On Friday 22nd June, the Campaign for Real Gin (CRG) held its annual Garden Party in the gardens of Middle Temple, in the heart of London’s legal district.
The CRG was celebrating its 40th anniversary, having been founded by a group of friends at Cambridge University. One of the founders was our Treasurer, Robert Gibson, and three of the founder members (including Robert) had been born in modern-day Tanzania.
The garden party has a tradition of raising money for a charity, and for the second time (the first being in 2011), the CRG kindly nominated TDT as its charity for the year.
Jonathan Pace, Janet Chapman and Dan Cook attended the event, as did BTS’s former Treasurer Jill Bowden. Jonathan gave a passionate speech explaining the work of the Trust and recalling bottom-breaking trips to rural projects on the back of pikipikis. The sun shone throughout, a number of interesting conversations were had, and nearly £3000 was raised. Altogether a splendid evening!
How the donations will be spent
One of the great things about TDT is that our projects are community-level, on-the-ground projects, with identifiable outcomes.
Most of the money raised at this garden party will go towards a project to provide water to three villages in Kishanda Ward, Kagera Region, in the north west of Tanzania. The villages do have access to water through existing springs, but this is then contaminated by open access to animals, clothes and personal washing. By installing concrete supply points, with fencing, spring water will be protected from contamination. Other areas using similar structures in Muleba District report an immediate and dramatic drop in water-borne illnesses like dysentery and giardia. In Kishanda we hope this will improve the health of up to 18,000 people, as well as delivering a number of other knock-on benefits.
The cost of the project, over and above local contributions estimated at £1,650, is around £6,000. Another Trust has committed £4,000, on condition that another donor is found for the remainder. So the fit couldn’t be better! TDT Chair Jonathan Pace has researched this application as project officer. TDT has also had a positive experience working in Kishanda, previously funding latrines for the village.
Would you like to hold a fund raising event on behalf of TDT? If you need any help or advice, or would like to nominate a specific project or type of project, please don’t hesitate to ask.