge initiative was very successful and means the world to our Nyaishozi girls.

The visitors’ schedule was hectic, but they still managed to visit the local dispensaries and health centres. We had to include this great photo of CLFS with former Action in Africa student, committee member and midwife Rebecca. We would like to thank Ashley Bate who can be seen holding Rebecca’s beautiful baby girl, Mercy. Ashley kindly consented to her photos being allowed for use by Action in Africa.

To capture the achievements of the UK teenagers who visited Nyaishozi, we sent Japhet Mushi to film the completed projects after the visitors had departed. Japhet is a graduate of Film and Media

from Dodoma University. The faculty is headed by former Action in Africa student Mary Venance. She was thrilled to put Japhet forward to do all the filming for us. He is pictured left being ambushed by our kindergarten pupils who couldn’t resist getting in on the action!

Jeules Philbert, pictured above, joined the Action in Africa family 7 years ago. She had lost both parents to AIDS . We have sponsored her through secondary school and university. She recently graduated and now has a diploma in Nursing and Midwifery. We are so proud of her and wish her every success in her career.

While Jeules is ending her university experience, Sala Joseph (pictured above) is just beginning. Sala, an Action in Africa sponsored student since 2019, is now an undergraduate at Mzumbe University, studying Human Resource Management. We are delighted with what she has already achieved.

We were delighted to announce that Adam Brooks, Deputy Head at St. Andrew’s Secondary School Leatherhead, is our London Marathon runner 2025. He ran for us way back in 2015, raising a staggering £3,000. He is pictured above left with his medal. We have every confidence that he will beat that total next year.

Action in Africa launched our fundraising appeal for 2025. We are raising funds to provide rainwater harvest tanks for Kajunguti and Ihembe Secondary Schools as part of our Clean Water For Schools Campaign. We visited both schools in 2023 and were appalled by the condition of the tanks in use. They were in a dreadful state of decay, with covers crumbling into the tanks and ridden with mosquitos. Students were still using the fetid water to wash and worse, drink. Father Hans oversaw the construction of such a tank for Rugu Secondary School in 2022 – it was one of his first major Action in Africa projects on arriving as the new parish priest. He is picture above with Rugu headmaster Mr. Ezekia. Fr Hans was visiting his home in Austria at the time of the launch and was able to be present for it here in the UK. It was so good to have him at such a relevant time. He is pictured below with trustees and their sposuses and friends of the charity Tim Forder, John and Alison Morgan and Fr Chris, Parish priest of St. Michael’s Ashtead. Treasurer Carolyn Higgs was celebrating her mum’s 100[th] birthday that day so could not attend.

Rebecca, our resident Nyaishozi midwife and Action in Africa committee member has been instrumental to the success of the Action in Africa Incubator Appeal and is seen pictured left with the new incubator at Rugu dispensary. Pictured centre is the incubator at Ihembe Dispensary and pictured right is the incubator at Rubale, both delivered in February 2025. When we started the appeal at Christmas 2022, there were no incubators in the Nyaishozi region of Tanzania. Now the appeal is complete – every dispensary in the area has this life saving piece of equipment.

Every year around Christmas time, we send £700 to Fr Hans so that he can buy emergency food supplies and distribute them to the most vulnerable in the community. Pictured above is Sr Xaverina, pictured right, with the recipients.

Over two hundred pieces of computer equipment have already been delivered to Nyaishozi (pictured above right). They are to be distributed to our six secondary schools and village hub (being purpose built, pictured above left). Action in Africa has partnered with Computer Aid to digitise the education system at our six secondary schools and provide technology access to Nyaishozi village by way of a

computer village hub. Computer technicians will be trained for each school and the community computer hub – courtesy of Computer Aid, who send teachers from the U.K. We would like to thank Keith Sonnet, Chief Executive of Computer Aid International for sticking with this project and working tirelessly to secure the huge amount of funding required. The community of Nyaishozi would also like to extend to him their extreme gratitude. It will change their lives. Mr Ambruce, Action in Africa General Secretary and Ruhinda Seocndary School headmaster, is pictured below checking the Computer Aid shipment after its arrival at Nyaishozi. He is also pictured below right with Fr Hans and sorting the electric sockets for the classroom computer hub.

Sister Xaverina, pictured below second right, has been unsung hero of Action in Africa. Her local knowledge has been crucial to our success in Nyaishozi over the last two decades. She has worked hard alongside both Fr Vitalis and Fr Hans. Her contribution to the charity has been invaluable. We are so sad to see her leave Nyaishozi but know that she will do great work in her new parish. Thank you for everything you have done for us Sr. Xaverina!

We would like to welcome Sr Albina, pictured below, to the Action in Africa family. She has taken over from Sr Xaverina – they are big shoes to fill, but we are sure that she is up to the task.

Julianus Lucas, pictured below, is the latest addition to the Action in Africa family. He is 16 years old and a diligent student at Ruhinda Secondary School. His mother struggles to provide for him and his siblings. His father has passed away.

When checking on the attendance of our secondary sponsored secondary school students we found Irene Leonidas to be absent. Further investigation found that not only had she been pregnant, but she had already given birth. This situation brought to light the plight of teenage schoolgirls, who after having a baby, are no longer welcome back at school. To help these girls acquire skills which can be used to raise money for their families, we set up a Young Mothers’ Support Project.

Irene Leonidas and Siima Yustace on their first day at ‘Baby’s sewing school.

Still in its infancy, we are funding the training of two young mums at the local sewing school. The sewing and tailoring course will last for six months. On completion, the girls will be given sewing machines and six months rent on a shop in the village, as well as materials to start up their business. During the time that they are studying, the girls will also receive money for food and the local midwife will call monthly on the family to ensure that the babies are not suffering while their mothers study.

In addition, we are supporting single mothers whose children are a little older. We have partnered with the charity World Villages for Children, a U.K. charity which funds Kiluvya Training College, just outside Dar es Salaam. Kiluvya runs six-month vocational courses for single mothers whose children are old enough to be looked after by a family member whilst mum is away studying I.T., Solar Electrics and Needlework. To ensure that the children are being well looked after, regular health checks are made, and a small food allowance is provided. The first two participants of this course are Avirath January and Edina Deogratia, pictured above, waiting to board the coach that will take them to Dar es Salaam and at their sewing machines at the college. Kiluvya also provides support in finding employment when the young ladies have completed their vocational courses.

We took on the sponsorship of five new students at Nyaishozi Primary School. Aged between 6 and 8 years old, each child has their own challenges, but poverty is an issue that all their families suffer. We will sponsor these children until they decide to leave formal education. They are:

Daniel Yohana, 2. Eradius Mapinduzi 3. Iram Graison 4. Jerevines Jovith 5. Leath Lucas

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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A brilliant time was had by all who attended our annual Quiz Night at St Michael’s Hall. (Pictured below). It was full to the rafters of quizzers, keen to win, but after intense competition, it was Stranger Things who took the brainbox crown. A staggering £1,660 was raised! Every penny will go towards our Clean Water for Schools Campaign, to construct a rainwater harvest tank at Ihembe Secondary School. A big thank you to Carolyn, our treasurer, who did such a great job organizing the event and to her partner Mike, who was a brilliant quizmaster.

Looking forward to the spring of 2025, we are eager for the completion of the computer project – which will see six Nyaishozi secondary schools with their own computer classrooms and a community computer hub. In addition, it will be great for the disabled female students at Ruhinda Secondary School to enjoy their own resource room. Also, we can’t wait for our young mothers to set up their very own business in the village and start providing for themselves and their families.

Mtandika

St Agnes Vocational Training College

2024/2025 has been another excellent year for St Agnes Vocational Training College at Mtandika. The college continues to be registered with the Tanzanian Government’s National Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NACTVET).

As well as the long-established Tailoring and Electrical courses, the Hotel Management course is well into its second year. An inspection by NACTVET in early 2025 gave a very good report on the progress of the new course.

College management remains as last year. The Principal is Sister Damiana Kikoti, the Vice Principal is Shabani Bilaly and the Bursar is Sister Restituta Msemwa. The teachers are also as last year, with Shabani Bilaly (Vice Principal) the teacher of Electrical Engineering and Engineering Science, Peter Madeba as teacher of English and Communications, Technical Drawing and Life Skills, Yohana Mtagawa as teacher of Computer Studies and Mathematics and Sylvia Mfalamagoha as teacher of Tailoring, Business Studies and Entrepreneurship. The teacher for the Hotel Management course remains Christina Mwinuka.

In 2024 there were twenty-nine students, eleven on the Electrical course with nine in Year 1 and two in year 2; twelve on the Tailoring course with eleven in Year 1 and one in Year 2; and six on the first year of the Hotel Management course. In 2025 the total number of students has increased substantially to forty-nine. There are eighteen on the Electrical course, with nine in Year 1 and nine in Year 2; sixteen on the Tailoring course, with five in Year 1 and eleven in year 2; fifteen on the Hotel Management course; with nine in Year 1 and six in Year 2.

Practical electrical work Electrical practical exam

Hotel Management students in the Canteen

Exam Results

VETA have reported that the exam results from St Agnes VTC for 2024 continued to be excellent. Their local Manager once again congratulated the teachers on achieving such good results.

The photo below shows some of the 2024 graduates who are now working for TANESCO, the State Electrical Company, who have formed their own soccer team.

Medical Problems

At an inspection of the college by VETA in March 2025, the college authorities were informed of a big problem countrywide with MPOX, which originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Malawi. It had now arrived in Tanzania. The problem is increasing in the local villages because sometimes students request lifts from HGV drivers from Congo to Tanzania who have been in contact with the disease. Doctors have already gone to the local schools to advise the students how to protect themselves from the disease and give each student a vaccination. Despite this, even in Mtandika village cases had been noticed.

Cases of MPOX included two of our sponsored students at the local Lukosi Secondary School. This resulted in their bodies being covered in a violent rash of blisters, along with fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen glands, and exhaustion. After a period of isolation and a course of medication, the students recovered.

Student Veronica with MPOX

The VETA Manager told the college staff and students that they should be very careful and follow the following precautions:

The toilets to be kept clean and safe
Bottles of water should be kept in all toilets
Everyone should wash their hands all the time.
People should keep a distance from each other.
Other people’s items should not be handled.

Apart from the two cases of MPOX, there were several cases of mild disease throughout the year, generally from drinking water that had not been suitably purified. It was stressed to the college staff that all the water used around the college should at least be boiled.

Apart from the above medical conditions, students have needed medical treatment for extraordinary incidents such as crocodile attacks whilst collecting water from the river and several bus accidents whilst travelling to and from college. It was stressed to students that extra care must always be taken when working near the river.

Crocodile attacks in the river Students involved in bus accidents

College Rehabilitation

This year only fairly minor rehabilitation work has been required around the college. The work has included:

re-concreting of patches in classroom floors
re-placement of curtains to dormitories
tiling to the boy’s toilets
new doors to the teachers’ and boys’ toilets
replacing some old solar panels
re-wiring after electrical short circuits following power surges
repair of the maize milling machine

New curtains in dormitory Replacing roof sheets Toilet block before rehabilitation

Replacing solar panels Rehabilitation of main student stove

Cultivation of Crops

Students have continued to assist in the growing of staple crops, such as maize, cassava, rice, beans, onions, tomatoes, bananas and papayas. New crops such as macadamia nuts and okra have also been grown. This year there has again been plenty of rain which has resulted in multiple healthy crops. However, as last year, a small amount of damage has again occurred to the maize from monkeys, necessitating the erection of fencing around the crop and to the beans, cassava and papaya, as a result of elephants crossing the nearby river onto college land.

Young maize Macadamia nuts

Beans Onion Store

Fundraising

A drop in the dollar/pound exchange rate in 2025 has benefited the Charity. As in previous years, whilst two thirds of the College students pay annual tuition fees of TSh 700,000, about £200 at current exchange rates, ten of the forty-nine College students who are orphans or from very poor families are sponsored by TWOAT [Tadworth Overseas Aid Trust] and four by a private donor. In addition to supporting college students, TWOAT continue to supplement the teachers’ salaries and have also been instrumental in the setting up of the Hotel Management course with support for the additional

In addition to TWOAT’s generous donations, fundraising continues to come from Benevity, the charity arm of the Bank of Canada, as well as many personal donors. In addition, proceeds from regular cake and jam sales have provided much needed funds. We continue to receive generous, regular donations from individual sponsors.

All income helps with the general running of St Agnes VTC, as well as the education of eight Secondary School students, one student studying for a degree at university and two students taking short VETA vocational courses. All of these are either orphans or from very poor families.

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.

Having been Chairman for some time and with increasing old age, I thought it was time for me to hand over the reins to Tina, whilst remaining a Trustee.

Michael Agius,

Chairman

ACTION IN AFRICA (Charity No. 1072661)

Receipts and Payments Account for the year to 5 April 2025

Receipts General Fundraising Donatons received Gif Aid receipt Bank interest Total Costs Administraton (Tanzania) Administraton (UK) Cash transfer costs Fundraising expenses Total Net Income Payments to benefciaries Educaton Development Health, including Incubators Total Funds at 6 April 2024 Excess of receipts over payments for the year Funds at 5 April 2025	£20,827 £38,421 £3,558 £261 £63,067 £0 £589 £1,015 £1,330 £2,934 £60,133 £20,351 £18,229 £21,517 £60,097 £30,333 £36 £30,369

Statement of Assets and Liabilites at 5 April 2025

Assets Total £30,369 Liabilities Total £0 Note to the accounts:

Net Fundraising

Quiz Jams/Cakes sales Marathons 2024/2025 Give as you Live, Easy Fundraising, BCMY recycling Church Christmas collecton CLFS, Guildford High and ALG Total	£1,660 £2,350 £5,653 £104 £761 £8,969 £19,497