June02

Report Sunday 2nd June 2002

Graham returned from two weeks at Bethany Tanz leaving behind
Faith and Vicky who have now joined Fares and Grace in helping
run the project.

As you might expect Faith and Vicky have been very busy. Faith
who is a nurse has been reorganising the Clinic and with the help
of Vicky has done a stock check and has now a system in place
which will help the smooth running of the Clinic. Fares and Grace
have welcomed Faiths expertise as they have no medical
background and are relieved that Faith has taken responsibility for
this area of the work.

Vicky has started her English lessons and is teaching both in the
mornings and afternoons - she eventually hopes to not only teach
all the children but also the Tanzanian adults who work for the
project. Vicky is also helping teach eight of the children computer
skills - with a view to them taking the ECDL exam when they
visit England in March/April next year. As well as teaching Vicky
hopes to help Grace with the computer accounts and is now also
helping with the foodstore. Vicky is busy!!

Both Faith and Vicky have been busy in other areas, working
together revamping the bedrooms, repainting, cleaning etc. etc.
Already they have been through the Clinic store, burning out of
date dressings, medicines etc. They have emptied, cleaned and
re-packed the old clothes container. Vicky has found that Faith is
none to keen on mice (or chickens) and so is on call when ever
Faith wants to go in any rooms she suspects might contain the
dreaded mice. Vicky is sent in first to clear the way. Faith has
driven the Land Rover and is now quietly confident - I can't speak
for other road users or pedestrians but have asked faith to sound
the horn as she travels along so at least they'll be warned!

The Children are all well with the exception of Regina who was in
bed much of the time and also Nuriati who has a persistent cough.
Faith took Nuriati to the hospital but they don't seem able to
pinpoint the cause and so Faith is giving the problem some
thought and has several ideas on possible treatments. The
children have been to the recording studio and have now a
cassette for sale which has on it 15 songs, all but one are sung in
Swahili. They are selling the tapes for 1,200 Tsh (about �1). If you
would like one let me know and I will bring some back next time I
visit. Sadly the recording quality is very poor.

The Land Rover will have had another service by now together with
a new battery (the old one died the day Fares came to pick us up
from the airport).

Language learning:

Vicky and Faith are both receiving two hours of Swahili tuition 3
times per week. Both are doing well - but it must be said that
Vicky's gift for learning languages has started to show (she
already speaks fluently in English and Greek and has a grasp of
French, Italian and modern Icelandic). Vicky has started learning
the local Sukuma language as well as Swahili!

UK Trip:

The trip was discussed at length with Fares and Grace and many
of the dangers were highlighted and considered. It was decided
that the children should be told that we were considering bringing
some of them over to present Bethany to our existing supporters
(mainly schools and churches) over in the UK but that much work
had to be done before we know how many would be coming. At
the moment the only adult Tanzanian to accompany the children
along with Vicky and Rachel is Fares. As you might expect the
children are excited by the prospect and this is showing in their
school work, English and computer learning, their relationships
with one another and with their carers and volunteers. Preparation
for the trip will we believe be a big incentive.

Next Trip:

This will be on July 22nd when Graham accompanies Gill Luck
and Rachel Hill, both are joining the team and staying for at least
12 months. Faith and Vicky are looking forward to reinforcements!
there is so much to do.

Future trips:

August has two trips, one early August for Sharon, Rebecca,
Vicky P., Barry and Paul. The second trip is by the RAF group.

Newsletters:

Faith has already produced her first newsletter 'Faith's Footsteps'
which is a personal account of how she is finding Bethany and is
available from Jill or Helen C/o Gateway Christian Centre, Front
Street, Acomb, York. YO24 3BN.

I quote a poem from Faith's newsletter which I thought you might
appreciate:

'Insects oining, sweat dripping, sun shining, fly swatting,

brown bodies glistening, coakroach stamping,

mosquitoes biting, chicken chasing'

Vicky has promised to email me her newsletter and I will let you
know how to get a copy when I have it.

Other News:

More will follow!!!!__________________

News from Bethany received 13th June 2002 via email

The Family are doing well, Some general illnesses persist but are gradually being
dealt with by Faith. Vicky's English teaching is proceeding at great pace as is the
learning of the language by both Faith and Vicky. Please see the previously
withheld photos of Faith and Vicky's bedroom and also a photo of Vicky with brush
tackling the store room. Grace and Fares are helping Vicky come to grips with the
running of the stores, ordering and weighing out of the food for each day etc. There
has been a problem in the Clinic with regard to the detection of the malaria parasite
in blood samples - seems a bit hit and miss but Faith is getting to grips with sorting
this out. The gears on the Landrover are jaming and we await more news. The stock
take for the clinic is being updated on the computer which has now been fixed after
it was found that the mouse connection had become loose.

Please pray especially for Regina as she copes with her illness also Faith and
Vicky as they settle in - they will both be feeling home sick by now.

Home News:

Another trip has been booked for Brian Bancroft, Eddie Jeffery and Hannah Child
they should arrive Thursday September 12th for a two week visit

Children's trip to the UK:

Spring Havest accomodation has now been booked as is the accomodation for the
three weeks beforehand.

The British Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam is not answering emails requesting
information on the likelihood of visas for the children's visit. We have therefore made
an appointment to see Jack Straw (Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs) to see if he can help.

News from Bethany Tanzania Friday 28th June 2002 via email

We have received several emails from Fares, Faith and Vicky over the past fortnight. Much of the content
was to do with the re-organisation of the Clinic. We have a new lab technician who is working temporarily
for one month. Onesmo (our previous lab technician) is now more involved in teaching various subjects
including music. Faith has been busy re-organising everything but both she and Vicky managed to get a
weekend away to Mwanza. Hopefully they are both refreshed. Vicky says about Mwanza

"I'm sitting in an Internet cafe in Mwanza so I thought I'd take the

opportunity to send you a quick response. Mwanza hasn't been too bad, although I do much
prefer Bethany. But it's been nice to have a break, and have chips..."

It appears they are still having problems with mice in the storeroom as Vicky reports:

"Last night Ibra, Rehema, Emmakulata, Ramadhani, Fabiani and Rwechu came armed with
sticks to kill the mice. They got 12 And I think I got some brownie points for not screaming,.."

So things continue on at Bethany. Sadly Regina is still not better and Faith reports that what she hoped
were abscesses on her legs are actually Kaposis Sarcoma - please continue to pray for her.

Home news:

On Sunday the UK team travel down the M6 to meet up with Gill Luck and Rachel Hill - in preparation for
there 12 month stay starting in July 22nd

Children's visit: We feel the lack of response from the British Embassy in Dar-es-Salaam will soon be
resolved after our meeting with Jack Straw (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs) who
promised he would 'sort things out' and that the man in charge of the Embassy was a 'good man'. Both
John Fisher and I were encouraged and Jack Straw said he would be writing to us with developments but
could see few problems with visas for the children's visit.