Britain-Tanzania Society AGM 28th October 2017

A Pathbreaking AGM for BTS

Our AGM ended with the biggest committee ever – 24 – including 13 Tanzanians living and working in this country.

The venue was stunning: St.Mary-at-Hill, one of the churches redesigned and rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Fire of London in 1666. It hosts the Lutheran congregation which meets there for worship in English every week and in Kiswahili every month.

Willie Fulton stood down as Vice-Chair and was replaced by Petronilla Mlowe.  Gabriel Mgambwa is our new Treasurer.  Elizabeth Taylor stood down as Secretary but is staying on the committee, and was replaced by Tessa Most. John Wood has agreed to maintain our database of members. Drs Hamza Mohamed and Gideon Mlawa have joined us to facilitate liaison with TUHEDA, the new organisation promoting medical work in Tanzania. Ida Hadjivianis will link us with the Swahili Department at SOAS – she specialises in translation, and among much else has translated Alice in Wonderland into Kiswahili. We were more than pleased when, after these changes had been approved, 5 people stood up and offered their services to the committee. We hope that this will give us a much improved administration, enable us to promote our events and other activities much more, but above all link us with a wide range of activities involving the diaspora in the UK.

 

BBC Swahili: “A Flagship for the Swahili Language”

Our speaker was Zawadi Machibwa, an experienced journalist who has worked for the BBC Swahili Service for many years.

BBC Swahili prides itself on its accuracy. In a world where “fake news” and unconfirmed gossip is often reported, the BBC tries to get a controversial story cross-checked from three separate sources before it uses it. The result is that listeners trust it, and believe what it says. BBC Swahili is keen to employ women and to discuss matters that are important for women. 17% of those working in the media in East Africa are now women, and the numbers are rising. Zawadi offered the hope that her talk would be the start of a long and productive relationship between BBC Swahili and the BTS.

 

The AGM at 2.00pm on Saturday 28 October, will be at a new venue for us – St Mary-at-Hill Church, Lovat Lane, London EC3R 8EE.  This is where the Swahili-speaking congregation meet once a month – near Bank and Monument Stations.

Speaker:  Salim Kikeke, BBC Swahili Service presenter, who has over 1 million people on his Facebook account! The Dira ya Dunia programme which he presents often gets audiences of 7 million, and perhaps even more tune into his programmes on football.  He will talk about how the Swahili Service works, and what it offers to Tanzania.

If you would like a table to sell items for good causes in the run up to Christmas, or to promote an NGO relating to work in Tanzania, please contact Elizabeth Taylor on etaylorsjut@gmail.com

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