by Barbara Joye | Feb 4, 2016 | Africa 2016
Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world. — Malala Yousafzai The 220 kids at Kyaseni Primary School had been told of our expected visit. Some of them were so excited about the ‘guests from USA’ coming to their school that they were unable to sleep the night before. International visitors are a rare happening in this mountain village. Our group was warmly welcomed by the Headmaster and we were invited to sign the school’s Guest Book. We then spent time with the school’s eight teachers, happy to meet and share conversation and questions about our respective lives, work, and challenges. Talk eventually turned to ‘water’ where we were told that “the lack of water is the school’s biggest problem”. Our Water Project Manager Alphonse Ngowi had attended this very same primary school some 60 years ago. Years later, he had built with his own hands the small building that is still being used as a kindergarten today. With this personal connection, the possibility of bringing safe water to Kyaseni Primary School kids carried a special excitement for all of us! The Uru Safe Water Project is a community participation project, so the Headmaster and teachers were provided with the required next steps for water connection to their school. Simply said, they must write to our local managing partners for connection, the technician will then visit the school to provide particulars of connecting to the Maji ya Uru (Uru Water) system and then the school committee (parents and administrators) must agree to cover the small fees for metered water usage. These...
by Barbara Joye | Nov 6, 2014 | Kilimanjaro 2014
Lucia’s family was burdened heavily by poverty, so she stopped going to school at the end of her primary years in 2008 when they could not pay her school fees. She worked at home for the next several years, helping her family grow food, tending to household chores and carrying water daily. But in her heart an unrelenting dream to continue her schooling would not die. Desperate for a way forward, Lucia knocked on the door of kind neighbors Alphonse & Eva Ngowi in 2011. She had watched Alphonse do community service as the water project manager for ICBD. Eva, too, cooperated with ICBD in her founding of the Acorn Women’s Cooperative, providing skill development for a small group of Uru women creating fair trade products. She told them of her family’s hard situation, shared her dream for education and asked for their help. The Ngowi’s listened carefully to Lucia’s request for assistance with her continued education but were at a loss as to how to help. They lived a modest village life and still had 3 children they were supporting in their educations. But Lucia was adamant in her dreaming and persuasive in her appeal. With parental permission, they decided she would stay in the Ngowi home for the time being. Here she would help in the household and learn sewing and tailoring skills from the Acorn Women’s group. Lucia was hardworking and appreciative for this shelter and opportunity, but in her own words: “my heart still ached for secondary school education”. I met Lucia in early 2012 during a work trip to Tanzania and was touched by...
by Barbara Joye | Oct 20, 2014 | Kilimanjaro 2014
In Uru Tanzania the dirt roads are rough and pitted, the paths are steep, and walking or driving is often dangerous. Seasonal small rains turn the red clay soil into slippery impassable slides that are treacherous for vehicles and anyone on foot. An Uru teacher was recently making her way to school on a path wet from the night’s rain. While navigating a particularly steep ravine she slid and tumbled into the crevasse below. The teacher survived the fall with bruising but no broken bones, fortunate, at least this time, no lasting injury occurred. Our good friends Antonia and Tingi were upset and concerned about not only what had happened to the teacher, but about the potential for future injury to others. With the vision and initiative we have come to deeply appreciate from our Uru friends, they resolved that ‘something must be done’. Antonia asked her husband Tingi, a retired engineer & volunteer for our water project, to design a simple bridge spanning this ravine children and teachers cross daily. Antonia gathered lumber from her farm and asked several village men to bring tools to the planned bridge site. A sturdy bridge was built that very Saturday rising from the concern of one woman for another and facilitated by a little wood, a few helping hands, and the belief that the problem at hand could and therefore should be solved NOW! The image of this bridge in far off Tanzania reminded me of the bridges we all have an opportunity and obligation to build. Bridges we are called to build in order to span the gaps of a life less...
by Barbara Joye | Mar 4, 2014 | AFRICA 2014-JANUARY-MARCH
In all my life I could never have imagined that a water cistern would become a ‘beautiful sight’. But in ways that are nothing short of God given and mysterious, I am now moved to tears by the Grandfather Cistern taking form in Kyaseni Village. Mr. Antony Ngowi donated a piece of his precious land where the cistern is taking form, to ‘honor his father and his father’s father and their fathers’. He is deeply happy to be an important part of gifting the Uru community with clean water. He is also providing a watchful eye during construction, as well as a wide smile and a warm embrace, to all who come to visit and marvel at the cistern taking form. The circular cistern has become a symbol of hope and an affirmation of perseverance for not only the surrounding community, but for recent visitors, too. Our friends and partners in a new water borehole project being developed in Kikatiti stood quietly with us during a recent tour, imagining such a reality for the families and school kids challenged by drought and high fluoride in their Meru mountain area. Long time partners Rev. Sandy and Jean from Eau Claire Wisconsin came a long way too, to stand at the cistern. They were reminded once again that the part they and their church community have played over the years through prayer and fundraising, has created health and hope for Uru people. On completion of the cistern, the amount of available clean water will double and be made available to twice as many people. So Jim and I come to watch...
by Barbara Joye | Feb 5, 2014 | AFRICA 2014-JANUARY-MARCH
On a recent visit to Alphonse’s Kyaseni village home, we were alerted to ‘something happening’ by the insistent barking of Simba, the watch dog. Simba is Swahili for ‘lion’, and Simba was living up to his name quite nobly, barking fiercely and straining at his leash. As Alphonse investigated further, he announced that ‘one of the pigs has escaped and is now free-range’. So we all rushed outside to congratulate Simba for his successful watch dogging, as well as to contemplate the situation of the runaway and now happily roaming pig. Alphonse was followed by Jean towards the pig, and I was amazed to see Jean take a position that looked like a linebacker’s stance getting ready to make a tackle. I grabbed a camera, since I was pretty certain my pig catching skills would be inadequate, and Rev. Sandy took up a safe position on the porch. First efforts to drive the pig towards the pen were fruitless, with the pig easily maintaining a safe distance from Alphonse and Jean. More aggressive efforts to corral the pig worked up a sweat (for the people, not the pig) but no progress was made until a group of school boys came along. Seeing the problem, the young men eagerly joined in the chase. With everyone working together, the pig was driven toward the pen but remained elusive, by running underneath the corral. Now cornered, the pig began squealing loudly and indignantly at his predicament. One young man saw his chance, went down on his belly and grabbed the pig’s hind legs. The pig was pulled into the open and the...
