This month we heard from two of our supporters who had expanded our
programme:
David and Fiona Clarke left a DVD player and two English discs at an
orphanage in Bulgaria in 2006 and since then they have been used by the
staff, who were stopping and translating the discs phrase by phrase. Eli,
their Bulgarian friend is now busily translating the scripts and recording
the soundtracks so that they can be played without stopping all the time.
Meanwhile Jane Kay-Bailey, whilst on holiday in Grenada got talking to a local midwife who told her of the need to have basic information on HIV and AIDS for the local population. As the main language is English, we are sending her some discs and Hey Presto, another new partnership!
Two new friends of tme are on their way to India where they have formed a personal link to a school in Andara Pradesh. We met them through one of the medical students at Warwick University who has drafted a script for us in the past. Whilst there they plan to demonstrate the Hindi language discs to the surrounding community and perhaps even try to get new translations into Telugu!
Somewhat unexpectedly and completely unconnected we will soon have 2 discs for Rumania and Bulgaria available. One of our patrons – The Duchess of Norfolk – is keen to use the titles in Rumania and another supporter has introduced us to the "Star of Hope foundation" in Bulgaria who operate a children's home and are busily translating two scripts.
Jeff is a Trustee of "Project Return" an initiative to support orphanages in Vietnam and the trip is a monitoring visit for that programme. Jeff suggested exploring links between tme and the orphanages involved; we wait to see what the response will be next month.
Has anyone spotted Jack Griffiths and Nigel Feaver? These two lads are on a five-month gap-year exploration of Southern Africa. Along the way, they are doing some work for tme. They left for Nairobi in Kenya just days after the troubled elections there, landing in the middle of street protests and crackdowns. As a result, they have moved straight on to Tanzania with a plan to return to Kenya in May when hopefully things will be more settled. So far, they have met with the International Centre For AIDS Care and Treatment Programmes as well as AMREF in Tanzania and this week are taking the train to the border with Malawi. They will be away until the middle of May and have still to visit Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and possibly Mozambique. If you have any contacts with community groups who might like to look at our products in any of those countries then please get in touch with Steve Click Here
One of our Associates Rachel Duncan Brown who was on holiday in Malawi over Christmas has returned with interesting reports from the people she met there. Armed as ever with the obligatory demonstration DVD player she was able to show sample discs in Chichewa to several people. She left the player out there and we have since received the following extract from an email:
"Having given you a little background, you will appreciate how excited I was to receive some information from Rachel about the interactive DVDs you are producing. I can see a host of opportunities to put them to good use – among the churches and schools we visit, as well as the women of the agricultural clubs we are starting. In fact I have offered to buy the DVD player Rachel had with her, and, if required, will gladly offer my services in coordinating translation into Chichewa of some of the pipeline projects on the list she left with me. I have a reasonably good working knowledge of the language – certainly enough to work with small groups of local translators who can ensure that my Chichewa is not too "textbook".
Ruth recently took scripts and recording equipment with her on a private trip to Nepal. Now back in the UK, Ruth has managed to get two scripts translated and recorded in to Nepalese - we expect the two new discs to be available early in 2008. Thanks to Ruth we now have a new country and a new language, all we need now is new partners who would like to use the material in Nepal!
This weekend (27th January) with the aim of signing up 10 new partners and extending our links to Ratanakiri Province, which requires new translations and recordings.
Minister the Rt. Hon. Paul Boateng who is now the High Commissioner for South Africa and his wife Janet Boateng have officially agreed to become patrons for tme.
"As a part of celebrating the golden jubilee year of our college, we had a college level exhibition for 3 days from 29th November to 1st December 2007. Nearly 3,300 students from 37 different schools visited the exhibition on the first two days and on the third day it was open for the parents of the school children and the public. During the exhibition, we the centre for Outreach & Service-Learning Programme had displayed different exhibits highlighting the activities of our centre and as a part of it we used the DVD players given by The Thare Machi Education to create awareness for children on various issues by using the DVD's provided. It served as an effective tool to attract the children and create awareness. Children really enjoyed doing it and it really served the purpose. We thank you for giving us such a useful instrument in fulfilling the purpose of our activities."
The Trustees met for a strategic planning day to discuss the priorities for 2008. Although it was 24 hours of intense discussion good plans emerged. Much of the discussion centred on whether we should prioritise publishing (new lessons) or Partnership (distributing lessons on the ground) We also examined how to test whether the DVDs are making a difference to people's lives.