Tunajenga Pamoja – Joint Committee Meeting (21/7/16)

Our charity, as you all know, links two communities in completely different parts of the world; Cumbria in the UK and Rungwe in Tanzania. It would be impossible for us to share what we know about the lifestyle and culture of Rungwe district with students and people in Cumbria on our own and we are truly lucky to have two committees working in partnership. Both Cumbria-Rungwe Community Link and the Rungwe-Cumbria Community Link are determined to create the best possible opportunities for our areas. We work together throughout the two year cycle to ensure both inward and outward visits take place successfully.

As part of our programme on our first day to Lutengano, while our students are unpacking, acclimatising and being reunited with old friends as well as meeting new we as a leader team are conducting our first joint committee meeting. For some of us who have visited before it was also nice for us to see familiar faces.

The meeting started with a welcome speech from Evodius Chotta, RCCL Chairperson, we then introduced ourselves, both UK and Tanzanian participants and then I was invited to deliver my CRCL Chairperson speech. Part of our meeting was dedicated to a run through of the programme where we made any logistical changes and added specific times. We then discussed ongoing projects and heard a summary from each. Myself, Ian and Amy will conduct visits to each project to see the progress and feedback to the group whilst in Tanzania. We ended our meeting with the giving of this year's link t-shirt, it was an exciting realisation to be sat there discussing it all that our 2016 Rungwe programme was about to begin.

Becca Crowther