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Latest News | Mara | Issenye | Sponsorship | Praying in Swahili | Pictures | Contact | Key to Life Fund |
| Latest news from Mara |
From humble beginnings in 1990, Issenye Secondary School has made great strides.
It stands at number 74 out of 994 schools in the country, and is No 1 in the
whole of Serengeti District. It provides a high standard of education for more
than 500 young men and women – and it is these young people who are Tanzania’s
future. In recognition of its achievements, the Tanzanian Government has awarded
it the signal honour of selecting Issenye as the provisional High School for the
Serengeti. This means that, as well as taking children up to Form IV (equivalent
to GCSE) as it does now, it will create a Sixth Form Unit which will enable
students to carry on to A-Level.
This means more classrooms, another laboratory and appropriate equipment, more
graduate teachers, another hostel, more books and, eventually, computers,
printers and relevant software. In other words – it means money. Money to build
the facility, and money to equip it.
As for money to run it – that will come from the modest fees it will charge, in
common with all educational facilities in Tanzania.
How we can help
Our Church Council (PCC) now wants to respond to the challenge
offered by the proposed upgrading of Issenye, and so there is a new ‘Issenye
High School’ fund, based on the same principles; ie, we will raise a capital
sum, the interest on which will be sent to Mara to help build and equip the
proposed sixth form unit. As with the ‘Key to Life’ fund, we will seek partners
to boost the fund and turn it into a significant amount. In a letter to Roy
Clements, Bishop Hilkiah of Mara writes:
‘I am very pleased to hear the good news of your willingness to support the
proposed Issenye High School. This is a good project with many challenges and a
bright future because those who will leave this school will be our future
leaders. If we want to develop leaders we need to have a High School. Issenye
has all the requirements. We have developed the staff, which is a big thing.
What we need is the classrooms, hostels and furniture. We welcome your
willingness to support our dreams for Issenye.’
All contributions will be put into a fund managed by Church House in Wakefield
and invested at high interest with the Church Commissioners. None of this
capital sum will be sent to Mara. When the accumulated interest reaches a
pre-determined amount, or in response to a specific request, a transfer to the
Diocese of Mara will be made.
If you are able to Giftaid your contribution, so much the better as this makes
every pound worth £1.28. Giftaid envelopes are available.
Contributions may be given in at church or sent directly to Church House, 1
South Parade, Wakefield, WF1 1LP, and cheques should be made out to WDBOF.
Please write
ISSENYE HIGH SCHOOL FUND on the back of the cheque.
| Why Mara? [Top] |
| Introducing Mara [Top] |
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Tanganyika joined Zanzibar and became Tanzania. Mara Diocese is tucked into the north west corner of Tanzania, with Kenya to the north, Lake Victoria to the west, and the Serengeti National Park to the south and east. It is not the easiest place in Africa to reach. Tanzania's principle airport, in Dar-es-Salaam, is some 600 miles away. The second busiest airport is Kilimanjaro, between Moshi and Arusha, but on the wrong side of the Serengeti wilderness. |
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The most practical route is via Nairobi, capital city of neighbouring Kenya. Now linked to Musoma by a tarmac road, the journey still takes the whole day, thus reinforcing the remote location of our link diocese. The parishes of Mara are located in the towns and villages shown on the map. There is no total coverage of the country as in England, where it is impossible not to be in a parish. The Bishop plants a church where he can. In parts of Mara, the Lions outnumber the Christians!
United Kingdom
v Tanzania quick facts :
Population: UK 56,000,000 / TZ 27,000,000
Area: UK 153,000 sq miles / TZ 590,000 sq miles
People living in towns: UK 92% / TZ 14%
People aged under 15 years: UK 19% / TZ 50%
GNP per person: UK £5,350 / TZ £190
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We rarely get good news from that part of the world. 'Out of Africa always something depressing.....'
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......but please scroll down this page if you're ready for the GOOD NEWS!
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GREAT THINGS are happening in 'our' bit of Africa MARA
| Mara Cathedral [Top] |
As part of the church's expansion, Bishop Hilkiah commissioned the building of a new Cathedral to mark the millennium. It was designed to hold a thousand worshippers. The opening ceremony on 1 October 2000 was attended by many more than that, including a large party from Wakefield Diocese. Nigel McCulloch, then Bishop of Wakefield, was present, along with three representatives of Christ the King – Dr Cynthia Fox (Licensed Reader) and Maureen and Bill Jones.
There are lots of ways for a parish to plug in to all this: It can, for example:
AFRICA covers 22% of the world's surface, with no less than twelve million square miles. It is five thousand miles from top to toe of Africa - about the same as a return trip from Castleford to Cairo. Six hundred million people live in Africa, about 12% of the worlds population. The so called 'Third World' is inhabited by more than TWO THIRDS of the world's inhabitants, and we generally only get the bad news about it. But God is doing wonderful things in 'our' bit of the 'Two Thirds World.
| Issenye - Education in the bush [Top] |
| The story of Issenye: |
Do it yourself School: |
Isseco Health Centre: |
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Issenye is the collective name for a group of villages in the Serengeti District of Mara region, Tanzania. It is a remote area, bordering the famous Serengeti National park and 100km from the Diocesan headquarters in Musoma, on the shores of Lake Victoria. In 1989 the villagers of Issenye approached the infant Diocese of Mara with a unique proposition - give us leadership and management and we'll build a Secondary School out there in the bush. The School opened in 1990, with Maureen and Bill Jones of Christ the King returning to Tanzania, one of Africa's poorest countries, with the task of getting things going. Harvey Walsh (also at Christ the King) taught at the school for a month in its early days, Roy Clements (our Vicar) and his wife Kathryn spent a week there, and Sheila Crossley ( former sunday school superintendant) visited in 1998. Maureen and Bill spent seven years there, but are now back home and the school is in the capable hands of Maximilian Lyamsema (Max) who had previously served as Deputy Head before coming to Huddersfield University to upgrade his teaching certificate to a Degree. Issenye's 360 students, boys ad girls, take National Form Four Examinations, similar to GCSE, and the school has developed an excellent academic reputation in Mara and beyond. It brings education with a Christian ethos to young people who would otherwise be without hope of such an opportunity. It is part of the Diocese of Mara's outreach and mission. |
Self reliance is a national policy, originally articulated by the county's first President, the late Julius Nyerere. Issenye, as other schools in Tanzania, has 'Self Reliance' on its time-table, as well as more familiar subjects like Maths, and Physics. The school day starts at 7.00 a. Some students set off from home at four in the morning. A few have bicycles, but most walk. Their first task is to sweep the classrooms and to tidy the school grounds. During the wet season this means a lot of grass-cutting. water has to be fetched, although Mara Diocese has now secured funding to sink a bore hole. There is always building work in progress, as the school is still developing. Students and teachers mix sand, cement and water to make breeze block sized bricks. Issenye's main source of income is school fees, but a number of interesting projects have also been developed to supply local needs and to generate extra cash. These include a canteen; a general shop; a camp-site for tourists, and a grinding mill. Assembly, in the open air, starts at 7.30 and then five lessons are followed by morning break, when the students ate given 'uji', a porridge made with maize flour, sugar and water. This, at eleven o'clock, is frequently the first food they will get in the day. A final assembly at 2.30pm sees the end of the students' day, but many stay on for sports, music and other activities. |
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The school’s medical needs are met by Isseco Health Centre, started by Nurse Midwife Maureen Jones The Centre is manned by qualified medical staff, and is well equipped, with a small ward for admissions, a staff house for the resident Medical Assistant, and its own laboratory. It treats patients with a wide variety of conditions, dispensing medicines, nursing care and health education to Issenye's 300+ students and staff as well as to the community at large. Ante -natal and infant immunisation clinics are a popular part of the centre's service to the community. Many children owe their lives to the brick-making, midwifery and nursing skills of Maureen Jones and her successors. The Health Centre is self-financing, making a modest charge for its services, as is normal in Tanzania. The roof blew off during a fierce gale in 1999, but it was quickly replaced with help from Wakefield Diocese. |
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The Church in Mara: |
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Parishes, schools and individuals in Wakefield Diocese give generously to Mara. They respond to the evident need in a country where the average wage is £17.50 a month, where crippling international debt means that national health care expenditure is just £1.50 per person each year, and where only one in ten Primary School children can expect to go onto Secondary or Higher Education. Issenye, with its Secondary School and Health Centre, is just one of many projects run by the Anglican Diocese of Mara. Others include a Vocational Training School, two Agricultural Extension Centres, a commercial farm, tree-planting and forestry projects, seed multiplication schemes, sewing classes, community development programmes, well-digging, and an Aids Education Drive. This vigorous service to the community makes a real difference to the everyday lives of ordinary people. It also ensures that the Church gets a 'good press' in Mara, as elsewhere in Africa. people see what practical measures Christians take to realise the Gospel, and they like what they see. As one villager said to the group of visitors which included Shelagh Crossley from Christ the King, 'The Church meets all our needs, spiritual and material'. It's a long time since that has been the mainstream view of the Church in Britain and this is one of the many lessons we are learning form our treasured link with Mara.
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| Maureen and Bill Jones are both now retired and living once more within the parish. |
During their years in Africa, they were with USPG, the Anglican Missionary Society. In 1993 they brought the school choir to Battyeford and Christ the King parishioners hosted seventeen young people in their homes for a month. It was a marvellous and most memorable event for everyone involved For more information about Issenye School and Health Centre; to sponsor a pupil; or to find out more about the Church in Mara and even the possibility of going there, talk to Roy, Harvey, Maureen or Bill at Church
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| Sponsor a pupil at Issenya [Top] |
Ten ways to use 70p a week
| 1. The Independent on Sunday (but only if there's an offer on) | 2. Two chunky size Kit-Kats (lots of calories, very fattening) | 3. Half a pint of Bitter (in a Working Men's Club) |
| 4. Two bags of Crisps (with salt) | 5. 2 Minutes on a mobile phone(24,000,000 UK users now) | 6. A seat at the Cinema (every 6 or 7 Weeks) |
| 7. 70% of a Lottery Ticket (but it won't be you) | 8. Dinner for two once a year (wine extra, of course) | 9. Subsidise a pupil at Issenye Secondary School in Mara for a whole year. |
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'Elimu ni Ufunguo wa Maisha' - 'Education is the key to life' Swahili Proverb |
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Education, education, education........it isn't just Tony Blair that reckons it. Many analysts believe it to be the long term answer to Africa's persistent problems. |
Can you please consider becoming a sponsor either as an individual or in a syndicate. You will remain anonymous, unless you choose otherwise, and will not be associated with any individual student, but you will receive regular news of the school's progress. |
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The Diocese of Mara provides education with a Christian ethos at its diocesan secondary school in Issenye as part of its outreach to the community. |
If you or your syndicate can spare 70p a week to help provide Christian education in Mara, you can send it in a lump sum or £36 or in monthly instalments of £3 by Bakers standing order. |
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Climatic changes in Africa, however, are making subsidence farming ever more precarious, and many parents now find it difficult to pay school fees. |
NB If you pay tax at the standard rate, the Taxman will turn your £36 into £46.69. We claim it back from him in the form of Gift Aid. |
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The crushing burden of international debt forces Tanzania to repay £6 per person per year, whilst spending only £1.50 per person on health. Most people therefore have to pay for routine medical attention which, unlike education, can rarely be postponed. |
NB2 You may be unable to help just now. If so, can you please pass our site address on to someone else, bookmark this page and come back later. |
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Just £36, £3 a month, or 70p a week, pays half the annual cost of full-time education at Issenye. Parents otherwise unable to afford schooling then find the other half. It's a modest price, as emphasised elsewhere on this page. |
The 10th way to use 70p a week, by the way, is to bury it. [Matthew 25:14-30] |
| Praying in Swahili [Top] |
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To help you pronounce Swahili, the consonants are as in English. |
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'S' is always as in 'loose'. never as in 'lose'. |
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'G' is always as in 'bag', never as in 'badge'. |
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The Vowels are as follows: |
'a' as the 'a' in 'cart' |
| 'e' as the 'a' in 'hay' | |
| 'i' as the 'ee' in 'feet' | |
| 'o' as the 'o' in 'hotel' (northern version!) | |
| 'u' as the 'oo' in 'food' | |
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Sala ya Bwana |
Phonetic version |
The Lord's Prayer |
| Baba yetu uliye mbinguni | Ba-ba-yay-too oo-lee-yay um-been-goo-nay | Our Father |
| jina lako litukuzwe | Jee-na lar-ko lee-too-kooz-way | who art in heaven |
| ufalme wako uje | Oo-fal-may wa-ko oo-jay | hallowed be thy name |
| mapenzi yako yatimizwe | Ma-pen-zee ya-ko ya-tee-meez-way | thy kingdom come |
| hapa duniani | Ha-pa doo-nee-ar-nee | thy will be done |
| kamo huko mbinguni | Kar-mar hoo-ko um-been-goo-nay | here on earth |
| utupe leo riziki yetu | Oo-too-pay lay-yo ree-zee-kee yay-too | as it is in heaven |
| utusamehe makosa yetu | Oo-too-sa-may-hay ma-ko-sa yay-too | give us this day our daily bread |
| kama sisi tunavyowasamehe | Ka-ma see-see too-na-vyee-oh-wa-sa-may-hay | and forgive us our trespasses |
| waliotukosa | Wa-lee-yo-too-ko-sa | as we forgive those who trespass against us |
| usitutie majaribuni | Oo-see-too-tee-yay ma-ja-ree-boo-nee | lead us not into temptation |
| lakini utukoe na yule mwovu | La-kee-nee oo-too-ko-ay na-yoo-lay mvoe-voo | but deliver us from evil |
| kwa kuwa ufalme ni wako | Kwa koo-wa oo-fal-may nee wa-ko | for thine is the kingdom |
| na nguvu na utukufu | Na ngoo-voo na oo-too-koo-foo | the power and the glory |
| hata milele | Har-tar mee-lay-lay | For ever and ever |
| Amin | A-meen | Amen. |
| Some more everyday words to practice: | ||
| Word | Meaning | Pronounced |
| Kitabu | Book | Kee-tar-boo |
| Meza | Table | May-za |
| Fundisha | Teach | Foon-dee-sha |
| Kanisa | Church | Ka-nee-sa |
| Maji | Water | Ma-jee |
| Nyumba | House | Nee-yoom-ba |
| Nyumbani | Home | Nee-yoom-ba-nee |
| Biblia | Bible | Beeb-lee-a |
| Mikono | Hands | Mee-ko-no |
| Mara Photo Gallery [Top] |
To view a larger image of any picture, click on the thumbnail, then click on the Back Button to return to this view
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The Bishop of Mara, Hilkiah Omindo Deya Greets visitors from Wakefield Diocese, linked with mara since 1986 |
Maureen Jones amongst patients at one of her 'Bush Clinic' which preceded the setting up of Isseco Health Centre |
Villages celebrating the opening of Isenye secondary School. Christ the King retains strong links with Mara through the Key to Life fund. | Harvey Walsh, a parishioner at Christ the King, teaching geography at Issenye Secondary School |
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| Joel Aketch, who was born with talipes (club foot). His cure and total recovery at Isseco Health centre led to many more young people being treated and cured | Pongoja Rocket, who fell out of a tree and sustained serious injuries, but was saved by Maureen Jones, who set up ‘Isseco health Centre’, A rural clinic attached to Issenye secondary school. | Children in ‘church’ on a Sunday morning. School classrooms are often used for Sunday worship in the absence of a church building. There are rarely any desks to clear away. | Primary school children at Iharara - one of the seven villages of Issenye, in the Diocese of Mara. School uniform is compulsory, and popular. It shows that you are that important person - a student. |
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| Tree seedlings prepared by students at Issenye Secondary School as part of its reafforestation programme. The school is agriculturally biased to reflect the needs of its location | Amina learns to count on her ‘kijiji’ or simple abacus made from sticks. Making this is the first piece of homework that every Tanzanian child is given. | Issenye Secondary School Open Day, held in the school hall - a relatively shady area on the school campus which overlooks the Western Corridor of the Serengeti National Park. | Zebras drinking at a stream. Several thousand square miles of the Serengeti National Park fall within the Diocese of Mara. More Lions than Christians. |
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Mara visits Christ the King. Joyce Omindo the daughter of Bishop Hilkiah Omindo visits Christ the King on Palm Sunday 2003 |
September 2003 a group of visitors from Mara visit Wakefield, some of them staying with people from Christ the king |
| Contact [Top] |
| For more information about the activities and suggestions listed on this page, please contact. |
| Bill Jones |
| 57, Shirley Avenue, Gomersal, West Yorkshire, BD19 4NA |
| Telephone/Fax . 01274 872729 |
