Lucy used to work with John Tate, the previous Chair, when they were both members of PA Consulting Group. He arranged for her to volunteer at Buguruni School and Umivita during a sabbatical during 2007-08, and she has considered herself half-Tanzanian ever since. Although Lucy was working abroad in Rwanda for most of 2010, the Committee barely missed her under Nigel Roberts' glorious leadership. After finishing in Rwanda, Lucy went back to Dar es Salaam for two months, to represent Tanzanear "on the ground" and push some projects on. She is now back in the UK.

Nigel is COO of Willis Insurance and has two deaf sons, both of whom have fallen in love with Buguruni School. Hamish, the elder, volunteered there for four months and was a huge hit with the children. Nigel has already visited the school four times himself and had formed a strong relationship with Daudi Mwakawago of TSD. Since Daudi's sad death, Nigel is looking forward to getting to know the Acting Chair of TSD, N'nyapule Madai more. Nigel took on the role of Acting Chair while Lucy was working in Rwanda. He is now coping on his own while his wife, Judith, is living in Dar for a while to focus on the school and Umivita.

John has been doing independent consultancy work, mainly overseas, since leaving a senior post in a large UK government department - a job he describes as "pretty taxing but enjoyable and fulfilling". A career spent delving around in complex financial and legal situations and in working with government in the UK and many countries around the world provide a wealth of experience which John is happy to share with us. In his spare time he enjoys golf, cooking and an ever changing malt whisky collection.

Toshi has carried out the arduous duties of Tanzanear's Treasurer for many years, drawing on his experience from a long career in banking. We couldn't manage without his eye for detail and appetite for hard work.

Judith is married to Nigel. She is a one-woman whirlwind, on the boards of several deafness-related charities, a governor of Mary Hare School, night-shelter volunteer, provider of much food and drink for our committee meetings, and fundraiser extraordinaire. The first of her many planned visits to the school was in December 2008, and she has since been back twice. She climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money in January last year, and brought in a huge amount: more than £20,000! We are all very proud of her. We are lucky that she is absolutely unstoppable, and try not to get in the way. Judith has currently given up her London life to spend some time in Dar es Salaam. She is living in the convent, and working very hard at the school and Umivita. This is a huge sacrifice and we all wish Judith the very best.

Stuart is a member of the BBC's Strategy Group, although he is currently on sabbatical researching an MPhil at Clare College, Cambridge. He first visited Tanzania in 2004 and is himself partially deaf. He led the development of our new website and carries out sundry other tasks too exciting to list here.

Alison lives in Dar es Salaam, accompanying her husband, who is also a great Tanzanear supporter. She has many years of experience in HR and management, and we are very lucky to have her as a liaison person. As well as her official Committee duties, she has developed a sideline in "providing relief breaks for people who stay in the convent", which includes making her swimming pool availabe, and serving perfectly mixed G&Ts on the balcony. Although it looks as though she has an arm growing out of her head, this is not actually the case.

Susan Pym first encountered Tanzanear through her friends Judith and Nigel Roberts, and was thrilled to visit Buguruni School last year with her family, as part of the Mission group who renovated the dormitory block. She is a full time volunteer, working with Youth Offenders and representing the Church of Scotland on local and national committees. Susan is married to BBC correspondent Hugh Pym and they have three teenaged children.