Photos from Tanzania

Yesterday I received a bunch of photographic negatives from Tanzania showing how various small pots of money have been spent. I try and get photographs as often as possible as it is interesting seeing the actual people involved, plus they are useful when providing feedback to people who provide the money in the first place.

This is Catherine - a visually impaired ex-student of the blind school and an albino. Money raised by guys on the forum at gamblingnetwork.com was used to buy her a sewing machine which'll enable her to earn a living and become independant. It'll also ensure she is not reliant on farming and so she can stay indoors protect her skin and her eyes from the sun.

The two on the left are new kids at the school. The boy on the right is Thomas. Some money was used to buy them skin cream to give them a little protection. For people who have read pre-blog updates about Tanzania, you may recognise Thomas from other pics. I first came across him when he was at another school in the region which had a unit for the blind which I visited in 1998.

This is just a random shot of some of the kids at the blind school with Mr Julius on the right. The kid third from the left standing in the line is Salim. I helped locate him in a remote village and got him registered at the school. When I last saw him in March he was tiny, having been kept at home and fed barely anything by his family. Blind children tend to be treated poorly as they are unproductive. I can see he has shot up in size in this pic.

I was given a chunk of money raised by the children of Ampleforth College in Yorkshire. Some of the money was used to set up small farming projects in Buigiri village. This is Mr Kusenha outside his home with his flock of chickens.

Flora made quite an impact on me in my recent trip - she is young and was a student at the blind school until she got pregnant. Her child is blind. She was given a room in a nearby house to live in but she had no possessions of her own. Courtesy of Ampleforth, she now has two piglets and she is being taught how to rear them. It looks like her handling technique needs a little work though!

The third animal rearing project was set up for Sarah. That is her daughter in her lap. When I spent a long period in the village over 2008/9 I employed her to do things like cleaning and washing. I'm pleased she now has an income generating project.

On the left is David - he is a good friend and the guy who I use to distribute various funds/items around the village when I am not there. He doesn't know it yet but I'm hoping to get him over to the UK next year at some point. I think it'd be fascinating to see what he makes of England. The four kids on the right, Jose, Emmanuel, Kenny and Saidi are the ones I probably spent the most time playing silly games with so it is good seeing a piccy of them.

David's letter. His handwriting is better than mine and he can barely see anything :s