Десять учеников из Камбрии отправятся в культурный обмен в Танзанию

A Cumbrian charity is flying out ten students and four leaders to Tanzania as part of its cultural exchange programme today. Cumbria Rungwe Community Link (CRCL), founded nearly 40 years ago in 1987, seeks to build connections between people in the Rungwe district of Tanzania and in Cumbria via cultural exchange trips in either direction. The CRCL Outward Group (students and leaders headed out to Tanzania from Cumbria) met last week in the Winter Gardens at Campus Whitehaven to pack donations for communities in Tanzania. CRCL volunteer Julia Lee spoke of her fond memories of her teenage trip with the charity: “I met a lady in Tanzania when I first went out in the late 1990s and I'm still friends with her. “Two years ago, when I went on the trip, I met up with her again and it was lovely to see her. “She's got a family now, she's married with kids and we're still in touch - and that's what's so good about it.” Eight of the students and two of the leaders are past or present students from St. Benedict's School in Whitehaven. The scheme works on a two-year cycle, with outbound trips involving Cumbrian groups visiting Tanzania for three weeks in the first year, and inward trips happening in the second using the same format. This year’s outward trip will include students visiting friends they made last year during the inward trip, deepening relationships with the Tanzanian people, and visiting sites that their fundraising has supported – such as blocks of toilets being built in each of the primary schools sponsored by the programme. In addition to this, students will take part in lessons in the schools they visit, attend community groups, and tour Rungwe’s must-see attractions. Ms Lee said: “They [the Cumbrian outward group] already know people from last year, so they're going to go and reunite with those friends. “And that's a big part of what makes the link special.” She expanded further, saying: “It's not really an educational trip per se, it's more about the cultural exchange. “It's about going over and experiencing life in Tanzania but not as a tourist, as a local.” Ms Lee said that last year, the visiting Tanzanian students were taken around primary and secondary schools, Whitehaven police and fire stations, and the RNLI allowed the teenagers to watch a boat launch at St Bees. She summarised: “It's a full West Cumbrian immersive experience.” The individual expense of the trip is entirely funded by students, with all proceeds from fundraising going separately to communities in Rungwe, who spend the money as they see fit. The charity was founded by a teacher called Roger Shipton Smith, whose mission was to create opportunities for west-Cumbrian students to see the world. Originally named the Copeland Rungwe Community Link, the organisation has since expanded to also cover what was known as Allerdale. When asked of her hopes and ambitions for the charity moving forward, Ms Lee said: “To continue for another forty years to give students in West Cumbria the opportunity to take part in a cultural exchange, because it is such a fantastic experience. “To continue to build, to grow, to get more volunteers, adult volunteers in the community involved.”