CRCL on ITV Border News

Yesterday morning we went to Mary's and had an interview with Stewart from ITV about the Tanzanians not coming. We didn't really know what to expect, but in the end it was fun and an experience! We had separate interviews for about 5mins, but Stewart was really easy to talk and the time flew by. They only ended up showing a clip for about ten seconds! Watching the clip later was FUNNY! Our voices sounded so silly, not at all like us! (or so we'd like to think!!) It was quite exciting and interesting to talk to Stewart about how he produces each news piece, and the high pressure to get a story done in time. Hopefully lots of people will have seen the clip, and will empathise with all of us without our Tanzanians!

By

Catherine & Rachel

Whitehaven Carnival & Our Petition

It's been as while since I've had the opportunity to help out at a CRCL event, so it was nice to return to doing something with the group. It was great as always to see some familiar faces, a great way to boost group morale and get some work done. Returning members from the 08 group included myself, Rebecca and Tasha. Along side us were Russell, Jeff, Don, Mary, and some new faces, which I couldn't remember to save my life. Besides the usual selling of Tanzanian merchandise, our main job was to collect as many signatures as possible on our petition, spreading even more awareness than usual. I'm not sure of the exact number but we got around 400 signatures, which is good for a day's work. It was great to see that people weren't just signing the petition because they were asked to, people were genuinely concerned about our cause, many had seen the story in the paper. So we know we're doing something right.

Afro-ceilidh on Friday which should be a good one, everyone should be there! Then Don's BBQ is always a treat. But all the while, we know the Tanzanians should be here enjoying it with us.

Pictures

Bottom: Very tall man signs our petition

Middle: Some traditional Tanzanian dances

Top: Our stall in the main field

Badaye,

Thomas

Even Mr Burns is Dissapointed

We have just found our story published on teletext!

Support from our Local Paper

The Whitehaven News today put our story on their front page, Click here to read. This just goes to show how many people are affected and disappointed by the Tanzanians visa refusal!

T-Shirts 2009

The T-Shirts for 2009 are here! With a cool new design, for more details contact us on cumbria.rungwe.cl@gmail.com, hurry and get your own!

* Text on front 'Tunajenga Pamoja (Together we build in KiSwahili) 2009', text on back 'Together we Build' and the website www.crclink.co.uk

Evaluation and Planning Day

Well then guys, today was supposed to be the IT day with the Tanzanians, but because they were DENIED their visas, instead, today has been about thinking of many, many, questions which Jamie Reid is hopefully going to take to Parliament with him. We have also been trying to think of an alternative activity we can do with the local primary schools which were going to get involved with the link.

For this, we thought that we could do a presentation on life in Tanzania and how it differs to life in England, throwing in lots of fun pictures of the groups working together and some hard facts which will hopefully shock the children (like how the Tanzanians actually LOVE school, how little people actually get to go to Secondary Schools).

I think that the questions for Jamie Reid have also been quite successful. We have quite a few, which should hopefully shock the government, and make them change their ways for the future. They include lots of hard facts about what happens, and how their system has made it difficult for the link.

Overall, I think that the day has been a great success. We have a presentation, ready to take to the Primary Schools, Questions for Jamie Reid and a ever stronger group of linkers

By Dominique

Visiting our Local MP Jamie Reed

After leaving Cleator Moor 9 people went to see Jamie Reed at Egremont Civic hall. Jamie was really co-operative and offered his full support for our cause. He said that it was disgraceful that these circumstances have come about and that he was prepared to raise many questions in parliament on our behalf. He also offered to aid us in our efforts to raise funds so that we could pay back the funds that we have lost and to raise further funds for our trip to Rungwe.

By Ben & Daniel