News & Events

Government responsibility for FDCs has now passed to the Ministry of Education from the Ministry of Community Affairs. Early in 2018 the decision was made to rebuild the Administration Block that was destroyed by the fire in August 2017 and Acting Principal, Mr Shilinde, said that work will start in February but in fact it was delayed and has still not started.

The borehole and pump are now giving ample, good quality water. In return the Principal is using the College vehicle to supply Mwanhala clinic, about 1km away, with all the water they need.

The large 96,000 litre underground rainwater harvesting tank was completed in March and has been tested. The raised platform for the existing smaller plastic SIM tank has now been completed and this will gravity feed water to the adjacent clinic. The final stage will be to install a small solar powered pump to raise water from the underground tank to the SIM tank. The system has zero running costs and a life expectancy of over 20 years. We are very grateful to Mr Godfrey Israel, MD of the local water company, for supervising this project for FUM.

The clinic finally opened at Easter 2018 and is now providing a limited service for villagers. Full service will only be possible when there is on-site accommodation for medical staff and a reliable supply of good quality water. Our Ibambo Project 2018 aims to raise £15,000 to provide these necessities.

Accommodation The success of the 2018 Fundraising Walks enabled us to send £4500 in November 2018, sufficient to complete the staff housing.

For water the plan is to construct a large underground tank to store rainwater, similar to the tank at (fairly) nearby Nyasa clinic. This will need around £10,000.

FUM and the local authority, Kaliua District Council, agreed to share 50:50 the cost of rebuilding the dangerous open well (see below) which has a permanent underground feed from nearby Lake Sagara. Fear of crocodiles wandering from the lake means that the village is situated 500m away, uphill. Solar power will be used to pump water up to the village and then to the clinic beyond.
However this scheme has been put on hold while the government develops a wider scheme to supply an additional four local villages with water from the lake.

The clinic has some rainwater harvesting provision but it is insufficient for their needs.

Mwanhala FDC is about 1km away. Thanks to its borehole and pump the College is now able to deliver water daily to meet all the clinics needs.

The rainwater plastic SIM tank will be used to store the water delivered by the College vehicle.

The most pressing need now is to have on-site accommodation for medical staff. FUM hopes to provide this in 2018 with help from our colleagues at Friends of Nzega (FON).