Bethany Visit 20 February to 2 March 2020.
On arrival at the new Terminal 3 at Dar es Salaam Airport we (myself, Carlton and Gina Cooper) were greeted by men in
masks and asked to queue up to have our temperature taken and our passport details recorded before being allowed
through the airport to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. Once in Mwanza we were met by Jesca and Mwita.
Gina and I spent a large portion of our time at Bethany helping Annastazia Peter out with the Reception Class. There are
28 children in the class with a wide range of abilities. Anna has her work cut out and would benefit from some additional
support. Gina and I also worked together to collect all the latest sponsorship information including photos, heights and
weights, reports from the children and child histories for those children that had arrived in the last two years which is when
this data was last gathered.
Carlton’s main objective was to review the accounting systems and procedures with a view to streamlining processes and
improve reporting. He also sat with the Form Four leavers with Jesca to discuss their options and which courses would
most likely lead to a job.
On Saturday 22 February we were visited by Living Waters Ministries which consists of a children’s home (approximately
40 children), primary school and secondary school. Although their organisation is larger than the Bethany Project they
were keen to learn how we do things in order to improve. They discussed the possibility of working more closely in the
future with the option to ‘student swop’ for a set period of time. I enquired as to what they do for water and was informed
they now have mains water in Mwanza but in the past they used to collect water from the roofs into three cisterns during the
rainy season. We were invited to visit their organisation and in particular to have a look at their secondary school before
building our own. They offered to put us in touch with their designer if needs be. The secondary school is made out of
containers and has been built into the side of the rock face, using the blasted rock for bricks. The school is three storeys
and has about 15 classrooms although only about 5 are currently in use.
On Sunday 23 February whilst returning from a visit to a church some of the Bethany children were involved in a car
accident. Winifreda was driving the Toyota and Kulwa Chacha was driving the Land Rover. It is thought that Kulwa
possibly hit a pothole and lost control, overturning the vehicle. Baraka Juma was killed instantly and many others were
injured. Some passers-by ran to Lion of Judah (local boarding School) to let them know and they came with their minibus
and took the children to the hospital. Jesca was in great distress but the injured children told her to stop crying and praise
God when she visited them in hospital.
The next day the school was closed whilst funeral arrangements were made and many of the teachers were at the hospital
with the injured children. The Education Officer came to Bethany to enquire why the whole school was closed. Emma
agreed to reopen the school on Wednesday as the funeral was planned for Tuesday.
A new child was admitted on the Monday – Prisca Paulo but I was unable to gain any details of her history.
Baraka Juma’s funeral was held on the Tuesday at Bethany and then he was laid to rest in a nearby village where his
relatives live. Many came to the funeral including villagers, family, Secondary school pupils and lots of ex Bethany children.
The service lasted approximately 3 hours and included messages from various church leaders.
The school reopened on the Wednesday for the village children and this was a good opportunity to provide more one on
one tuition for those who were particularly struggling.
Jesca and Kulwa had to make a couple of other trips to the police station whilst we were there so that the police could
inspect the Land Rover and give their verdict on whether it was roadworthy or not. The vehicle was then returned to
Bethany although it is irrepairable. On the way back from the police station they stopped at Lion of Judah to thank them for
their help. Discussions were had about working more closely in the future.
One of the purposes of my trip was to look at the feasibility of a borehole for a water well and to meet with Government
Engineers to discuss their proposal for upgrading the current water system and obtain some clarifications on their proposed
scope of works. The proposed location for the borehole was in front of the current water tank. A few clarifications are
needed from the drilling company before going ahead with this option. These include finding out how big the rig is, how it
will be transported to site and diameter of borehole required to ensure we can get it to the location and that it won’t
undermine the existing tank. We also need to find out how deep they intend to go. Is the price for a set depth or will they
keep going until they find a decent amount of quality water etc.
From meeting with the Government Engineers we established that they propose to construct the new sump and pump
house to the west of the existing system. The water level in the lake was very high on this visit and the area in question was
quite boggy. They intend to construct the pump house on a 0.6m high platform to prevent flooding. The gravity fed pipe will
be 100m from the sump into the lake. Although we are not sure how deep the lake is at this point I was assured that it is
extremely deep and that the furthest the lake retreats is approximately 40m so it should still be sufficient to function. I
stressed that it was extremely important that the angle was sufficient to keep the water flowing at all times and that other
people had had problems with similar systems. The sump will stay full at all times and uses a surface pump. It would take
approximately 45 days to construct providing all the materials arrive when they should. The Bill of Quantities had two lines
in for the pump house in error so the actual cost will be 5,200,000.00 T sh (£1,850) less than the total. We visited a similar
set up on the outskirts of Magu that they had previously installed. Although no longer in use as it had been replaced by a
modern UK style water treatment works which was supplying 15 villages, it was still useful to see what it would look like. My
opinion is that this would be the better of the two options; however, if ‘Thirst No More’ are able to offer a few more
assurances then it may be worth pursuing the borehole.
Rebecca Fryer