CHILDREN’S HOME and SCHOOL
Magu District, Mwanza Region, Tanzania, E. Africa
We are a small team of Christians working together to help the most
vulnerable children and people in a rural area of Tanzania. East Africa. We
are involved in providing financial support and volunteers to visit both long
and short term to share in the work both here and in Tanzania.
As of May 2021 caring for more than 161 children at our Children’s home,
and over 300 children in our school.
Contact: Graham Pountain
email: graham@pountain.net Tel 01254 879694
Topics of Interest:
Past news updates etc.
Jan-March 2022
Oct-Dec 2021
June-Sept 2021
April - June 2021
January- March 2021
October - December 2020
August - October 2020
June- August 2020
May to July 2020
March to May 2020
Jan-March 2020
Oct - Dec 2019
April - May 2019
Jan - March 2019
Oct - Dec - 2018
July - Oct 2018
May - August 2018
Jan - April -2018
Oct-Dec 2017
Aug - Sept 2017
June-July 2017
April-May 2017
Jan-March 2017
Oct- Dec 2016
June-July 2016
Jan to March 2016
Nov. to Dec 2015
May to October 2015
March - April 2015
Jan-Feb 2015
Nov-Dec news 2014
Sept-Oct news 2014
July-August news 2014
April - June 2014 news
Jan-Feb 2014 news
Monthly meetings
Gifts Policy
Past news
Meet the children
Supporting Bethany
Sponsoring children
Buy from our shop
Past Visitors
Powerpoint Presentation
Childcare Seminar verification
The Bethany Project (often referred to as the Bethany Family) is registered in Tanzania as an NGO no. 8059. It is administered by the The Bethany Project (Tanzania) UK
(Reg. Charity no 517995), Reg. Address: 11 Ash Street, Oswaldtwistle, Accrington, Lancashire. BB5 3LN. Tel 01254 879694. email: graham@pountain.net
Trustees: Graham Pountain, David Borland OBE, Heather Jeffrey, Isabel Jones, Paul Pountain
BIMONTHLY MEETINGS
Next meeting - Sunday December 11th (2022) 2pm
Trinity Church
Christ Church Square, Accrington, BB5 2NA
Click here for more info
TESTIMONY
We have asked all our Bethany girls and
boys to write a testimony about their life,
before Bethany, at Bethany and after so
that you can hear from the children
themselves.
Here is a sample written by our
Headmistress
As an Atheist
by Mathew Parris Full article click here
JUNE 2019 Update
MONEY BOXES
Below are our new reusable plastic money
boxes suitable for shops/schools/churches
etc. etc.
Click here for more info
This web page is in the process of being
updated with news from Tanzania.
To see our last update April - June - 2022
click here
To view our last update
April - June- 2022 Click here
Please visit a website from:
St Michael with St John Church of England Primary School
who are supporting Bethany - click here
NEW - Bethany as viewed from above
The Children’s home
Click on image to enlarge
The School
Click on image to enlarge
November 2021 Video - Update - Aspects of Bethany
Students attending our local Government
Secondary school
When the Bethany children leave our Primary School they attend the local
government School (Sogeska).
Form 2: Jesca writes ‘So our form two as you can see have done really
really well and we hope for even better results when they reach form four
because they are all capable of doing it.’
1. Anna Michael Div 2: 19 points
2. Helena Edward Shilinde Div 1: 17 points
3. Neema Petro Ayubu Div 2: 18 points
4. Kabula Mashauri Biligeya Div 1: 16 points
5. Theleza Mashine Masalu Div 1: 10 points
6. Mgosi Ally Msitaafa Div 1: 16 points
Form 4 - secondary school leavers exam Jesca writes: ‘Our form four
children who just finished their final exams have once again done really
well, better than any class from Bethany has ever done and Sarah is the
top child in the whole District and among the ten best in the region.’
1. Sarah John Div 1: 7 points (the highest score achieveable)
2. Cerline Stephano Div 2: 19 points
3. Elizabeth Samwel Div 2: 19 points
4. Suzan Mathias Div 2: 19 points
5 Chama Malu Div 2: 18 points
6. Zawadi Hassan Div 3: 25 points
Here is a link to the results
for all the secondary schools in Tanzania click here
Jesca writes: ‘So Emma and I and the rest of the team are very pleased
and encouraged by these results and we thank God that he is taking
these children to different levels each time. We just hope that you too are
encouraged and the children themselves use these results to glorify God
for the service of his kingdom.’
Comment: If you take the time to have a look at the results from other
secondary schools (click here) you may be surprised to learn how few of
the children achieve division 1 or division 2. We believe that the failure in
the secondary schools is due to the fact that many children leave Primary
school with very poor English and therefore unable to understand the
lessons now taught in English.
Fortunately, the children leaving the Bethany school have a very good
grounding in the English Language which enables them to succeed at our
local goverment secondary school.
Report on visit June 2022 by Graham Pountain:
As usual lots of things going on with the various aspects of the
work. Our Primary school numbers have risen from 305 to 370
from January this year. Due to the Russia/Ukraine the exchange
rate has dropped by over 15% plus the fact that like everywhere
else prices of basic commodities/food have risen. We provide
nearly 1,000 meals per day to our school children and staff and
are looking at ways to grow more of our own food etc..
For the full report on more aspects of our work click here
Links to the photos of the various aspect of the trip are here:
Agriculture (25 photos), Building work (18 photos)
Children (38 photos), Chores (31 photos),
Food/Kitchen (31 photos), Learning (21 photos),
Play (9 photos), Rose and Joseph (2 photos).
Rose and Joseph with Jesca
(two new members of the Bethany Family)
School Work (Happy days!))
Play Time
Greetings from the Bethany school! I trust you are all doing well, back at Bethany
all is well, God has been so faithful and we could not have done it all if it was not
for His unconditional love and Grace.
Weekend with the girls programme: In my report I have mentioned 'weekend
with the girls' this is a programme I started last year, basically it is to help our girls
aged 11 to 14 (STD3 to 7) learn life skills, sex education etc. We meet every
Saturday from 9am to 1pm. This has been so successful because I can see how
confident they are becoming and valuing themselves. as well as learning about
life skills etc, we also do outreach work in our community, we visit poor families,
e.g. widows etc, we do not have much to give but we offer to help do some house
chores (see pictures) It is important to teach our children about giving and helping
those who have less than ourselves, I really want them to understand how
important it is to give rather than to receive. I remember we once watched a film
called pay it forward, it was hard to try and explain it for them to understand, but
when we started doing the outreach programme now everyone ‘gets it’. There is
nothing we can give to people who support us but we can try our very best to
show the same kindness to others even if that means washing their clothes or
simply cleaning their house. My only hope is that they continue in this path even
when they leave our school just like how it says in our school Bible verse "we
start children off on the way they should go so even when they are older, they will
not turn from it."
School inspection: We had our school inspection (like Ofsted in the UK) in
March and the report was outstanding, the inspectors were really impressed by
our school, pupils' behaviour which is excellent, the learning environment and
resources are appropriate. We prefer to support more girls than boys as we all
know girls are more vulnerable and are still treated differently in our African
culture.
Everyone except our STD 4 and 7 children are currently on holiday. We feel they
will benefit more from extra help as they are getting ready for their National
examinations in October and November.
Thank you for your continuous support to Bethany. It is amazing to see
what we have achieved and hoping to achieve in the future.
Kind regards, Emmakulatha
Extracts from an email from Emmakulatha (Headteacher)
August 2022
School Outreach Programme - helping those in need who live
in our village (More photos here)
Extracts from our Headteachers report August 2022
For full report click here
As the head of our school I am always encouraged to see how everyone is making
a positive contribution towards achieving our Bethany school vision, it is not
always easy but we continue to do it all through our Lord Jesus who gives us
strength and courage to tackle all our daily challenges and struggles.
As a school community we have continued to work hard and tirelessly in our drive
to be better each and every day. As a result we are really starting to see some of
our pupils demonstrate the consistency in the behaviour and attitude towards
learning. This is no more evident than with our STD 4 &7 pupils as they plan and
prepare for their National examinations taking the whole process extremely
serious.
Staffing: I am so grateful to have such hardworking and committed people in our
teaching staff. It is not always easy to keep everyone motivated but I do
appreciate how we have managed to find a way to work together to serve our
school vision. We have a saying “All in it together” I truthfully believe this has
played a major role in helping to keep our team strong and focused. Currently we
have 23 members on our staff, 18 teachers (12 teachers and 6 TAs), one school
secretary, school cleaner and maintenance person.
Our successes
Outstanding feedback from school inspectors
Excellent results from mocks examinations, top 15 pupils both in STD4 and STD
7 mock ward examinations came from our school. Our school ranked second in
the region mock examination in July.
Our preschool children are becoming exceptional at Bible verse challenge
competitions, could this be because of the lollypops? I really do not know
Children are enjoying coming to school every day, they feel safer whilst at
school.
Teachers and pupils working hard together and putting Jesus at the centre of all
we do.
Our “weekend with girls” programme has become a success!
For the full report Click here
For School Photos Click here
Results by Class:
Reception, Class 1, Class 2, Class 3,
Class 4, Class 5, Class 6, Class 7,
2022 results summary
Learning is Fun!