Buhangija Fire Appeal - thank you and update
Published by Bridget Green in News · Tuesday 28 Mar 2023
THE
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF TANZANIA
DIOCESE
OF SHINYANGA
P.
O. Box 144 Mobile: +255 787 844 462/+255 752 844 462 SHINYANGA, TANZANIA Email: chinyongole@gmail.com
SUMMARY
REPORT FOLLOWING BUHANGIJA SCHOOL FIRE APPEAL OF NOVEMBER 2022
INTRODUCTION
AND THANKS
I
would like to thank all friends in the UK on behalf of the children who
survived the fire in Tanzania at Buhangija Primary School where children with
special needs study. It is hard to say with words for such great love shown by
all who have been touched by the tragic scene of fire that caused the death of
three children and 29 survivors. You have played a great godly role that will
never be forgotten by the children, school staff and their parents.
THE
FIRE
Buhangija
Primary School is found in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. It is owned by the
government and is one of the schools where children with special needs study. At
the moment the school has 250 children with different impairments. There
happened a tragedy scene of fire on 23rd November 2022 in the dormitory, where 32
girls were sleeping, was burned out.
Around
11:00pm the matron sensed a smell of burning fire from the celling board.
Unfortunately the whole roof was on fire. She tried her best to rescue children
out of fire while screaming for help. Five minutes later the guards came to
help but it was too late to rescue every child because the fire was so
extensive. As a result, three girls died in the fire.
This was
a horrible event causing deaths, loss of property, building damage and
psychological trauma to the children, school staff and the community in
general.
The
building had a capacity to accommodate 32 girls with various impairments. The
following are the number of children who were in the hostel at the time of the
fire:
-
Children
with visual impairments - 11,
-
Children
with albinism -18,
-
Children
with hearing impairments - 3.
Three of
the girls with visual impairments passed away: Catherine (11) class two, Careen
(9) class one, and Miriam (11) class three. May their soul s rest in peace.
THE APPEAL
It
is against this background that the Headmistress launched an appeal for funds
to replace the children's destroyed belongings, purchase games to occupy them
and assist in their recovery.
Measures
taken after the appeal of the school Headmistress
·
Bishop
Johnson, Rev Stanley and others visited the school, met with the school staff
and prayed for them.
·
The
Anglican Church in Shinyanga Diocese, together with Friends from UK, has been
helping children at the school since the start of Corona Virus in 2020. The
church took the initiative of sharing the appeal raised by the Headmistress to
friends in the UK.
·
On behalf
of the church, Rev Stanley with staff at Buhangija, made analysis of the needs
of the children and school to redress the situation after the fire. The total
amount needed was £3,500.
·
Friends
from UK through Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT) donated a total of £3,350 (to date)
and other gifts – games and activities – to assist play therapy for the
children who survived.
·
The
donations were used for buying clothing, shoes, bedding, storage cases and
educational resources to replace those destroyed in the fire.
Adjustment
to identified needs
After
some initial purchases of uniforms, shoes and bedding, it became evident that
the girls also needed underwear and nightwear which had not been included in
the initial budget.
The
initial budget did not include reparations and purchase of equipment and seeds
etc for the re-establishment of the vegetable garden (initiated in 2020,
supported by donations from FOAT). Following discussions with FOAT and the
Headmistress, it was agreed that some of the funds raised could be put towards
this as therapy and education for all the children and to supplement
the
school’s meagre food budget.
UPDATE
·
The
fundraising target of £3,500 has been reached.
·
All
children are back in school; they are staying in a temporary hostel which was
intended for another use.
·
They are
psychologically fine now.
·
The
government has identified funds to build a new hostel for the children as will
be seen on picture Annex E
·
Unfortunately,
the investigation on the causes of fire is still on-going; according to the Headmistress
it is expected to take six months or more since the fire happened.
·
I have
visited the hostel they are staying now; it is adequate.
The
garden
·
The
garden is progressing well, though the challenge was rain, as it hit the land
and destroyed some vegetables.
·
The
children have eaten the first produce for three weeks.
·
The
school replant vegetables for this March for more production of vegetables
·
Tanks for
storing water for irrigation are full after harvesting rain water
·
It has
been advised to stop using irrigation drops at this time because the pipe’s
holes for drip irrigation get damaged as the heavy rain forces sand inside.
Prepared
by
Rev
Stanley Sewando
Coordinator of Care Ministry work in Shinyanga Diocese
13
March 2023
CONCLUSION AND
THANK-YOU
Thank
you once again to all those who donated to the Buhangija Fire Appeal. Your
humanitarian action has not only enabled the purchase of tangible items to meet
the basic needs of the girls who lost everything in the fire, it has also
contributed to restoring a sense of love and care to all the children at
Buhangija School. These children are among some of the most disadvantaged in Tanzania;
disadvantaged by disability and poverty. Some are orphans, some abandoned by
their parents because of their disability.
The
Tanzanian Government provides the school buildings, basic educational
resources, funds the teachers and a limited budget to feed the children. Parents
are expected to provide uniforms, clothing, bedding and school books and bags.
There is
very little provision of specialist resources for children with visual
impairment, which includes those with albinism. Any further funds donated
through this appeal will be used
·
to
purchase some additional exercise books required by the children,
·
to
purchase some specialist educational materials for the visually impaired
children, and
·
to assist
with the running of the vegetable garden, particularly the purchase of organic manure,
seeds and for any unforeseen eventuality relating to the garden.
Bridget
Green
Trustee,
Friends of Amani Tanzania https://amanitzuk.org/,
and
Commissary to the Bishop of Shinyanga https://amanitzuk.org/shinyanga
16
March 2023
Annex A New hostel under construction for girls who survived the
fire
Annex B. Children who survived the
fire now back at school.
Annex C.
Children with their teacher and new matron (right)
Annex
D Children enjoying some games donated by FOAT
Annex E.
The temporary hostel where children are staying at the moment
