January 2009 News

We have previously mentioned the purchase of over 200 ex-BBC DVD/TV units for Uganda and we are pleased to report that St Mary's Church Leamington Spa has donated over £4,000 to cover the purchase costs. Steve was able to speak at St Mary's morning service on January 4th to explain how the money had been spent and update the progress on the shipping. They have now been unloaded from the ship at Mombassa and transported overland to Kampala where they await release from customs.

Associate Clive Dove Dixon has recently spent some time helping us prepare a 5 year business plan for the organisation. This is still a work in progress but draws on Clive's experience as commercial Director of Warwick University. This will hopefully help us budget and schedule our activities over the coming months.

Two 3rd year medical students from Warwick University - Tara Craggs and Alec Snow will be helping further the cause during their up coming electives in Tanzania. They will be going to the Kilamanjaro Christian Medical Centre for 6 weeks in March and will take some of our lessons and a portable player to use in that area. We hope as a result to forge links with KCMC over the next few years with a view to testing the impact of our lessons on people's knowledge and behaviour.

Associate Nick Middleton who lectures at Coventry University in the media department, has once again included our project on his course. The students are being invited to assist with mastering new lessons for us as a practical project to complement their studies.

The Trustees met for 24 hours in January at the beautifully peaceful Penhurst Retreat Centre near Battle. This was the annual strategic planning session and was a good chance to roll through the many activities we are involved in with a view to streamlining priorities. As a result, we agreed to strengthen our resources to make new lessons from scratch, to focus on a smaller number of countries this year (South Africa, India, Cambodia, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda). The conclusions of this session will be included in the 5 year plan which will appear on the website in due course.

Esme & Diane Howard very kindly arranged a concert on Saturday 24th January at the Theatre in Nutley Hall, High Street, Nutley. This Classical Concert in aid of Thare Machi Education raised a grand total of £1400, which will go towards our work in Africa and India. So thank you to all involved!

Concert held at Nutley Theatre

New translations of our lesson scripts are still coming in regularly, including 2 translations in Kinyarwanda, the main language of Rwanda - where partners are very keen to get hold of our lessons. Recordings are also continuing apace. Thanks to Dr Sasmita Sinha in Warwick for giving up time on Saturday to record 2 further Hindi lessons – and thanks also to one of our Associates, Libby Brayshaw, who facilitated our first Kinyarwanda recordings in Exeter with Liliane Owimana!