News & Events

The doctor's house was in need of refurbishment, partly because of a leaks due to poor roof design. The clinic building also needed a small amount of reinforcement in one corner.

Students from Cranbrook School in Kent offered to pay for this work and a group of students planned to visit in July 2020 and help with the work. Unfortunately the corona pandemic caused their visit to be cancelled but they kindly agreed that the work could go ahead.

The leaky roof has now been replaced, new aluminium windows fitted and with burglar bars, the internal ceiling has been replaced, the floor now tiled and walls repainted.

  Read more about Mwasala doctor's house upgrade

Following the success of the 'trial run' with nurse Alexander in 2019 (below) FUM and our colleagues in Friends of Nzega (FON) have sponsored six more nurses from poor families.
All had passed their two-year basic course at Nzega College of Nursing and are now studying for the more advanced Diploma course at Tukuyu in southern Tanzania.
They will then return, fully qualified, to work in Nzega Hospital and will make a great difference to the nurse workforce there, as nurse Alexander did.

It is expected that in the next year or two Nzega College of Nursing will be accredited to teach the Diploma course so student nurses will be able to complete their studies there.

Twenty five years after was built, the clinic was in need of some serious renovation and Cranbrook School in Kent agreed to support this work with FUM.

A design was agreed with the Mambali doctor and the work was supervised by our good friend Mr Gomegwa who had also supervised the original 1995 building work.

The original barn-like space inside the building was partitioned to give four rooms with plasterboard ceilings.  For the first time a separate consultation room gave privacy for examinations, a great improvement for villagers.  Two bedroom accommodation for the medical officer was also included so emergency service is excellent.

October Rebuilding work started recently with the Administration Block. This is good news indeed.

The new Principal at Sikonge FDC, Mr Enoch Joseph, took up his post in January. By chance he has come from Sengerama FDC, to which Mr Nestory has transferred from Urambo.

We thank his predecessor Mr Shilinde for his time as Acting Principal at a difficult time for the college.

We hope to receive photos from Mr Enoch now that work has started on re-building the Administration Block

In March/April this year two more UK doctors, this time from Exeter University Medical School, spent their 'elective' training period at Urambo Hospital. They were accommodated at Urambo FDC, in Devon House, which is within walking distance of the hospital.

Doctors Harry Theron (left) and Ben Kodiatt spent about 6 weeks under the supervison of the hospital Director gaining invaluable experience of the sort of medical problems faced by people in developing countries such as Tanzania. Equally, after 6 years of medical training, they were almost fully qualified UK doctors so were of great assistance giving much needed support to the under-staffed hospital. Definitely a win-win situation.

FUM support As usual FUM arranged their collection from the airport, transit stay in Dar es Salaam and onward travel to Urambo. FUM also arranged travel around Urambo District, visiting some village clinics that FUM supports. We will be particularly interested to hear their accounts of developments at Kamalendi, Kiloleni and Usisya clinics which we 'adopted' in 2017.

Read Ben's Report of his 2019 Elective Placement

The solar pump is now installed and pumps water from the underground tank to the small high level SIM tank. This height provides the pressure for filling containers.

Progress with the staff house was paused when the state electricity company Tanesco announced that the National Grid would be coming to the village, but added that for the staff house the £1500 cost was payable without delay.

Kaliua District Council proposed that this money should be found by using wooden windows rather than long last aluminium ones and by not having tiled floors and walls.

By chance FUM received an unexpected legacy for this amount following the death of long standing member Johnnie Walker. As a result the building will soon be completed with the original tiles and aluminium windows and be connected to the mains electricity grid.

For the past year, at the request of the Nzega District Chairman Honourable Michael, FUM and our colleagues at FON have focused on supporting the training of key medical staff. This includes nurses from the locality who could otherwise not afford the fees.

In 2018 we helped nurse Alexander Revocatus upgrade from the basic level to the prestigious Diploma level. In July he returned to Nzega Hospital and is now the Senior Theatre Nurse.

For two years we supported six nurses through their basic training and they recently started on the Diploma course.

Other support has gone to Dr Amos Petro for an advanced Radiography course, and Dr Mary Mkamwa for an advanced Dermatological course.

FUM only supports training for individuals where they cannot afford the full course fees and when their new skills will directly benefit the people of Nzega. Our constitution does not allow support purely for the personal advancement of an individual.

Late in 2018 we heard from Mr Nestory, Principal at Urambo for five years, that for health reasons he is moving to Sengerama FDC, in Mwanza Region. He has been a very good leader of the FDC and will be greatly missed by students and staff. The new Principal, Mr Elias Gulmay, started in January.

As a result of Urambo FDC's strong performance under Mr Nestory's leadership it was selected by the government to be in the first 20 out of 55 FDCs chosen to be upgraded. Work on male dormitories, the dining hall, kitchen, latrines and a classroom for the popular Electrical Installation course is already nearing completion. Female dormitories, the motor mechanic and carpentry workshops and the computer room will follow shortly.

Visitors
Devon House at the FDC recently hosted visitors from the longstanding Minchinhampton Nkokoto link.

In March and April the FDC will again be hosting UK doctors doing their elective training at nearby Urambo Hospital.

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.