2025 saw us visiting Tanzania twice, beginning in January to officially open the full WaSH project begun in 2018. This included as a start-up project a student hand-wash stand (if you remember from an earlier post that students had perviously to walk 100 metres to wash their hands at a standpipe) as well as two subsequent toilet blocks completed between 2021 and 2024.
We again thank the Rotary Clubs of Morden here in the UK, now renamed RC Merton, Callington in Cornwall, UK and Moshi in Tanzania for their timely funding to help complete these projects. It was a truly collaborative adventure.
In February ABCDreams UK continued its support for the ‘Seed4Feed’ programme whereby students are let off school for two days to sew corn and beans for the next year’s school lunches. Wali maharaga (rice with kidney beans) is the staple for the school lunch menu.
February also saw an additional boost for the girls’ hygiene project where we worked in collaboration with Binti Msafi, a local ngo supplying sanitary pads for all the girls. This is always great fun, managed by the CEO, Irene Lema.
This programme will continue this year from mid-February.
In December we returned to review the toilet blocks and to see that they were being well maintained. At the opening earlier I promised the DEO (District Education Officer) that that’s what we would do on a regular basis. We saw that the water supply was still a problem. The headmaster also showed us that work had begun to finish a dormitory for students living too far away to walk to and from the school daily. This measure is also important for the protection of the girls, as their is a danger of walking home alone in the evenings. I include this news because, with the development of the dorm, a new water supply will be put in. This will then also connect to our toilet blocks.
During this visit we continued individual support for 4 students that we have been helping since primary school. With school uniforms for the boys and learning materials for all, we made these young people very happy. A fifth was added later from a different primary school, but one equally in need. Support may be extended to more students as the term progresses. There are still too many who are sent home because carers can just not afford school fees of about £30/year!
Thanks to all our donors and friends, 2025 has proved another successful year for ABCDreams UK. Thank you.
JdR, February 2026