Sheila Grant - personal statement

My first connection with Tanzania came in 1984 when I took up a post as a VSO Community Development worker in Arusha Region, in northern Tanzania. My role was to support Women’s groups in setting up small income-generating projects in handicrafts, running grinding mills and facilitating different workshops and meeting to encourage the women to take up Mother & Child Health services.

I met my husband in Arusha. He is now a fellow trustee (Doug Hincks). We left Arusha in 1990 but Tanzania has always remained close to our hearts. We moved to Worcestershire from Birmingham in 2016 and there a chance conversation with a fellow choir member (Margaret Green) brought me in touch with Mission Morogoro. I was impressed by the number of projects that a small number of committed people had managed to support since Mission Morogoro started in 2012. 

My first visit to see these projects and the area around Tunguli was in 2019. We visited the Health Centre, sewing groups, women’s groups, and many of the new wells and hand-washing projects that have been financed by Mission Morogoro supporters. The visit was a first-hand reminder of the struggles of daily life for people in a remote area of Tanzania, but also a heart-warming reminder of how the concern and support of a group of people in Worcestershire can have an impact on people’s lives in small but effective ways.

I finally became a full Trustee of Mission Morogoro in November 2019 and continue to work with my fellow trustees to establish the security and sustainability of the projects we support.