Our friendship link with the rural village of Vumilia in the Tabora region of Tanzania, began in 2010. Vumilia is a neighbouring village to Nkokoto, which has been linked with Minchinhampton since 1978.
There are approximately 2,000 villagers in Vumilia, most of whom live by subsistence farming. Many of their houses are self- built from clay bricks.
The Vumilia Friendship group have been involved with many projects in Vumilia, sometimes working with other voluntary partners. These projects have included -
- Financing the digging of a borehole in 2016 to provide a clean water supply (a priority in this dry area, as climate change causes increasingly unstable weather).
- Providing a solar panel for the village clinic; bicycles for health staff and text books for the primary school.
- Helping secondary school pupils with grants for uniform, books and solar lights to enable them to study in the evenings. Each year we sponsor 6 students on 2 year apprenticeship courses, and 2 or 3 ‘A’ level students, who qualify, for Sixth Form Colleges
- Financing the refurbishment of 3 classrooms at the Primary School that were in very poor state of repair. (We are still fundraising to refurbish the remaining 5 classrooms and 2 school offices).
