Dirk visited the Sisters in September 2018 staying for just over four weeks and with the help of the Sisters was able to visit seven out of the 11 houses within the community, a full account of his visit is here:  sep2018  . It was interesting to hear about his perspectives over past 50 years and the ever growing young population. The visit included both in Masasi the Saint Mary’s Girls’ hostel and the Sisters’ Health Station in Sayuni to see the new medical facility and ambulance.

​

‘I am so grateful to the Sisters for making my visit this year such a success again, and for all their kindness, and it was good to be able to come back to England with Sr. Debora in response to an invitation from friends in York. - We should be proud of the way in which the Sisters maintain and care for the Health Station, the nursery school, the girls’ hostel, the water harvesting tanks, the agricultural machinery, "William's Well", the farm animals, the irrigation systems and all the other facilities that we and our generous supporters have provided. I also greatly admire the dedication of the Sisters, who live a very simple life, with a very basic diet in order to devote as much of their resources as possible to the women and children of Tanzania and Zambia whom they help. The Sisters are in good spirits, working hard and praying for a better world. May God bless them in doing His will.’

​

​

New Trustee

​

Charles Lane has recently joined the trustees to carry on the work of his father Dick Lane, one of the founding trustees who sadly passed away in April last year. He is a plant health scientist bringing expertise in agriculture to the charity, but also works in developing business and education partnerships across in the UK. Charles and his family have been supporting the Newala primary school for the past 10 years and have carried on supporting Sister Debora in developing her nursing and paediatric skills.

​

​

Projects Funded Recently

​

Following the Chairman’s successful visit a list of projects works was identified and we have been out to support a diverse range of projects meeting our charitable aims. Recently, in Newala, we have been providing funding to improve rainwater harvesting and storage by purchasing new guttering and water tanks, whilst in Ilala in the Diocese Dar Es Salaam, we were able to contribute to drilling a new well at Mkuranga Farm providing essential clean water. We have continued to support the nursery and primary school by the provision of essential stationery supplies in Newala and funding for the nursery school at Masasi. The girls hostel continues to be a great success and one of our priorities - we were pleased to be able to fund a solar fridge that allows the Sisters to store dairy products, providing a useful income. In addition to this, we were also able to support the purchase of rabbits to provide an important source of food and income. We were also very pleased to help fund three sisters to further their education: Sr. Sapelo (Zambia) for a Religious Education course and Fieldwork, Sr. Violet for Medical Training, Sr. Juliana for High School education.

The past year has been very successful with over £11,000 contributed by the charity directly to the Sisters in Tanzania and Zambia, but not surprisingly, there is still much more to do. We have a number of important projects still to fund in the areas of: education, health, agriculture and water. If you’re interested in helping us to fund further projects please get in contact with us (africansisters@icloud.com). This Easter we are focusing on raising money to support the purchase of a new threshing machine. All of the funds that we raise go directly to support the Sisters - the charity runs entirely on voluntary contributions from the trustees and our supporters.

​

​

Easter Appeal - Maize Threshing Machine for the Sisters in Sayuni

​

Maize is a key staple carbohydrate for rural communities in Tanzania - white maze is milled to produce flour. The Sisters and Novices in Sayuni region in South West Tanzania live in one of the best maize growing areas in the country. This year they produced 190 sacks of maize; but it now needs de-husking, to remove the outer papery sheath, and shelling to remove the corn from the cob. This is backbreaking work for the Sisters and can only be achieved by beating the cobs with a stick. Therefore, it is not surprising it is not the most efficient process and valuable corn can be lost.

​

​