Josh and I will be completing the Peak District Ultra Challenge (info at https://www.ultrachallenge.com/peak-district-challenge/) in July, which will see us hike 100km across two days through the white and dark peaks of the beautiful Peak District to support the amazing work of the Derby Grammar School Tanzania Project.

The Tanzania Project is a charity set up by Derby Grammar School to improve the lives of children in the Mwanza region of Tanzania. In Mwanza, the poverty rate is 49.01%, with 46.55% of its residents experiencing severe poverty as of the last survey in 2016. The best hope any community has for a better future is its children, so the staff and pupils of Derby Grammar School have been working since 2013 to raise money for Gedeli B School, Amani School, Hisani Orphanage and Forever Angels Orphanage, visiting every year to give time and extra pairs of hands to help where they can.

Last year, the Project flattened Amani School's playing field, removing boulders so the children can have proper sports lessons. They donated new learning and sports equipment and resources, donated uniform for children who cannot afford it and sanitary products for girls. They also taught English, maths and sport to the children. At Hisani Orphanage, they replaced the barbed wire fence with a much safer colourful metal one in the children's play area, decorated the (previously bare) walls with colourful drawings, a handprint tree and the DGS crest, donated toys and sports equipment for the children to play with, and donated a keyboard and music resources as well.

You can see the work they undertook for the Project in 2023 in the video below, created by DGS pupils Leo and Matthew:

Please help us to raise extra funds for this incredible and life-changing work. Anything we can do to help will have a huge impact for these children and for those caring for them. They are the future of Mwanza. Let's do what we can to help make it a bright one.

Thank you.

More information about the Project can be found at https://www.derbygrammar.org/our-community/charity-projects , and at the Project's blog at https://dgstanzania.wordpress.com/ .

Cover photo from DGSTanzania.Wordpress.com

Video from DerbyGrammar.org

Quotes from Boniface, headteacher of Amani school

Derby Grammar School Tanzania Trust is a registered charity, number 1170166