I am looking forward to being able to give you all a much more interesting update at the end of April. However, at the end of this week I have finally felt the worth of my trip and recognise it is important to share a little insight into the hard work that goes on behind the scenes and a whistle-stop tour of my February and March UK adventures, challenges and amazing provisions!

I eluded to the world that I have been managing whilst here, the list of administration work really is never ending. Having to file different reports and accounts in both countries once a year is enough work but then we also have to and try and understand tax laws, employment laws, child protection laws and so much more for both countries and find a balance between them which is easier said than done. I have sat at my laptop for days catching up and progressing on so many things for us as a charity to be the very best that we can be. It has also been my very first experience of applying for grant funding, which is a full time job for some people in the charity sector! Overall it has been great to have a longer trip to reflect upon our achievements and really focus on our aims for this year and the future. Below Joshua with his first ever Birthday cake…

In Tanzania everything has been progressing nicely with Jenipha our social worker in charge of daily activities. We have just finished a trial month with a new counsellor who will from March be working with Hope and Soul on a part time contract. He has been an incredible support in his first couple of weeks and we are so excited to see the progress that he makes with our children, young people and also mothers. The trauma that is woven into the lives of so many children from such a young age is often very evident later in life but very rarely brought to light and reflected upon. We as a charity recognise the importance of Christian Counselling as part of our commitment to provide holistic care to families in need. I often say that people in Tanzania in general have incredible resilience and the need for counselling support is not suggesting otherwise. I simply believe that a safe and supportive space to work on removing barriers to positive change, recognising triggers, self reflection, finding ways to deal with emotions and so much more is always going to produce an even greater positive outcome.

In the middle of February I had the opportunity to return to my Secondary School to give assemblies to all year groups over three days. Armed with sweets to win over my listeners I shared about Hope and Soul projects and then looked at the differences between Secondary School in Tanzania and the UK. Eyes widened as I told them Secondary School is from 7am-6pm and most children do not get to eat in that time, followed by explaining the reality of being beaten with a stick if you did something wrong. The main focus was around kindness which linked with one of the school values and I encouraged the students to appreciate that being kind is something that we should purpose to make part of our everyday lives. I realised that I have the very best job in the world when I get to show kindness all day everyday!

I am very pleased to say the Quiz Night was a huge success and a big thank you to everyone who attended. A couple of big thank yous which we gave out on the night but deserve to be recognised here too, Mrs Faithful who as the Headteacher of Hart Plain Junior School very kindly gifted us the venue, to Ed Howe the very best Quiz Master in all of Portsmouth! To our volunteers who supported my parents and I on the night to keep everything running smoothly and my parents who helped get a lot of things bought and organised whilst I made a cake and cupcake order on the morning of! We had a worthy winning team on the main Quiz and a clear individual winner for the bonus music round. We hope everyone enjoyed the competitive spirit as much as the cakes and sweet treats, you really made it an evening to remember.

On March 7th I travelled up to Essex University to speak to a group of students who have formed a society to support UNICEF and recently decided to split their fundraising efforts between UNICEF and Hope and Soul. They have regular bake sales and meet as a group regularly to discuss thought provoking topics in the charity sector and developing world. Lola who invited me up to share had a very powerful speech on purposeful volunteering that we enjoyed listening to on the day. As a charity we are so pleased to announce that this year we have two volunteering opportunities in June and August to join a group for a two week trip which will not only change your life (guaranteed) but have a positive impact on the community we work in and support. If you would like more details then please reach out about how you can get involved, numbers are limited so make sure you act fast and you can find out more information on our social media in the next couple of weeks too.

A big thank you to all of you who purchased an item from our Amazon WishList. The first one sold out within 24 hours and the second in less than 12 hours. My room is absolutely bursting at the seams with donations and now these incredible Amazon gifts, I can not wait to show you where  and who they reach.

In all honesty I hit a very low patch towards the beginning of February which I chose to through a couple of teary evenings not give up on what I have been fighting for. It has made all the success that in my eyes has been completely God given in the month of March all that much sweeter with provisions that mean I will very happily return to my Tanzanian Family at the beginning of April with peace of what the future holds for our small but mighty charity. There were a good few traumatic events in 2023 that taught me a lot about resilience and recognising where I get my inner peace from. This UK trip has been its own learning experience in how I respond when things do not go to plan and I am forced to wait. Despite regularly wanting to give up, choosing to wake up each day with perseverance and forcing myself to focus on where I put my faith.

I am now on a countdown to my return flight, it will be hard to leave my family again that really is something that never gets easier but I am so excited about this year ahead and its time to put all these plans and purposes into action. Thank you to those who have taken time to reach out and show genuine kindness and support while I have been here, I hope you know how much your thoughtfulness means.

Its time to go home...