Over the years the trustees have been entrusted with various documents relating to Kindwitwi and Father Robin Lamburn. This year Sarah collected some of Father Robin’s diaries, his visitor books and other papers, from our former trustee, Nick Bowley. Bishop Trevor Huddleston and Leader Sterling, Tanzanian Minister for Health, visited what was then called ‘The Rufiji Mission’ on several occasions and we have also found the names of many of our donors in the visitor books.  Those of you who met Father Robin will remember him as a man of many stories and anecdotes. His diary entries are generally quite different, comprising of short sentences documenting whether the post had arrived and what time he said matins!

However, one of the earlier diaries had more information of interest. In November 1939, a couple of months after war had been declared, Father Robin left London to return to Africa. He carried his gas mask, ration book and identity card and boarded a ship which was part of a big convoy. He noted planes overhead and a destroyer on the port bow and ‘a tanker within 200 miles of us is being chased by a U- boat’. He also recorded that ‘there were ‘parlour games’ which were very jolly’.

After the long voyage, Father Robin disembarked in South Africa and then appears to have spent a few weeks travelling overland from Cape Town, through what was then Rhodesia, took a sailing boat across the Zambezi river, then a further boat across Lake Malawi before making his way to Tunduru in South Tanzania by car and on foot!

We are in the process of cataloguing all these documents and in due course hope to find a permanent, accessible, home for this historic archive.

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We are very lucky to have Mr. Uhuru Mplaza as chair of the Foundation for Rapid relief of TB and Leprosy (FRRTL), our partner organization in Tanzania. Uhuru has been chair of FRRTL for nearly three years now, but his association with Kindwitwi goes back much further than that as he served on the Boards of KLCCDA and FRRTL as Diocesan officer for more then ten years before he became Chairman.

His various qualifications in Business Administration and Community Development Planning give him ideal skills to lead the FRRTL Team.

Local Non-Government Organisations (NGO’s) are closely monitored by the Government Registrar of NGOs. FRRTL is one of only 5 local NGOs which are allowed to operate in Rufiji District, others have been de-registered by the NGO Registrar as they did not comply with the strict regulations needed to operate as an NGO. Thank you Uhuru and your team for ensuring the work of FFRTL is allowed to continue.

Uhuru is pictured with one of the villagers and chairing a FRRTL meeting.