Article in Echo

  Andrew, Sue and Marcus have produced this article that has been published in the Loughborough Echo (without our group photo).

Loughborough Wednesday cycling group recently held their annual Christmas Lunch at Rothley Court, with 36 diners enjoying an excellent three course meal.

The cycling group is a thriving and active group who cater for cyclists of varying abilities who enjoy weekly Wednesday rides along with the all-important coffee stop for refreshments and conversation.

After the dining, Sue and Marcus Wilde, who are regular cyclists with the group, ran a raffle to raise much needed funds for water filtration equipment in Tanzania.  They had some great donations for the prizes, including a very generous donation from Rothley Court, and were delighted to raise £173 to help this fabulous cause.

Sue and Marcus first visited Tanzania in 2008 and were invited to stay in Kibaya, a small town in the Manyara Region; they were the guest of Bishop John Haydon in the new diocese of Kiteto

Whist in the area they were shown many smaller villages and visited many homes. These were a mixture of local mud, sun dried brick homes, and straw and stick small dwellings. They found many struggles affecting the life of these gentle people.

When the rains come, the crops grow, but if there is no rain the crops dry up, or if the rain is very, very heavy and the crops are flattened, many will know hunger in the coming season. 

Schooling is primary education and after that the children are of use in the fields, working for food for the family. This keeps the cycle of poverty going if the parents have no way of paying for secondary education.

The girls have nothing more than a rag for female hygiene, though Sue has now taught them how to make recycled pads and a few ladies from Loughborough have sewn a bundle of pads that were taken out on their last visit.

Water is collected daily either from a dried up river bed that has been dug to reach the water table or from the newly installed tap in the village, where everybody spends a considerable amount of time waiting to collect water.

Their friend, Samuel Maduma, asked if they were able to help the children in his village Kijungu, an hour and a half east of Kibaya. Sue and Marcus connected with Empower a Child UK and set up a small sponsorship programme with Samuel Maduma to pay for the children’s education. Friends and family joined in and now some of the neediest in the village are helped to stay on at school.

EAC UK has also helped fund a new education building which is nearing completion with a pre-school and adult education units, as many of the adults in the village have never learned a trade and would very much like to do so.

The fundraising from Loughborough Wednesday Cycling Group will go towards buying in a second batch of water filters. When the ladies return with their bucket of water they can pour the dirty water into the filter and then 45mins later it comes out filtered and ready to drink. The village chief has commented that already the health of the village is much improved.

Empower a Child UK continues to prioritise supporting children through school and university, so that many are then able to support their own families in the future.

Supporting a child is easy and costs just £20 per month. This covers things like books, uniform, shoes, medical needs, school desks and school meals.

Below is a photo of Gabriel an orphaned sponsored boy receiving his water filter with his aunt whom he now lives with.

He is sponsored by a Loughborough family who wanted to sponsor a boy of a similar age as their own son.

 If you would like to know more or to chat About Sponsoring a child please contact Empower a Child Tanzania at Sue@empowerachild.org.uk