An Overdue Update

It is about time that we gave you an update on developments with Upendo over recent months. We can only apologise for lack of communication prior to this, Upendo has been going through a period of significant change which has often made it difficult to know just what to communicate. We thank you for your continued, generous support. Without it, including the kind words of encouragement from those following us, we would not have been able to continue with the work we are doing in Tanzania.

Since the children were able to return to their families and relatives, the role of Upendo in their lives has evolved considerably. Our primary focus, of course, remains one of supporting the children’s continued development and we continue to facilitate access to the best possible medical care and education in just the same way as we always have. However, in terms of day-to-day care provision, the reunions have necessitated an entirely new focus on a model of care and support more removed from everyday care, which supports as far as possible the family unity as a whole, rather than our individual children. This is a model about which we are still learning a considerable amount, though rest assured that all of the children continue to live happily with their families, are as healthy as ever, and (as recent test results show) are going from strength to strength at Eden Valley School. Upendo’s main man and woman on the ground, Eric and Devotha, are spending time with the Kids, who regularly come over to the Upendo Volunteer House for extra tuition and games, and are working to provide support to the Upendo families, ensuring that all is well. They continue to act as an essential channel of communication between the Upendo team in the UK and our families out in Buswelu. No doubt you will be pleased to know that both have been making use of their time to continue with training. Devotha is furthering her computer skills and studying for additional qualifications, whilst Eric is preparing to begin English lessons (thanks in no small part to volunteer Catherine, who after working with Upendo at the start of this year is now supporting Eric).

As an organisation, we need to make use of this period of change to plan in more depth Upendo’s future direction; re-evaluating what we have achieved so far and deciding how best to apply our resources to ensure that we create the greatest possible benefit for those we are seeking to help. It is fair to say that Upendo has matured considerably as an organisation over the past 12 months, as we have sought to try-out and establish new models of family-based care. And we have become increasingly aware that there remains work to do in order to develop a working model which allows Upendo to continue developing in Tanzania with a gradually increasing role for the Buswelu community alongside a reducing level of interference in day to day running from the team in the UK.

We still have a lot to learn about the best way of working alongside families in providing care and support to the Upendo kids and we recognise the importance of not allowing ourselves to be rushed through this process. For the time being, we are comfortable that the children are as content as ever, healthy, and flourishing in school. Your support has made this possible and we thank you again for this- it is helping to ensure that the children and their families have stable lives that will ensure that they have choices in their own futures.

Best wishes,

Carly, James and Matt

Raising the Roof!

Hi everyone, As always, we hope that you are all well! I’m sure many of you would appreciate a much-needed update!

Well probably the biggest news over the last few months has been the successful construction of Upendo’s roof!! Our thanks go out once again to Emmaus Mossley for their amazing help with this. Emmaus provided us with a sizeable donation for construction, which covered the entire cost of materials and labour, and they offered guidance and reassurance when it was needed last summer- Emmaus, thank-you once again!

As most of you are probably aware, the roof was a long-time coming. We initially scheduled to begin construction way back in August, but after careful consideration and a frustrating experience with the local planning department in Mwanza, it was decided to delay until our registration in Tanzania was fully complete… We just didn’t expect that to take us until January! Registration with the authorities in Tanzania had to take place in Dar-es-Salaam. Unfortunately Dar is twenty hours by road from Mwanza, which makes movement of the relevant registration documents an irritatingly drawn-out process.

Nevertheless, patience (we can assure you) is a virtue, and with registration finally complete, Carly, James and I returned for a fleeting visit to Buswelu at the end of January this year. After four months away from Buswelu it was fantastic to see all the Upendo family again, and although the visit was too short in duration for our liking, it certainly did not fall short in productivity! Between overseeing construction of the roof and playing badminton with the kids, the daily 3 hour round-trips to the bank in Mwanza were, well… tiring.

We were more than spurred on by the progress with construction however, and we still found time to take the kids swimming (just!) Their confidence in the water by the way, has improved impressively since our first swimming lessons back in summer 2010, which is great to see.

Construction of the roof was wonderful after having waited for so long, but it was also logistically challenging: In all, it required 260 sheets of corrugated iron, 1.34km of timber, sixty litres of timber treatment, and almost 120kg of nails! Transport ranged from motorcycles and trucks (which are always exciting in my view), to strapping iron sheeting onto wheelbarrows and just pushing it from the market to the building site (which I have to say rarely is.…especially when the return journey is 4 miles over bumpy ground and needs to be made three times!) It’s always good to get your hands dirty for a change though and we made the trip to site everyday to watch as the roof’s skeleton grew (thankfully, usually on a motorbike!)

The roof's completion has also enabled us at last, to connect our brand-new rain-water harvester to our water-storage tank. The roof should be able to collect easily enough water to keep the tank topped-up through the dry season. And with only the windows/doors and fitting out to go before the kids can move into their new home, I think its time to prepare for the next project in our self-sustainable children’s home… Cue engineers and your solar power plans (if any of you happen to be reading this!)

Best wishes,

Matt and all the Upendo team :)

Summer 2011 Summary

Hi everybody. I hope that you are all well! As our tired volunteers hang up their flip-flops, hammers and football boots and prepare to head back to the good old British weather, our second successful summer volunteer programme is winding down. So it is time for our final blog entry this summer, where we will take you through the highs and lows (but mainly highs!!) of the Upendo project over the last four months:

We have had a plethora of projects for volunteers to get stuck into this summer, ranging from construction (of water storage and filtration tanks, chicken coops and kitchens), to those aimed at working with the wider community (Upendo’s Community Sports Programme), and education based projects such as teaching of the kids and training of the staff. So I’m sure you will all be pleased to know that our volunteers have been kept very busy!

Unfortunately it has not been possible to implement one of the most eagerly anticipated of the projects planned for this summer; the construction of Upendo’s roof. Delays caused by Tanzanian red-tape and the very slow process of registration as an NGO over here have held up progress much more than was anticipated. Slowly but surely we are getting there, and we would like to thank Emmaus Mossley for their continued patience and support on the matter. Do watch this space for any developments.

Frustrating though the delays with the roof are, they have certainly not overshadowed the rest of the summer’s events:

A team of engineers from Manchester University have worked their magic in the creation of a functioning (if not entirely aesthetically pleasing) water filtration and storage tank, which will be filled from water collected by gutters surrounding Upendo’s soon-to-be constructed roof. The tank has a capacity of 13,000 litres, which will more than see the children’s home through the dry season (especially if this year’s exceptionally moist example is anything to go by!). Water will be taken from the storage tank when required and disinfected using the Solar Disinfection (SODIS) method endorsed by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the Red Cross. [For more information see this site]. Thanks to the work of Sam, Marsh and Tom, a clean, reliable and cost-effective source of water has been ensured for Upendo. Thank-you very much engineers!

At the beginning of August, work began on Upendo’s brand new and state-of-the-art chicken coop! Chicken farming is a means of development endorsed by Oxfam for its ease of implementation and relatively small demand on space, manpower and know-how. Hopefully it should prove a success for Upendo also, providing the Upendo kids with a good supply of eggs to supplement their diets. Any extras (and hopefully there will be plenty) will be sold in Upendo’s duka, thus ensuring a steady and sustainable source of locally generated income!

On the 1st September ‘Upendo Chicken’s Home’ officially opened its doors to fifteen hens and two cockerels. An amusing afternoon was spent vaccinating all of our birds… Hopefully we will not have to wait too long for our first batch of eggs… (or chicks for that matter).The kid’s return to school marked the end of two summer projects for this year, namely summer-school and the community sports programme. Our thanks go out to Michael and Hannah for their hard work on the sports programme. Community sports took place for two hours on a Tuesday and Thursday evening and we were really impressed with the enthusiasm shown by both our volunteers and the Buswelu community. There was a fantastic turn-out to most of the events from both our Upendo children and other local kids. Thanks to the work of Michael and Hannah we have hopefully set the ball rolling on long-lasting community involvement with Upendo.

We must also thank the Buswelu campus of VETA (Tanzanian Vocational, Education and Training Authority) for their support and use of their playing field. Hopefully the enthusiasm of certain members of VETA will ensure the continuation of community sports in the absence of UK volunteers! We will keep you updated with any developments on this, but the prospect of having a potential source of willing local volunteers is more than encouraging and a mark of the success of the well organised sports programme.

Teaching took place throughout the children’s summer holidays, with particular attention being given to English, Maths and Science. All of the children made good progress over the summer, particularly in English. We never cease to be surprised by some of the gems of English language spoken by the kids, although the over-use of the word ‘for’ is perhaps something we will need to work on for next summer. In the meantime “I am for eat mango” will suffice!

Outside of the main volunteer programme, members of the Upendo team have been conducting research on the family situations of the kids in our care, and where appropriate and possible, conducting re-unions between our children and their remaining family. Visits have been made to three of the home villages of our kids and re-unions for 24 hours have taken place for Mussa and Masalu with their mother and siblings, and Emanueli and Edwardi with their Grandmother and siblings.

And in other news, we need to welcome Upendo’s newest member of staff! Aged twenty-two, Eric is far from being a kid, but in many ways he is the oldest of the Upendo orphans, having been taken in by Baba J more than five years ago. It is difficult to imagine Upendo without Eric; although his contributions until now have remained unofficial. Starting this month however, Eric will become a paid employee with responsibilities at Upendo for working towards our agricultural sustainability! He will be caring for the chickens, taking care of the crops and staffing the Upendo Duka in which the produce will be sold. Welcome on board Erici!

Eric will join Prisca and Mama Emma - the children’s carers, and David our construction manager, as a paid member of the Upendo team. Working, of course, alongside Baba J and Mama Mtoto out in Buswelu, together they form Upendo’s (permanent) in-the-field co-ordination team.

Without the hard-work and local knowledge of our African team members we would not be able to function out in Tanzania, and for the next few months they will continue where we have left off; building on the fantastic progress made over the summer!

From all of us on the Upendo team, we would like to thank all of volunteers; Sam, Marshenka, Tom, Jackie, Mel, Ruth, Emma, Kate, Hannah and Michael for their contribution and hard work over the last four months. I’m sure you are all fully aware that we could not have achieved what we have without you and we hope to see you back next year!

For now, however: THANK YOU!!