Members of Dunoon Community Group have returned home after completing another deeply moving volunteering visit to Arusha, marking the end of this year’s adult community trip to Tanzania.
The group’s final day was spent at Levolosi Primary School, a government-run school with more than 1,500 pupils and significant repair needs. It was the first time Dunoon volunteers had worked at the school, with the construction team involved in plastering, painting and replacing a classroom floor.
Organiser Chris Barrett described an emotional prize-giving ceremony to close the visit, as pupils put on a performance to thank the volunteers.
In a post on social media, he said: “Their preparation was admirable and we were more than happy to reward pupils for their efforts with gift bags.”
The adult trip mirrors the long-running school volunteering programme linked to Dunoon Grammar School and was designed to give parents and carers the chance to experience first-hand the impact of the work carried out by young people.
Mr Barrett thanked David Mitchell of Dunoon Grammar School for supporting the expansion of the project, adding: “This was a chance for our supportive parents and carers to experience a trip which our young people are offered and understand the tremendous impact their efforts have.
“This year’s adult volunteers trusted and believed in the goals of voluntary work and made an indelible impact on the people they met and the projects they supported.”
Reflecting on the wider purpose of the programme, Mr Barrett said: “The experience went far beyond traditional educational outcomes: Old-fashioned values of kindness, caring, compassion, empathy and helping others need to be taught and nurtured.
“Our world today seems to be short of these values as hate, racism and misogyny become more prominent.”
He added that while the trip may not fit an educational box, it delivered something increasingly vital.
Mr Barrett also spoke of the profound lessons learned from the Tanzanian communities themselves.
He continued: “Life is unimaginably hard for a lot of people in Tanzania.
“Their resilience, strength, work ethic and sheer kindness remain steadfast and underpin their incredible sense of community. We need their perspective as much as they may need our support.”
Since launching the school volunteering trips in 2023, Mr Barrett has now visited Tanzania four times and is developing plans to build a new primary school. During this latest visit, the group viewed land that has already been purchased and met members of the local Maasai community who will benefit from the project.
Further strengthening links between Dunoon and Tanzania, two representatives who have supported the volunteering work have been invited to visit Dunoon later this month, from March 22 to March 28, as a gesture of thanks.
