Our hearts have been stirred and our minds challenged this week. On Monday morning we had the honour of visiting the homes of two St Jude students who are sponsored by Brian’s family and his Rotary Club (Stortford Lodge). Ross and Shelley visited Felista Johana and her family while Brian, Helen and Yvonne visited Upendo Phidelis and her family.
Felista is a lovely young lady with great ambitions. She is currently in Form 2 at St Judes. She hopes to attend university in the future and study Biology to become a vet. She does very well at school, and is often in the top 10 students in almost all her subjects. Her teachers speak highly of her character and determination to learn.
16yr old Felista (Sponsored by Stortford Lodge Rotary Club) lives a few kilometers south east of the School of St Jude, in a very simple mud home with her parents and siblings. The hospitality of these beautiful people is so humbling. They have so little yet give so much. Felista’s mother cooked a feast of rice and beans, and the ultimate sign of appreciation – we were given a soda (Pepsi/Sprite). We were pleased to be able to offer a few simple gifts such as 1kg rice, 1kg sugar, soaps and a few other “luxuries” and school supplies for the children. Things that seem so simple to us are an incredible blessing to these families.
One thing that was really hard to comprehend was the sheer distances that Felista and her family have to walk simply to get water. There is no water source close to her house, and when asked about storing rain water they said the tanks and guttering were too expensive for them. Instead they, like many other families, walk for miles to get water each day.
The visit to Upendo’s family was equally enlightening. The family live in a mud hut a long way from the school on the family farm which is 45 minutes drive up the side of Mt Meru on a 4wd track. We definitely got the impression that few cars travel that way. Upendo is standard 5 (12 yrs old) and therefore is boarding at the school during the week, however, to go home in the weekends she must walk 2 hours from the bus stop to get home.
Upendo’s family was very welcoming. We were invited in for morning tea with coffee, sodas and cake – we could tell it was a very special occasion, and were treated as guests of honour. It was very humbling. The family are farmers and grow maize, beans, cassava and potatoes on their property of almost an acre. Mama also sells chai (tea) to passers-by for a few extra shillings.
Upendo is a very friendly, inquisitive and bright girl. She received the first in maths prize and was third overall in all subjects for all of standard 5 and dreams of becoming an accountant when she finishes school. She and her parents were humbly appreciative of the sponsorship, and clearly enjoyed the opportunity of meeting Brian, her sponsor.
Last Monday at our Rotary meeting, we met the founder of an orphanage just down the road from St Judes. We arranged to visit her and the children this Monday afternoon.
In comparison to some of the other orphanages in town it is lovely, clean and relatively small with only 15 children ranging between 1-8yrs old. The children were so excited to see us, and were eager to play with the ‘Wazungu’. We taught them an African version of ‘duck, duck, goose’ and had a great time laughing and playing with them.
The stories behind each smiling face break your heart. Children who were discarded at birth, children whose parents have died from AIDS, and mothers who have died in childbirth. They have every reason to be angry and upset at the hand they were dealt, yet they are enthusiastic and energetic. There is hope for them now. It may not look like hope as we imagine it to look… but it is there. You can see it in their eyes.
After a very full and emotionally testing Monday, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday at the school focused on our work projects. We have painted building blocks for junior rooms – just a few top coats remain to be done. We have also painted the smaller of the two playgrounds, and spend hours covering textbooks in the library again. I have no doubt that we all could cover books with our eyes closed now! Collectively we can cover over 400 books a day! However the pile seems to be forever growing!
The girls took a welcome opportunity to escape work for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon and ventured into the huge central market. We dodged muddy puddles caused by frequent downpours, and weaved our way through pathways between stalls. Each section of the market sold different produce. The spice shops fascinated us. They were so visually appealing! The fish however was not! Shop after shop sold shriveled, dried fish and eels. The flies enjoyed that part of the market the most! After a few close calls on the muddy paths, we stumbled across the mango section of the market – which made any preceding unpleasant moments worthwhile. We stocked up on delicious fresh mangoes and have been enjoying them ever since!
We had the ‘pleasure’ of bringing a wood lathe, which had been donated by a Rotarian, all the way from New Zealand with us for the carpenter’s workshop at the Usa River Leprosy Mission here in Tanzania. On Thursday afternoon we could gladly drop the 90kg boxes off at their final resting place! We visited the mission and were shown around. Rotary had a large part to play in the establishment and initial support of part of the project. The Mission houses a number of lepers and their families, and help to medicate and restore the lives to normality as much as possible. They also have a variety of craft projects and business ventures (making school uniforms on contract) as a means of self funding but they are struggling to make ends meet however.
Every time you turn your head in this country you find yourself face to face with people in desperate need. There is just so much human need.
Friday was spent finishing off the painting projects, and with more time in the library. We once again assisted with the ‘testing’ of children seeking a place in the school for next year. As our third testing session we were well versed in our roles supervising the written tests. It was a rainy afternoon, and the poor children looked to have spent many hours in the rain awaiting their turn. Sadly, only 6 children were accepted to the next stage of home visits and further assessments to take place tomorrow.
Friday evening we relaxed with a dinner out at Njiro cinema complex, where multiple restaurants share a dining courtyard area and we were all able to choose different foods. This concept could definitely take off in New Zealand!
Tomorrow, Saturday, we head to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengetti on safari for a short break.
