In November Geoff O’Donoghue (our chair) and his wife Jenny visited Kindwitwi. Long term supporters will remember Geoff and Jenny spent three years in Kindwitwi as VSO volunteers back in the early 1990’s. During their trip this year Geoff and Jenny supported FRRTL with staff development, reviewed the students and patients we support and met with District Officials.
Thank you to Jenny for reviewing patients and their welfare. There are currently 21 people living in the village who are affected by leprosy, with four receiving full care support from funds provided by RLT and 17 receiving limited support in addition to support received from their families. RLT funds are also supporting one orphaned young man with his education and two vulnerable older men who have no family to care for them.
During the trip, Jenny met a villager who has a disability caused by a logging accident. He has no family and no visible means of support. Jenny was able to establish that he was living in a very basic grass house with no mattress, mosquito net or toilet. He was being supported by some neighbours and with food he obtained from begging. We agreed to provide the villager with full support and a space in the ward.
Geoff and Jenny identified that one of the most urgent issues for all the villagers affected by leprosy and not just those needing full support, is adequate access to toilet facilities. The current latrines are very basic and quickly become a health hazard. Over the next few weeks we will be working with FRRTL to see what is needed
d to resolve this issue.
More was learnt about changes in the Tanzanian education system, including changes to primary and secondary school, as well as preschool provision for 5-year-olds. Soon there will be government preschool facilities linked to Siasa Primary School which will be available to Kindwitwi children aged five. The new classrooms will be on the edge of Kindwtiwi. With this in mind RLT are working with FRRTL to see how this will impact the Kindwitwi Kindergarten.
Video of the new Siasa Reception/Kindergarten classrooms on the edge of Kindwitwi
Geoff and Jenny saw lots of change in the area from when they lived and worked there as VSOs. There is a new tarmacked road from Nyamwage to Utete and a new secondary school vocational training centre and specialised girls school in Nyanda Katundu. Whilst Kindwitwi remains significantly underdeveloped, there are signs of change including many houses having Bati (iron sheeting) roofs and homes having access to tap water and electricity. The village now has a ‘chips mayai’ (chips and egg) café. Electricity from the Rufiji hydroelectric plan is fully functional and electricity supplies are consistent. However, the dramatic fluctuations in river levels have created issues with those farming in the valley at the time of the floods. It does seem that for now village cooking will remain charcoal based. The mobile phone service in the village does get 3G at times and the local petrol station has a constant supply of fuel for the growing motorbike population.
