system will be an invaluable resource, enabling 'Village Africa' to keep med- ical records, present health care ses- sions and keep accounts.


'Sumdog-athon' sponsored Maths event raises money for village school in Tanzania


Two Year 7 Maths classes from Felixstowe Academy have, between them, answered over 8,200 Maths questions in a week long sponsored event, and have raised an amazing total of £570. Students nominated Maths topics they wanted to practice, and were challenged to answer a minimum of 100 questions correctly on the 'Sumdog' Maths website.


This money has been enough to buy a new netbook with long battery life, a rechargeable external battery and two portable solar panel units for a small charity, 'Village Africa'. The equipment was recently presented by the students to Bethany Taylor, who is going to work as a volunteer teacher in Yamba, a remote mountain village in Tanzania.


'Village Africa' is a young charity which aims to alleviate poverty in the village through healthcare and education. To this end, since they started 5 years ago, they have introduced health care edu- cation, built classrooms for the school and employ nurses at the health post: all this in a village without electricity! The netbook and solar power charging


Bethany visited both Maths classes and gave a fascinating talk and presentation about life and school in the village. Drawing on her own experience from her first trip, she was able to tell us all about a typical school day in Yamba - which is very different to school life here! Students arrive at school at 7am to clean the school before starting les- sons at 8.30am. Some lessons can have 80 students in the classroom, with just the one volunteer teacher. The cane is sometimes used because detention is impractical as the young students always need to go home to help on the family farm and to do the chores, such as collecting water, fire- wood and pounding maize.


Our students asked lots of questions, and were surprised to learn that sec- ondary school students in Tanzania have to pay to go to school. In addi- tion, they not only buy their own books and equipment, but also their own desk! Maybe this is why secondary school enrolment in Tanzania is only around 5%. Bethany also taught the students how to count and prepare some simple Maths questions in Swahili. Student Meegan Walne said, "Thank you very much for coming in to give us the talk. I really want to go to Tanzania now!"


Bethany thanked all the students for their enthusiasm and hard work, and


said "You've no idea how helpful this equipment is going to be in the village. I am flying out there in two weeks and promise to send back photos and emails to you all when I have the opportunity to get to the nearest town - it's only 3 hours away on an unmade road! I can't wait to show the children in the village the photos we've taken today."


Green up your garden with compost bins and water butts


Cont’d from page 23...


Cooked food waste is not suitable for home composting bins but can of course be put in the brown bin which is emptied every fortnight and turned into compost. Thanks to the support of its local communities, Suffolk Coastal is ranked in the top 10 of dis- tricts in England for recycling and composting.


Small businesses should claim their rate relief


The call has gone out to small busi- nesses in east Suffolk to check that they are getting all the help with pay- ing their business rates that they are


entitled to after figures were pub- lished showing that Suffolk Coastal and Waveney are in the top ten for claims. A Government published league table has ranked Suffolk Coastal fifth and Waveney seventh both with a percent- age of 43 per cent of businesses that are being paid a Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) discount. Under the scheme ratepayers who occupy only one rated property in England, where the rateable value is £12,000 or less, will receive a reduc- tion in their rate liability. SBRR is fund- ed from the overall national pot of business rates and is completely inde- pendent of the general Council Tax. You can also qualify for this relief if you as the ratepayer occupy one main property and other additional proper- ties in England providing the addition- al properties do not have rateable val- ues of£2,600 or more and the com- bined rateable values of all the proper- ties is under £18,000. In these cases only the main property will get the relief.


"The rules mean that you may qualify for SBRR from the day you move into an eligible property. It really is worth people contacting our helpful business rates team to get advice or visit our websites as your business might not have to pay any business rates at all or be due a sizeable discount and claims can be backdated to April 2010," added Cllr Barnard. For more informa- tion call the business rates team on 01394 444544


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