Having a Ball in Rock City

Mwanza is known as Rock City due to the large number of enormous boulders stren across the city. This name has given rise to the annual Rock City Charity Ball, which took place last night at Isamilo Lodge Hotel.

This yearly event brings the expatriate community together to raise money for local charities. These includes our very own Saturday  School, Railway Children and Village of Hope among others.

The event was held by the pool and looked fabulous, with lights strung between the palms.

Charity Ball

The event included performances from various local and national groups. Anita on flute along with two other colleagues from my school  (Max (Cello) and Maria (Flute) started the proceedings as people came in, by playing various classical pieces.

A house band played throughout the evening and the event was headlined by a band from Dar – The Tanzanites. The evening was punctuated by a local dance troop who performed modern and local traditional dances.

They were excellent. There were also auctions – both live and silent. The first auction was the usual with people bidding enormous sums (well beyond our pay scale).  The second was an auction of items where you write down how much you want to bid and the highest bid of the evening wins. We were lucky enough to win a one night stay at Kipepo Lodge near Dar Es Salaam at a very reasonable price, which we use at some time this year. There was a raffle too, we were unsuccessful in that, but that’s usual for us.

The theme for the evening was black and white. I had a Zebra pattern shirt, Anita was planning to borrow an outfit but in town that day saw an amazing piece of Zebra patterned Kitenge cloth at 12noon and found a fundi to make an outfit which we had collected at 5pm.

The evening ended with a live band (Tanzanites) and dancing which went on into the early hours.

Charity Fair

Today was the date in the Calendar when the school holds it’s annual Charity Fair in aid of Saturday School. On Saturday mornings Isamilo opens up it’s facilities on to local children to provide free education, including computing and English as well as swimming. The Charity Fair is open to the whole community and each tutor group runs a stall. Other stalls are run by local artisans or by parents, The visitors pay s modest entry fee and then buy tokens which are used as tickets for the various stalls. Unfortunately, Anita (Malaria) and Bex (UTI and Amoeba infection) were both too poorly to come do it was just Matt and I who went. Matt was helping to run the “Sponge The Teacher” stall, of wich more below.

My tutor group ran a stall whereby people paid for water balloons which were then thrown at members of the group. A hit gave points which led to receiving a bookmark or sweets.

My role was to wander through the event making sure things were OK (which they were). Which gave me a good chance to see all the different activities. Other than this there was the “Sponge The Teacher” stall in which I participated. This was great fun but very wet. A token bought 3 wet sponges aimed at your head which peered through a hole in a board.

The day finished off with a raffle. I had bought a single ticket – Peach 66. I so wish I had got a strip as Peach 65, 67 and 69 all came out of the bucket. Even so it was a great afternoon and the rain held off until after 6 when we’d finished.

Charitable Giving

T Minus 28

So this morning I have been to the charity shop (Cancer Research to be exact) in Bletchley. They took all the “Chaff-like Wheat
” – so a further dump trip this afternoon should leave us with only what we want in terms of things (“The Wheat”) we still have to through the clothes and in truth we’re gonna have to ditch some of the “wheat” – but we’re getting there.
On the good news front our buyers new tenant wants to buy some of our things especially our bed, conservatory furniture and dining room table – so this takes a lot of pressure off. 🙂

The wheat from the chaff ………… and the chaff-like wheat

T Minus 29

So today I have been a man on a mission. For too long the garage has remained stubbornly full.
But not any more! Today we have gone through with ruthlessness. Separating the contents into three parts.

The Chaff

In the garden those things which are going to the dump. These are things we have tried (and failed) to sell or give away or else have escaped previous dumping trips.

The Wheat

In the conservatory the stuff we are taking to Africa or else we still need to go on holiday. Also the stuff we are definitely giving to Family (note to family: don’t panic there is not that much!).

The Chaff-like Wheat

On the deck is the stuff we’re giving away. We tried and failed to sell it and it needs to go to a charity shop. Mostly books, DVDs and bric-à-brac.

This leaves the garage fairly bare – though some “chaff-like wheat” will go in pro tem. In truth there is already some shifting around between categories but we’re being ruthless.

As for bigger stuff it’s possible our buyers new tenant might want to buy some furnishings from us we’ll have to wait and see.

Elsewhere we have informed the phone and car companies about our intentions to leave.

World Cup Winners

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Unlike other blog entries this one is not about us at all. I don’t yet know the people concerned or the organisation other than what I have read. The link is purely one of geography. #iamsomebody

As someone about to move to Mwanza I have been keen to find out as much as I can about the city via other blogs, Facebook and Internet research. In so doing I have come across the work of the Tanzanian Street Child Sports Academy (TSC).

Birthday Bash

T Minus 161

Tonight we were at the Woughton Leisure Centre at Mike’s Big Birthday Bash. The Mike in question (Mike Cashman) had organised a charity fundraiser for Africa as a birthday celebration. There were 5 teams (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and White) each competing for a different charitable cause. No Tanzanian project so instead we were competing on the Red Team (Defeating Diarrhoea and reducing Child deaths in Angola). Each team competed in a variety of sporting and quiz activities over the afternoon and evening the team with the most points won and their charity got most funds although all get some.

I won both Badminton matches do doing my bit for Team Red!

Then there were some quizzes ( we won one of them!), food and other activities to end the evening. All in aid of  good causes.

It was an eclectic bunch of people, some we knew well, but many we didn’t know – others I hadn’t seen in years – it was good to catch up. Anita, as she does, got talking to a woman who has just returned from Tanzania, having lived in Mwanza among other places, whilst working at the local orphanage. It was interesting to hear from someone who has been there so recently.