In October we were blessed to have more rain, which means more vegetables growing in the garden, plus we are getting almost constant electricity at Rebecca and Wendy’s house now, which feels like a huge luxury!

We were very blessed to have visitors Anne and John Wynne, from Christ Church Woodbury, who were not only a huge blessing to SWTz, great fun to have staying at our house for a week, but also a blessing to our friends on Mt Meru – the widows and youth looked after by James 1:27.

Anne taught two seminars on nutrition and diabetes prevention, to SWTz staff and the James 1:27 team and their widows and youth. In addition she came with blood-sugar testing equipment and identified one lady and one young girl on Mt Meru who needed to go for further testing at their local hospital. Thankfully all our SWTz staff were well within the acceptable blood-sugar levels.

Diabetes is very much the topic in Tanzania right now, with the government encouraging people to be tested and improve their diets. We saw that there is a huge need for teaching on this subject here, with many people lacking basic nutrition education.

In addition, John taught on basic financial management. Again this is an area where many people lack basic education. Most people here don’t have bank accounts, don’t save, and don’t know have any idea what their weekly or monthly budget is. He gave ideas and tips on how to budget, and we hope this will give people the incentive to open their own bank accounts.

Other news

• The desks and chairs for the nursery school finally arrived!! Huge thanks to staff, children, and parents at Woodbury C of E Primary School, and Marpool Primary School for raising the funds to purchase them. Our teachers and students love them! The window frames and glass are also in now. We have a complete building!

• We have new volunteers, Michael and Anna, both from Australia, who are doing a wonderful job teaching in nursery school, providing one-on-one teaching (reading, writing, maths), helping with practical projects, and generally bringing fun and a smile to the centre every day. We really appreciate them!

• Kanuti and Johnson finally finished ‘O’ levels! They have several months before the results are published and they are spending time to think about the next stage of their lives.

• Alex has gone home to spend a month with his older sister and also think about the next stage for his life. His sister is thrilled to have him home as she has a small agricultural plot and needs Alex’s help to farm it.

• Fatuma and Eliza have been given one month’s boarding and tuition at one of the best secondary schools in Arusha. We are hoping they will do well, and be offered places for Form 1, starting in January. This is a huge opportunity for them!

• A HUGE thank you to New Life Church, for the boxes that just arrived full of clothes and lovely new bath towels!

• We are very thankful to Rebecca Sauder, a Canadian working with Professor Eli Dahi, a Dane who has a local NGO here which has designed and installs water filters to remove fluoride from the water. Rebecca and her organization subsidized a water filter for SWTz, and for three weeks now we have been drinking fluoride-free water. Fluoride levels in Tanzania are uniformly higher than WHO recommendations, and the incidence of fluorosis is very high in northern Tanzania, especially in the area where SWTz is located. The water filter is going to ensure our children and staff have safe water, and their bones and teeth stay strong and healthy.

• Birthdays in October: Elibariki (17).