Chris Makes it to Top of Kilimanjaro

Chris on Top of Kilimanjaro

"Hello everyone, - I made it! IT WAS TOUGH BUT A GREAT EXPERIENCE.

We were on the crater rim by 6.30am to see a wonderful sunrise, and by 8 am we were on the summit enjoying the sunshine.

I have been overwhelmed by your kind generosity - it gave me that little incentive when I was flagging a bit. Thank you all very much indeed.

Every penny of your sponsorship will be spent to help even more grannies caring for orphaned grandchildren, and to equip the new vocational teenage centre. This will make a massive difference to their lives and their families.
Many thanks again"

Happy New Year
Chris

Chris & Gill Tackle Kilimanjaro

Chris & Gill

As part of their visit to the HA100 projects in Tanzania Margaret's sister Chris and her friend Gill will attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Chris comments:-

"In the last week I have seen first hand the charities grass root community projects and the real difference it is making to so many very poor families. Most touching, was meeting some of the grandparents on the goat project and I hope you will sponsor me to help buy a few more goats"

To sponsor Chris on her climb please click on the following link http://www.justgiving.com/chris-lawrenson

News from Tanzania

For the latest news from Garrie & Margaret during their current visit to Tanzania click here

Another Successful Dinner at Headingly

Table set for charity dinner

Enjoying the charity dinner

Our second charity dinner was held on 16 October, superbly hosted by The Headingley Experience. We are delighted to have raised more than £4,500 as well as receiving nine further "special friends" smashing through our target of 100 to 105!

Garrie with Tony Smith
and his wife Lisa

Jamie Jones-Buchanan
and his wife Emma

The evening was hosted by Leeds Rhinos star, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who did a fantastic job of promoting the charity and encouraging diners to join in the auction. Our patron, Tony Smith, Warrington Wolves coach, gave an emotional and thoughtful after dinner talk and following the charity presentation the night was rounded off with comedian Dom Thomas, who certainly sent people home laughing.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan presents prize

Thank you to all who came to support us for another very successful night.

Garrie & Team at Jane Tomlinson
Leeds 10K

This year Garrie decided to join the team to take part in the Leeds 10k run, despite not having done any running since his football days (quite a few years ago!).

Liam, Garrie, Mike & Louise

He began training in April was able to finish the run held on 4 July, in a fantastic time of 1 hour and 3 minutes.

Garrie - nearly there!

Thank you to all our runners, especially Mike and Louise Akeroyd, who also ran in the York 10k in August. The team raised over £1,400 in sponsorship!

Sad News

We were very sorry to learn of the death of Eliekunde, one of the grandmothers we have been helping. Some of you may remember her story; she was left alone to care for her 2 great grandchildren, Ugan & Loveness following the death of their mother. She was brought into our “grandparent” project and as well as receiving a goat, she was given support from the WAMATA outreach workers to help her provide care for the children.

Eliekunda, Ugan & Loveness

The last time Margaret & Garrie visited her in February, she was so pleased to have been given this extra help. We are not sure what will happen to Ugan & Loveness, but it gives us comfort to know that one of the outreach workers will be ensuring they are well cared for.

Garrie and Margaret's Next Trip to Tanzania

Garrie and Margaret are returning to Tanzania again this year on 25 November, and will be there for 5 weeks.

The main reason for returning, is to see how the development of the new teenage centre TEKUA 2 is progressing. They will also be monitoring progress at the original TEKUA, including the students sponsored for vocational training, and KIWAMIFO, the teenage girls sewing group.

Garrie and Margaret will also be visiting the grandparents we have helped who are caring for orphaned/vulnerable grandchildren, and have already asked the WAMATA outreach workers to recommend others needing support.

The website will be updated as usual with the weekly diary to let you know where your donations have been spent.

Walking the Coals!

We are looking for 100 special people to participate in a major firewalking fund-raising event and help raise £10,000 for Helping Africa 100.

Managed by Lisa Clifford, the UK’s leading firewalking instructor (www.lisaclifford.co.uk) this is a rare opportunity to undergo a truly inspiring and life-affirming experience – this is as challenging as it gets and could change your life forever!

Lisa and her team will lead the groups through a pre-walk preparation process where you will learn the incredible power of goal-setting, focus and intention. When - and only when, you are ready, you will be free to walk the coals – individually and collectively, as you wish.

Lisa has run many fire-walks and is always moved by the emotion and deep sense of achievement that people experience – a truly memorable life occasion – if you want to see more – follow this link: - firewalking video

• Event registration will commence at 4:00pm with light refreshments and a presentation from Garrie & Margaret, the founding trustees.
• The fire-walk will take place between 8:00pm and 9:30pm accompanied by Honey Drum African Drummers.
• The walk will be followed by a light supper and the certificate awarding ceremony – a bar will be available.

Participants will each be asked for £55 to cover the cost of staging the event and this will be requested on booking – as places are strictly limited.

We are asking each participant to secure at least £100 in sponsorship and donations – the goal is to raise £10,000 from the event.

Are you a special person – are you interested?

Then please contact Kevin Gordon, Trustee, for an information pack on 07885 594337, or k-gordon@live.co.uk

A date for this major fund-raising event will be announced soon.

Phil's Fantastic Marathon

Phil's Marathon Run

Congratulations to Phil Norris for completing the gruelling London Marathon in April in a fantastic time of 3 hours 40 minutes. What a great achievement!

A well earned drink!

The current amount raised in sponsorship is £923, which will rise to over £1,200 with Gift Aid. Phil’s employer will also match donations, which means the total will be over £2,000!!

A HUGE thank you to Phil and everyone who sponsored him. This money will make a real difference to the lives of the people we are helping in Tanzania.

You can still sponsor Phil at:

http://www.justgiving.com/Philip-Norris-London-Marathon-2010

THANK YOU

2010 Spending Exceeds £35,000

Thank you everyone for helping us to make a real difference. We are overwhelmed by your generosity and how far the money goes in Tanzania.

Click here to see just where we have spent your donations:

The Container finally arrives in Arusha!

We recently received the good news that the container of goods has finally arrived in Arusha. All the goods have been distributed to each of the community groups we are helping; here are some comments from the email:

"we received 4 gigantic boxes of Clothes and 6 boxes of full of books on 21st/March/2010. We safely got all that was going( meant) to LWCC. The clothes are fantastic!!!! going to help kids in the next upcoming cold seasons of June through August. We have already shared with our former graduates- students in secondary level. We are happily looking forward to such weather with our clothes on. thanks be to all who donated.
Thank you for the great generosity you have reached our Centre. The children appreciated all.
Warm regards and love.
Anza and Dora."

"The goods we received were in good shape and has been distributed to recipients.
The grand parents were very much happy we told them to come with there grand children at WAMATA office to receive the gifts.
Thank you so much,
Emmanuel,"

Thank you very much to all those who donated goods and/or helped with the sorting and packing.

2010 African Diaries

The latest weekly diary reports from Margaret and Garrie during their 2010 visit to Tanzania can be found by clicking on this link. 2010 Weekly Diary.

Meath Green Junior School raise £1000!

Thank you to all the pupils and staff of Meath Green Junior School for all their hard work in the fund raising activities over the last year. From bun sales, sponsored events, summer fairs and other activities they have raised a fantastic £1000.

Margaret & Garrie are always made most welcome when they visit the school to talk about their work in Tanzania and they are looking forward to seeing the pupils and staff again this year to show what a difference this donation has made.

Africa Trip 2010

Margaret & Garrie are making their annual trip to Tanzania on 26 January. They will be there for 5 weeks and are looking forward to seeing how the community groups have developed over the last year.

As well as all the usual monitoring and checking, they are most interested in seeing what difference our project to help grandparents caring for orphaned children has made, so they will be visiting each of the families already helped as well as meeting those still needing support.

Margaret & Garrie are also looking into the feasibility of us helping TEKUA with a new teenage centre to help young people with vocational skills training.

As usual they will be updating the website with a diary to let you know where your donations have been spent, so watch out here for the updates.

Finally, you may remember that many of you donated goods for a container being shipped to Tanzania; we are expecting it to arrive around the same time, so watch here for photos.