Maweni Primary school is our sister school in Tanga, Tanzania. It is a rural school that educates over 700 pupils each day, in classes of over 100 pupils. Wallace, the head teacher, and his staff do a wonderful job teaching and supporting each and every child and together Maweni and Hanley Swan are working towards a better world. The relationship between the two schools is extremely strong and every year there are reciprocal visits that build on the ever growing friendship and education of the adults and pupils.

“As a parent, one of you, I have a tangible sense of pride that not only are we helping a community a long way from here, but we are inculcating in our own children and families a sense of the rightness of doing something worthwhile, something which has true value, impossible to express in a monetary sense, but something of far greater value in that we get to learn at first hand of the problems faced by others and gain a better perspective of our own issues.”

John Thorley

Maweni 2019

Live, learn, laugh and love, these are 4 words that sum up our whole experience here in Maweni.

We are living each day to the full. Visiting the classrooms, checking out the success of the projects, eating traditional African food grown and prepared with our amazing Maweni friends and creating magical memories.

We are learning so much from the staff and children at Maweni. Sharing educational ideas and resources, developing a better understanding of our cultures and helping each other on how our pupils can become better global citizens.

We are laughing all the time. Laughing with pupils about how we do things or our attempt to speak Swahili. Laughing with Maweni staff about differences in how we live our lives and simple jokes and actions.

We love them and they love us. The friendship between the two schools is unmeasurable. The love we share is untenable. They have nothing and yet they give us so much. We have distributed all of the lovely gifts that you donated and the children and staff have expressed huge gratitude for stationery that will support their learning and help them access a better education.

 This year we have taught a science lesson and made and played with bubbles. The children and staff of Maweni have never seen or played with bubbles before, so you can imagine the fun, laughter, learning and smiles that every child (and teacher) had.

The projects are going from strength to strength and this year we have used some of our fundraising money to boost the numbers of chickens. We have also bought new exercise books for every pupil, paper, card and basic teaching resources. They are all very thankful.

Thank you everyone that supports our friendship with Maweni. It is a very strong partnership that makes a massive difference to every child and adult involved.