Ayalabe School Opening

Phase One, the first two classroom building at this new site, has been successfully completed.

The time has finally arrived for Alan Roy to head to Tanzania for the grand opening of the new school project in the village of Ayalabe on 30 september 2013. He leaves 9 September.

The project is 99% complete; Alan has just to do his final inspections before handing over the final payment to the local builder and his hard-working crew.

The interesting (and exciting) thing about this trip is that it will be accompanied by a group of 8 others, including Alan's wife Maureen Vanwyck. These lucky friends of Alan and Maureen will have the experience of their life because their itinerary includes not only the grand opening of the school where they will be treated to hundreds of local villagers turning out to sing and dance in appreciation of their western donors who have funded the project, but they will also enjoy a 4 day safari before they finally locate on the island of Zanzibar for a cultural experience in old Stonetown and then a relaxing week or so on the golden sands of its eastern beaches.

Maureen is very excited for another reason. Three years ago, the finish of construction of the first school on 27 November 2010 in the village of Gongali coincided with the birth of our agent Mathew's daughter. The local custom is always to name the child after someone important to the family at the time of the birth. Alan was surprised and honoured when Mathew announced he would name the boy after him, but when Alan queried the possibility of a girl, Mathew didn't hesitate one second before stating the girl would be named after Maureen. So now we also have little Maureen also anxiously awaiting big Maureen's arrival. This event will be continued in a following blog post.

More posts to follow during Alan's  5 week stay in Tanzania.

As a final note,

Our heartfelt thanks to all those that have donated towards this successful project