2004 has been an exciting, successful and busy year for The Luhimba Project. I have visited the village twice, back in April with Jayne Williams, who has worked so hard for the project, and then in August with Patricia Gaya, who is a PhD student at Bath University, !t has been good to work closely with the villagers to plan the future of existing projects and to start some new and exciting schemes.

Our aim has always been to help the villagers help themselves, to manage their own projects in a structured way so that each project is sustainable and will benefit the community for generations to come. To achieve this we offer the villagers a great deal of practical support when they are setting up a new project, then when established we encourage them to maintain the project themselves, reducing our support until the project is self-supporting, in this way we avoid Song-term "donor-dependency" and encourage sustainability. This way of working also makes it possible for us to support a range of different community projects in the areas of education, health, agriculture and clean water.

This approach has worked well during the twenty years the project has been operating, as some of the following examples demonstrate:

Nguluma Secondary School

The secondary school has been our main focus over the past few years. In Feb 2002 the school opened with 80 students. In January there will be 550 on roll, It has been wonderful to see the school develop in such a successful way and this has only been possible because of the dedicated support of our sponsors which we need now more than ever. It is wonderful to know that your generosity has enabled so many young people in this very poor area to receive secondary education.

We are also indebted to organisations such as the Rotary Clubs of Melton Mowbray and Weston who have worked in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam to provide carpentry tools for the school, and during the coming year their efforts should provide solar power and a ring well for the school, I recently had a wonderful welcome of Dublin Rotary Club and we very much hope they will become involved in the project.

Likarangilo Primary School

Likarangilo used to be an outlying area of Luhimba but now if is a village in its own right. Ten years ago the villagers there started a small kindergarten, teaching young children in a makeshift shelter under a tree. They asked for our help to erect some proper classrooms and the school now has over pupils in 9 classrooms with solar power and last year it came third out of 182 district schools in their league tables (yes, they have league tables!) This is a wonderful example of the villagers working together with a very dynamic head and school board to achieve outstanding success. We were pleased to visit Likarangilo this year and to make a donation to help buy some equipment.

Ngembambili Kindergarten

Ngembambili is another area of Luhimba and is another brilliant example of the villagers working together to help themselves. Earlier this year they started work building a kindergarten. When Jayne Williams and I visited in April the school was open with 90 pupils in two classrooms built of home-made bricks with a grass roof. We made a donation to help buy furniture. Then when I returned in August with Patricia Gaya we found our money had been put to excellent use and the school had grown to 150 pupils with 2 teachers. It was a pleasure to make a further donation to help them buy books and resources.

Colin Bennett

Colin is a wonderful man who lives in Worle. He has been blind for the past two years and has done a great deal to support blind people in Weston. Back in the summer he approached me and asked if there was anything he could do to help people with eyesight problems in Luhimba. I consulted the village medical officer, George Pallangyo. He told me the main problem is trachoma, a condition spread by flies, which makes the eyelid turn inwards. It is very painful as the lashes rub against the eye, leading eventually to blindness. The villagers can't afford the operation in the local hospital to cure this so George agreed to undergo 3 months training to qualify him to perform the operations in the village dispensary. Training costs £1200. Colin started fundraising in September and by the end of October he had reached the target. The money has been sent and George starts his training in January. But Colin hasn't given up. He is now raising money to build and extension to the dispensary, which we helped the villagers build 8 years ago.

Small Business Co-operative Scheme

This is an exciting new venture for the village and is a major step forward in helping reduce poverty and thus improve the quality of life. At the request of the villagers we worked with them to look into the possibility of setting up a scheme where groups of people could borrow an amount of money on an interest-free basis to set up or expand a small business. The money is repaid over an agreed period, and then used to help another group. Much of the early research into this was done by Helen Sweet and we are indebted to her for this. So after lengthy discussions with village leaders we raised some money to fund this scheme.

In April this year Jayne Williams and I helped them with the organisation - setting up a suitable committee of village business people to run the scheme. Then when I returned in August, Patricia and I were delighted to see how hard the committee had worked to make this scheme work. They had drawn up contracts, decide exactly when and how repayments are to be made, and had invited applications and simple business plans from groups wanting to borrow money. They approved 5 applications initially as a trial. These were mainly from groups wanting to set up terming projects. We have every confidence that this pilot scheme will work, and if so it could be extended to help many small businesses. Also, as young people leave the new secondary school with practical skills such as carpentry, sewing etc, this scheme might enable them to set up their own small business and provide a service to the community.

Forthcoming Visits

I will be visiting Luhimba at least twice next year. A group of five of us will be going in April I will be accompanied by Clare Hayes, a reporter at the Weston Mercury, Noel Hetherington who has supported the project for many years, Laura Wedmore and Pete Clark, who are both care workers. Pete will be staying on in the village for three months to offer hands-on support to the current projects.

Other Support

We are totally indebted to ail our sponsors and donors for such wonderful continuing support. So many individuals and organisations have contributed to the success of the project. I am sure you would like to join me in congratulating Jo White of Wedmore on completing the Cheddar Half Marathon in November, raising over £220 for Luhimba.

And finally...........

Two events in 2004 which were so memorable for me were

• Climbing Kilimanjaro back in July with my son George was fantastic, and the sponsorship you provided enabled us to buy 100 sets of bunk beds for the new girls hostel at the school. Thank you.

• I was so honoured to be nominated by the Weston Mercury to attend a Royal Reception at Buckingham Palace last week. It was such wonderful experience to meet the Queen and tell her about The Luhimba Project. Wendy and I joined about 450 guests at the Palace and, as well as meeting the Queen, spoke to Prince Edward and other members of the royal family.

Again I must thank the Weston Mercury for their excellent coverage of our project. This has raised so much awareness throughout the area and as a result so many more people have become involved in helping and supporting Luhimba.

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to you all.