Travels in Africa!

MSBC has been supporting Living Waters Ministries in Tanzania for many years, in fact it all started with a working party from MSBC going out in 2004 to help construct accommodation blocks and since then Martin has been made a Trustee so he and Caroline visit Living Waters bi-annually to check on developments.   Last month Martin, Helen, Avgi and Kevin were fortunate enough to travel to Living Waters in Mwanza together with LW Trustees Sam Bruce and Steve Peake and LW supporter, Lucie Fusade.

We had been asked to investigate providing a safer entrance to the main house and the possibility of a carport so Martin and Kevin leapt straight into designing, planning and laying out the new carport/entrance area and purchasing materials at the local markets, employing a welder, a stonemason and a gang of labourers to begin work on reforming the steps, excavating a level-base (by hand!) and concreting the area.  By the time we left for home the project, which was funded by MSBC, was well underway and should be completed in the next couple of weeks.  Kevin and Martin were also busy investigating ways of reducing the excessive heat on the top floor classrooms in the secondary school and carrying out a various maintenance tasks around the site.

Helen and Avgi spent some time at the primary school with the pre-school and year 2 classes before joining Sam and Lucie for a few days to organise a container full of books to create a new library (a stoic task in the excessive heat in this room!) which was completed and handed over to LW staff.

Our most fun afternoon was spent setting up and delivering an English village fete for the 28 children that live on site in the children’s home and various LW staff members. Our fete (complete with a tombola and games such as ‘Hook the Duck’, ‘Splat the Rat’ and skittles) was a great success and provided a fantastic way to have some fun and get to know each other.

For more information on Living Waters Ministries please visit www.livingwaterstanzania.com.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team continued the hard work back in the UK with new extensions starting in Chidham and Birdham and a cottage refurbishment in Slindon.  Ron, Dave and the site team are (as always) busy right across West Sussex delivering top quality projects for all our clients.

Now back in the UK, Martin and Avgi are hard at work finalising details for a partnered project with John Brown Architecture and pricing a project in Compton for Helyer Davis Architects.  We have long term relationships with both JBA and Helyer Davis so it’s always exciting to work with these guys.

Back at the office Caroline and Helen continue to prepare for our Investors in People assessment in June – we’re going for gold standard!