The Umoja Centre

On the 28th of October, Support for International Change (SIC) were asked to come back to carry out the second round of HIV/AIDS testing for our students. Before the testing began the SIC counselors held discussions about testing, HIV and sex. Many of our students asked questions and created a lively discussion. After a few nervous hours, we are all happy to know that all students tested negative again. This is fantastic news for all of us. On the advice of SIC, we shall be conducting a third round of testing in January. (Students were happy to disclose this information

During November we held two rounds of interviews for prospective students for 2010. We did not advertise the places publically as we do not have the resources to deal with the numbers that would turn up so all the young people were referred to us by other organisations, by trusted individuals in the community or the Tanzanian board. On the inital day, over 90 young people arrived to carry out a number of written tests. These tests were designed to assess a students motivation, commitment, enthusiasm, thinking and creativity. From these tests 60 were invited back to have one-on-one interviews. The final 40 have now been chosen and will start in January.

On the 16th of January Emma and Tim are undertaking a sponsored cycle ride from Norwich to Cambridge they hope to do the 70 miles in 6 hours. It is going to be a hard slog in the middle of the English winter so they need your support to raise a worthwhile sum for the Umoja Centre. Pledge your sponsorship now at their Just Giving web page.

Unfortunately due to the snow and because Tim has injured his elbow falling on the ice, we are postponing this event. We think cycling this weekend would be quite dangerous due to all the ice on the country roads on our route! So we hope to complete it during mid Feburary after Emma returns from a short trip to The Umoja Centre to see how things are progressing. Thanks for your continued support!