News & Events

Mr Mwadua reports that recruitment of new students resulted in significantly increased numbers, a good sign. The most popular courses are again domestic electric installation and motor vehicle maintenance but with respectable numbers in tailoring 18, carpentry 11 and masonry/bricklaying 10.

FUM currently supports 20 students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The college now benefits from having mains electricity. This should improve the water supply but the borehole pump is currently awaiting maintenance with help promised by Nzega District Council.

The refurbishment of college staff houses has still not been completed because the Ministry has not paid the contractor. Staff are having to use the student dormitories and student accommodation adapted accordingly. During the FUM chairman's visit the kitchen area was seen to be in need of refurbishment and the sewing machines need some maintenance.

The FDC land covers 477 acres. To assist in meeting the cost of feeding the students Mr Mwadua has extended the area of crop cultivation to 12 acres. Maize, cassava, sunflowers, cowpeas were planted but poor rains will reduce the harvest volume.

The college also keeps cows, sheep and goats, looked after by the agriculture tutor
Mr Sambe. It is good to know that the also provides advice and training for local farmers.

Di Cooper
FUM FDC Co-ordinator

The District Medical officer in Kaliua told us that the clinic is open and working well. There are two nurses and one medical attendant. There should be two staff houses but one is still incomplete so all are sharing the one house. A shallow well was built but it was unsuccessful so the staff have to collect water from the village, about 1 km away, in buckets.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

In November the District Medical Officer in Kaliua told FUM that there is one assistant nurse and two medical attendants and it is a very busy clinic. There are only two staff houses so actually there is a shortage of staff accommodation.

The clinic uses rain water harvesting with a concrete tank, plus a shallow well. There had been problems with the well; the cover had been removed when the pump wasn’t working. The cover has now been replaced but the DMO said a lock is needed so it is not removed again.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

Sadly even though the building of the clinic is now complete the clinic is still not open. The problem is that there now needs to be a staff house and toilets before Kaliua District will register the clinic. FUM have been told the government could find staff but cannot do this until the staff house and toilets are in place.

Maybe this is a project the Kaliua District, the local population and FUM can work on together? Certainly there is a great need for a medical facility in Ibambo which is a long way from the nearest clinic and even further from the hospital in Urambo.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

Uhindi clinic and dispensary are in a fine state with the two houses providing good accommodation for the staff. The clinic now has a reliable water supply, via a pipe from a borehole in the village. The District medical Officer told us this was funded by World Bank and is in good condition.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

Maboha is still a busy clinic, run by a rather elderly nurse plus a medical attendant. Currently there is one rain water harvesting tank but it needs some renovation.There are two staff houses but they are now in a poor state and also need some renovation. Hopefully FUM can soon find some funds or sponsorship to finance these refurbishments.

Jo Taylor
FUM Medical Liaison Officer

As part of our 'Focus on Water' initiative FUM provided £1500 to have the second well upgraded.

Our good friend Mr Venance Gomegwa, the local Clerk of Works, acted very promptly, ordering materials and hiring a reliable builder with the result that the new well was fully functional before the arrival of the dry season.

The village and clinic now have a good supply of water and a borehole is not considered necessary.

We visited in November 2016. The same nurse runs this busy clinic and is delighted with the maternity delivery room built with finance from World Vision. The tiled floor makes it so much easier to keep clean and FUM is investigating the cost of tiling floors in more of its clinics. The good news was that the borehole test drilling had struck water.

The previous delivery room is now used every day as the nurse's surgery. The FUM 1983 clinic still looks good from its 2015 painting. It is used for mothers awaiting delivery, recovery and some storage.

Dormitory Project This was seen to be fully functional with 15 girls resident and now able to attend the secondary school.

Richard Pratt and Jo Taylor
FUM chairman and Medical Liaison officer

When we visited in November Dr Raphael was still in charge and he warmly welcomed us. The dispensary and clinic look in good order, though the villagers need to deal with the bats in the roof before they damage the ceilings too badly. The Doctor’s house is still lacking windows and permanent doors; FUM will ask the District to finish this work as soon as possible. The solar power system needs a new battery and some maintenance to restore power to the clinic.

Sadly after three test drills to find a suitable place to sink a borehole no water was found so extending the rain water harvesting facilities for the clinic is under consideration. More gutters plus more and larger water holding tanks will be needed, and we are taking advice on the feasibility of putting an underground tank in place. But as the local geography is solid rock this may not be possible. The current Sim tanks appeared rather undermined and we were told this was the result of floods earlier in the year. Trying to put a positive slant on this it shows some good rains do occur so every effort must be made to harvest as much of this water as possible

Richard Pratt and Jo Taylor
FUM chairman and Medical Liaison Officer

We visited in November 2016 to find the same Medical Officer in charge and he was pleased to greet us. The dispensary and clinic looked in good order, but the medical officer is keen to get more rooms, to give his patients more privacy and to have more rooms for health talks and vaccinations. We suggested the students from the local FDC could help by building a dividing wall in the large room in the clinic and we await news on this issue.

A major problem for the clinic is that the nurse and midwives have no house in Mwanhala. They have to travel by bus from Nzega every day so there is little help for the medical officer with night time delivery of babies. FUM is looking to work with the village and the District to see if funds can be raised to allow this problem to be overcome.

Richard Pratt and Jo Taylor
FUM chairman and Medical Liaison Officer