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 […]
News
Earlier this year Tatu, who manages the accounts, and Salum, the acting manager, completed a computer skills training course to help them in their roles and make for smoother running of our partner organization, the Foundation for Rapid Relief of TB and Leprosy (FRRTL).
Computer Skills for FRRTL Staff
The St Lazarus Trust has generously supported RLT over many years. We are pleased to announce St Lazarus have awarded RLT a further grant to help improve the accommodation of the villagers on full care support and to provide health insurance. Pictured is one of the villagers affected by leprosy […]
St Lazarus Trust Grant
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 […]
Trustee Visit October 2024
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of our friend and colleague, Abdallah Nguyu. Below, Geoff O’Donoghue, Trustee of RLT pays tribute to Abdallah. I first met Abdallah more than 30 years ago when my wife, Jenny and I were new arrivals […]
Tributes to Abdallah Nguyu
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Abdallah Nguyu, a long term friend and colleague of The Rufiji Leprosy Trust. IN the letter that follows, Burchard Rwamtoga pays tribute to his life and work in service of the people of Kindwitwi. Tribute from Burchard Rwamtoga […]
Tributes to Abdallah Nguyu
In October of this year, two of our trustees Sarah Feather and Richard Luxmore, along with their partners, travelled to Kindwitwi. The aim was to review progress made since Geoff O’Donoghue and Jennifer Cosgrave visited at the same time in 2022. The trip to Tanzania, whilst always a privilege and […]
Trustee Trip to Kindwitwi – October 2023
Rufiji Leprosy Trust has benefitted from many legacies over the years – which have really changed the lives of people in Kindwitwi. We have used legacy income to support leprosy relief work, development of new needs for the village and within our daily support of the village. Thank you so […]
Legacies for Rufiji Leprosy Trust
You will remember from the last newsletter that the Rufiji Leprosy Trust made funding available for renovations to be made to several buildings in Kindwitwi. During the trustees visit in autumn of 2022, it was clear that the buildings were really run down and not safe or hygienic to work […]
Renovations in Kindwitwi – an update
Each month, we receive donations ensuring that vital support is provided to people living with disabilities because of having had leprosy or that have suffered terrible personal losses, such as the death of parents due to this illness. Every month, the team in Kindwitwi meet with this group to give […]
September final thoughts – thank you!
Maintaining strong connections with the team in Kindwitwi is vital for the effective stewardship of the donations you make to RLT. It is also an important way of making sure that we, as a trust, understand the continued and evolving needs of the community in Kindwitwi when it comes to […]
Next trustee visit
We are sorry to bring you the news that Bob Laverton MBE, who was a trustee of RLT for more than 30 years, passed away at the age of 100 earlier this month. Amongst his many accomplishments, Bob spent forty-two years with Lloyds Bank plc, of which 22 were in […]
News from the Trustees – Bob Laverton – June 2022
For this instalment of the Newsletter, we asked the team in Kindwitwi to share with us the story of the Ward, which is one of the most important projects that your donations continue to support. In their own words, this is what the team told us! Kindwitwi Leprosy Ward was […]
Leprosy News from Kindwitwi – June 2022
The Kindwitwi Leprosy Patients Ward was founded when father Robin Lamburn, the Anglican Church Missionary from England came to Kindwitwi in 1963. During this time of 1960s and 1970s there were no proper drugs to cure leprosy, instead they used drug called ‘Dap Son’ just to calm down the situation […]
Update from the Leprosy Centre Manager – December 2021
The team on the ground have reported to us that over the summer, three new leprosy patients were detected. Two were detected from Nambunju Village, which is 58 kms from Utete Hospital. From first-hand experience (when your author visited Kindwitwi in 2009) I can tell you that it is a […]
Leprosy News from Kindwitwi – November 2021
Many of you will know or remember G.W.W. Laverton. Bob is one of the founding members of the Rufiji Leprosy Trust and was awarded an MBE in 2004 for his services to RLT in Tanzania. His dedication to the people of Kindwitwi has always been unwavering. We are happy to […]
G.W.W. Laverton’s 100th Birthday
We have been going through our archives and came across a newsletter from Father Robin Lamburn in 1979 he wrote: ‘In six months’ time we hope to establish a really good Day Care Centre for the children who are under school age. Little babies are usually well cared for by […]
News from the Trustees- April 2021
Leprosy detection work continues, and five new Leprosy diagnoses have been made since our last newsletter. Community sensitisation work continues in schools and villages. The National TB and Leprosy Programme has held its annual meeting and resolved to try and eliminate Leprosy as a Public Health problem from all regions […]
Leprosy News- April 2020
After many years as a Trustee of Rufiji Leprosy Trust, Val Mead has decided it’s time to step down. Even Val can’t remember exactly when her involvement with RLT began. She became aware of the work of RLT when she helped her teaching colleague, Ernest Polack, work the photocopier to […]
A sad farewell to Val – Trustee Update
RLT understands that the consequences of leprosy are not just physical or psychological; it can have an impact on a family’s opportunities for generations to come. That is why, through your generous donations, RLT is able to support young people, who are the children of Leprosy patients, to gain access […]
Education and Sponsorship Update
Covid 19 and its Consequences Tanzania is suffering from Covid-19 as other places of this world. Currently, we are happy to share that Kindwitwi has no one detected with Covid-19 but we are still suffering from its consequences. Like many countries around the world schools have been closed to try […]
Covid-19 in Kindwitwi and Leprosy Update
As you know, agriculture is an important part of our way of life; it provides food for our families as well as an income because we sell our products at the market. It is also an important part of our community’s identity, we pass down knowledge from generation to generation […]
An update on our community and Agriculture
We are always happy to hear about visitors to Kindwitwi. This year the Kindwitwi Team hosted Rachel Manolson and her family. Rachel spent six months in Kindwitwi in her gap year in 1990. She lived as Father Robin’s guest and spent time assessing and documenting the disabilities faced by individual […]
Kindwitwi welcomes visitors
The Rufiji Leprosy Trust believes that education is a way to support people to gain access to new opportunities and find pathways to better lives especially when they have been directly impacted by leprosy. The Trust uses some of the funds you donate to sponsor young people whose family have […]
Education Sponsorship
All our readers are aware that Leprosy is curable. But did you know work is being done to prevent the spread of leprosy within a population? We were pleased to hear that in October Dr. NJacko, who works closely with our Chairman Burchard Rwamtoga and the Tanzania National TB and […]
News from the Trustees
Salum, the village shoemaker shares with us the latest leprosy updates and news from the village. Over the past three months heavy rain has been affecting several areas in Tanzania. These rains have caused flooding and a number of rivers have overflowed. We have also seen damage to houses and […]
News from the village
News from the Trustees: The Rufiji Leprosy Trust’s Annual Report to the Charity Commission. Each year the Rufiji Leprosy Trust submits financial and narrative reports to the Charity Commission in the UK. In case you have not had a chance to look up this information on RLT’s 2018 performance, we […]
Making a difference to the lives of people living with ...
We are proud to have developed relationships with a number of institutions that want to support our community achieve our goals and vision. Kikundi cha Mafanikio (KCM) produces vegetables under the support of Better Lives Organisation. It produces vegetables for the RLT supported kindergarten, enabling the children to have a […]
The KCM vegetable garden
A few months ago, you will remember we updated you on the changes to our partner organisation in Kindwitwi, which changed its operating name from Kindwitwi Leprosy Care and Community Development Association (KLCCDA) to the Foundation for Rapid Response to TB and Leprosy (FRRTL). Click here for more details. This […]
An update from The Foundation for Rapid Response to TB ...
In Salum’s latest update we were sorry hear one of our long-standing ex-leprosy patients, Habiba, has passed away on 18th May 2019. Habiba had lived for many years in Kindwitwi, and had been a widow since her husband died here in 1979. She had been living in our ward and had been […]