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 […]
Latest News and Updates
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 Kindergarten has 61 children at the moment, 33 boys and 28 girls. All children that attend the Kindergarten are children from Kindwitwi Leprosy patients and their families. They go to Kindergarten from 2 years old, and then join Primary school when they are 6 or 7 years old. […]
Kindwitwi Kindergarten and Village News
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
Your support means that the Rufiji Leprosy Trust can provide young people to access educational opportunities that they might not otherwise have. In our last newsletter we shared with you how RLT supports young people to go to University but did you know that for many years RLT has supported […]
Education in Kindwitwi
This is the latest news from our colleagues in Kindwitwi, specifically Salum. Salum’s main responsibilities are to make specially adapted shoes for people who have disabilities as a result of leprosy. He was trained as a shoemaker using funds that you provided to RLT. We are grateful that Salum collates […]
News from the village November 2020
It is heartening to hear, despite the challenges of COVID, our outreach service has continued, and our teams are still able to help and support those who have contracted leprosy. Here’s what Salum, our talented shoemaker told us: It has been very challenging to carry out our usual outreach work […]
Outreach continues in COVID
Salum, our talented shoemaker, recently sent us the following update on life in Tanzania generally: On the 28th October Presidential and Parliamentary elections will take place in Tanzania and the political atmosphere has been tense over the past weeks and months. The current President, Mr Magufuli is seeking re-election for […]
Situation in Tanzania
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 […]
Vale Habiba – a well loved lady in Kindwitwi
We are always encouraging Kindwitwi to develop relationships with different donors and individuals that want to support Kindwitwi in other areas of village life and development besides leprosy related aspects. So we were really pleased when Salum, our specially trained shoemaker told us the following: “One of our supporters is […]
Strengthening local support
Rufiji Leprosy Trust would like to inform RLT donors of some changes affecting the status of our partner organisation. Our long-term donors may remember that back in 2006, the RLT Trustees resident in Tanzania worked very hard with the staff in Kindwitwi to facilitate the formation of a Not for […]