“Dream big, stay positive, work hard and enjoy the journey” Urijah Faber
We’re excited to share with you that this week our two members are heading to a field trip to Tanzania! They will stay there for three months and plan to visit our partners in the region. Apart from it, we also hope to open a new centre in #Njombe with #SIDO.
You might wonder who are these brave volunteers decided to take part in this trip? We’re pleased to inform you that our first traveller is John Wood! He’s an engineer and was one of those who set up Tools For Solidarity in 1984. Since then he’s one of the managers in our workshop in Belfast and the lead trainer of all TFS volunteers. During the trip John will train a new workshop manager – Janeth – for the centre in Njombe. He will show her how to refurbish tools and sewing machines, and prepare the workshop for the opening day.
Our second brave volunteer on the trip is Manon! She came to Belfast as an International volunteer in 2018, and worked in the treadle and knitting section. Apart from it she also helped our supported volunteers and dedicated a lot of time to work with them during their days in the workshop. After a year with us, Manon enjoyed her stay that much that wondered if she could stay longer. At that time we had an open position for a partnership worker in the office and we thought it’s gonna suit her the best… and we were absolutely right about it! Since then Manon’s been working really hard to organise all communications between us and the stakeholders in order to make this field trip happen. In Tanzania she will visit all the artisan groups to assess the project, some schools for the ESD programme and of course help John in the workshop!
We wish them a safe trip and good luck. Njema Safari. Karibu Tanzania. We will miss you both but don’t worry… the workshop is in good hands!