SUDA

AGM Report 2008

SUDA Chairman’s Report

29th November 2008

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to our A.G.M. My thanks to all the trustees and supporters who participated in the activities and dedicated many voluntary hours of work in supporting the aims of SUDA this past year. Thanks in particular to the Todd family for hosting us this evening as they have always done in the past years.

Together we have proudly achieved several things:

Health Centre Project 2007

• Funds were raised through small events and with great help from St. Peter’s Catholic Church – Covenant with the Poor
• Building of the Kalalasi Health Centre
• Building two tanks for storing water harvested from the health centre roof
• Production of Documentary DVD about the project which we are going to show on 6th December at the United Church Jewry Street 2-4

Matai Secondary School Bunk Beds Project

• Raised funds with the help of The Westgate School in Winchester
• The process is under way to sign a contact with the local carpenter who is going to start making beds soon.

Kalalasi Greening Project

• With the help of SUDA funds the tree nursery was established
• 15,000 saplings to be distributed to the villages at the beginning of December
• The target is 50,000 saplings (trees) planted by 2011 in and outside the village

Future Projects

• We will raise funds to equip the Kalalasi Health Centre with laboratory equipment.
• One microscope has already been donated while we are still waiting for another one from the NHS to be handed to us
• You can see the complete list of the equipment they need attached

Thank you very much for making a difference.

Mbeka M. Chifunda
Chairman

Add comment April 16th, 2009

One Volunteer’s experience.

The following piece was written by Rhea Schmitt. She kindly volunteered to make a documentary film about building the health Centre in Kalalasi.

On August 25th 2007 I set of together with SUDA to visit the village Kalalasi in Western Tanzania.
For months SUDA had been fund-raising and I was very excited to see and experience what I had only heard about in the past, making a film about the journey.

After many hours of travelling and spending a few days on gathering necessities in Dar Es Salam we headed out on our 16 hour bus journey to Kalalasi.
Our arrival in the village could not have been more joyful and colourful. It was great to see how Mbeka was welcomed back by his family and Kitty almost a member of it, warmly remembered from her first visit 3 years prior. Shortly after our welcome we went to our first inspection of the health centre building site. I had expected to see just the foundations but it turned out the walls were already above head height. You could already see what the centre would look like.
It was one of those moments when you realize that caring beyond your own fence does change lives.

Over the course of the next three weeks, whilst the building grew day by day, I met many different people, getting an insight into the villagers’ life and seeing for myself why the health centre and SUDA’s work on it was so important. Many of the experiences caught on camera were given depth, just living with them, e.g. watching Tanzania playing an international game, visiting Mbeka’s sister with her new born or meeting the young girls. Whether it was the mother of twins who lost one of them due to the lack of health care or just the mere fact that children struggle to become older than 5. I was amazed about the excitement of seeing people working together on one project. I mean where in a village in Europe would people give up large amounts of their day to build something for the community, one or two hours a week yes but days?

Of course things never go smoothly all the way along and there were some hurdles to overcome concerning materials for the building site, as well as concerning power for the camera. In the end the generator went up in flames, but even that was not a problem for the local mechanic and got fixed, but it ruined my camera charger and we shot the remaining days with a small handy-cam.

It is hard to put down in writing how going to Tanzania changes the way you think, but despite being made aware that the appreciation for your luxuries in Europe will wear of, I am still, one year later, grateful everyday about what we have and am more passionate than ever about helping the disadvantaged and raising awareness via films. I obviously hope that the film will give some insight into the people there. Watching it should show the compassionate people who funded the centre what change they have accomplished and give some faces to the 2500 people of Kalalasi.

Add comment April 16th, 2009