A senior British parliamentarian was given an in-depth tour of Islamic Help’s Eco Village as part of...

A senior British parliamentarian was given an in-depth tour of Islamic Help’s Eco Village as part of a visit to our projects in Tanzania.

The Rt Hon Lord Maclennan of Rogart met the orphans who are now living in the first completed Children’s Home at the Eco Village, planted a tree bearing his name and met some of the beneficiaries helped by our livelihood programme.

Lord Maclennan, a former Social Democratic Party leader, is a very keen environmentalist – he owns a 400-acre farm in The Highlands of Scotland – and showed particular interest in the permaculture farm at the Eco Village.

He planted his own tree – a mango tree - outside the Eco Mosque, toured the Eco Village and spent half a day with the orphans in the first completed Children’s Home, Lancashire House, where the youngsters had prepared a small presentation for him and he gave out gifts to the children.

Lord Maclennan was also briefed on Islamic Help’s micro-finance project which has helped more than 165 local people set up local businesses and met some of its recipients.

There were also meetings with a number of dignitaries in Tanzania including the British High Commissioner to Tanzania Mrs Dianna Melrose; various District Commissioners and senior civil servant Dr Ramadhani Dau, an advisor to the President of Tanzania and Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Barclays Bank. Dr Dau is a very big supporter of Islamic Help and purchased and donated the initial land for Islamic Help to build the Eco Village on.

Lord Maclennan’s visit also included a tour of our Cordoba Girls Secondary School in Dar es Salaam where he spent an afternoon with the pupils who did a presentation on environmental/recycling projects and a news report on the Ebola virus.

Other highlights included meeting Islamic Help’s Mission Possible volunteers on deployment in Kilwa and Islamic Help staff at our offices in Dar es Salaam.

Lord Maclennan’s tribute to Eco Village

“I was delighted and privileged to be invited by Islamic Help to visit their projects in Tanzania. I spent a week seeing a range of their amazing local schemes – all of which are aimed at benefiting local communities irrespective of their faith.

I was particularly impressed with their Eco Village programme where Islamic Help has established various methods of permaculture and environmental conservation in order to train the local community to respond to major challenges such as food security.

It was also very humbling to hear about the work Islamic Help are doing to support local orphans. I met Tiba and her friends who told me how they had been helped into education and a better life by Islamic Help.

It was overwhelming to see the commitment and dedication by young volunteers from the UK, local Islamic Help staff and the communities themselves to ensure that these projects make a difference to the lives of local people. I’m proud to be an advocate for this work in Tanzania.”

Islamic Help has worked in Tanzania for over 6 years and have many ongoing projects there benefiting thousands. They still need your support