Transforming lives in a remote Tanzanian community

The Fellowship members have been supporting the people of Ukerewe since 2008.

Ukerewe is the largest island inhabited island in the Lake accessed by a 3.5-hour ferry trip from the mainland town of Mwanza. The dire state of the only hospital prompted him to action.

Since then, Past Chair Dr John Philip and his wife Chris have led many teams of volunteers to the island and have renovated different parts of the hospital, updated facilities there, improved school amenities and have provided the community with substantial support.

Five years ago, supported by a Global Grant, a public awareness campaign was launched to demystify the myths about Albinism which made their lives safer.

The pandemic has made this poor community poorer – the brunt of the burden has fallen on the education system. Many schools are without basic amenities, overcrowded, and have no water or sanitation facilities. Pupils walk long distances to schools, many with no food or drink.

A farming project in 13 schools is now helping to provide breakfast three times a week for almost 10,000 pupils.

In order to highlight the importance of sustainability and environmental protection, as part of this project, more than 50,000 fruit and timber trees have been planted on the island.

Chris says: ‘We’ve funded cooking shelters and introduced safe and fuel-efficient stoves in four schools and dug shallow wells in 3 schools.

‘We are also trying to help many schools to have desks for their young pupils to sit at. One bench and desk unit can seat 3 children and can be made locally for a cost of £20 per unit.

‘We’ve so far supplied over 1,200 desks; each desk has an imprint of Rotary logo.’

We have learned important lessons from our 12-year experience – there are no quick fix solutions for poverty, solutions for problems facing many poor communities lie within the community and one must be prepared for ups and downs. Persistence and perseverance almost always pays and lives can be changed.