When you’ve been working somewhere for two and a half years, as I have in Tanzania, you develop expectations for what you will see when you visit a community and what you will hear about their development efforts. However, a recent visit to the community of Wagete near Serengeti National Park a month or two ago completely blew away my expectations, and even those of the partner staff who have been working regularly with them. Here’s what happened.
Over the last year, I have been working with one of our church partners, the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania’s Mara and Ukerewe Diocese (AICT MUD) to use funding from the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC) and ideas from World Renew and the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD-i) to help communities identify the main issues that keep them in poverty. We want to help them see how they can address these issues themselves without depending on us or others. In Wagete, male and female community members used seeds to vote for the identified issues, represented by pictures, were the most important to them. (For example, they could vote by placing ive seeds on "clinic" and two seeds on "school.") Then we discussed the challenges to addressing the issues and what they wanted to do about them. The community members identified three main issues:
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In health care: A medical dispensary had been built, but the doctor did not want to move to the village so people had to walk 12 km to get medical help
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In education: There were too few teachers at the school, and it was too far away to walk to safely, putting girls especially at risk, as well as causing poor attendance.
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In agriculture: The increasingly unpredictable and insufficient rains have made it very hard for farmers to feed their families using existing agricultural practices.
Once the community identified these three priorities, we taught them better ways to plant their crops, gave them better quality cassava seeds, and helped them form community committees to work on solutions for their health and education problems. As my partners and I traveled to a follow up meeting with the community members, we intended to form an action plan for the year.
Imagine our surprise when they gave us their progress report: they had already completed most of the work themselves! They had spoken with the District Medical Officer,fixed up the house and dispensary, and consequently the doctor had just moved into the village. The Wagete community members built three houses to successfully attract permanent teachers to work at the local school, trained parents along with the teachers on the importance of good school attendance, and were finishing the girls' boarding house so students can stay at the school to avoid the long and dangerous two-hour walk each day.
The agricultural situation had also improved. Mr. Gorani (one of the elders and also an evangelist in the community) said, "Our agriculture practices are completely different than they were last year. Farmers used to just throw the seeds from their hip. Now they know how to plant with more skill, and the cassava plants from the better quality seeds are ready for harvest and for selling to others. We are seeing much better results than last year, thanks to AICT and World Renew."
In addition, the people reported that membership in the community church had grown from 30 to 150 people in the last three years because of the way that the church has reached out to help them. They say their lives have really been changed by the church. Many of the youth have turned away from alcoholism and are now involved in church Bible studies and singing in the youth choir.
We were overwhelmed by the ownership and initiative the community showed in tackling these problems and by the spiritual transformation in the community. “You helped us become aware of these problems, but we saw that it should be up to us to deal with them. They are our problems, not AICT's or World Renew's," said the head of the Health Committee, Mr. Kaswahili.
This is an inspiring demonstration of how our work transforms and empowers communities to take charge of the issues that keep people in poverty. They can step out from under the perception that they are powerless and need others to fix their problems. As this training is being given through the local church (AICT), people learn that God cares about their lives and that as their provider, He equips them to transform their community. People are coming to Jesus because the church is reaching out to them, and they recognize that God is the One in whom to put their faith. We want to spread this message to all the villages involved in our programs.
Inspiring People through Song – Tanzanians love singing, and one of the common ways to communicate a message to a group is through an inspiring song. In Wagete, we sang "Wanawake na maendeleo, tufanye kazi tusonge mbele." “Women and development, let's work together to move ahead.”
Development – Another song they love to sing says: "Mimi sitarudi nyuma, nasonga mbele, ahead. namwangalia Yesu wangu. I will not go back, I am moving ahead, I have set my eyes on my Jesus.”
Deputation – We will be back in Canada and America for deputation this fall to speak to churches and supporters about the work we are doing in Tanzania. We will be in Canada from September to early December. Please let us know if you would like to have us come speak with your church, or if you would like some time to visit with me and my family. We may already be planning a presentation near you.
Praise:
- Another year of funding for our MCIC program that is strengthening community and organizational leadership.
- Another year of funding for the Land Rights and Food Security program in Sengerema.
- A great year for our sons Ryan and Jeremy at the international school here in Mwanza. They have just completed Grade 3 & Grade 1.
Prayer:
- Safe travels for our deputation and a time of refreshment for the family.
- Opportunities to meet and speak with many supporters about our work.
- God's blessing on the work of our partner church organizations here in Tanzania.
- A good start to our new five-year CIDA program
Blessings,
Program Consultant
World Renew Tanzania
Over the last year, I have been working with one of our church partners, the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania’s Mara and Ukerewe Diocese (AICT MUD) to use funding from the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC) and ideas from World Renew and the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD-i) to help communities identify the main issues that keep them in poverty. We want to help them see how they can address these issues themselves without depending on us or others. In Wagete, male and female community members used seeds to vote for the identified issues, represented by pictures, were the most important to them. (For example, they could vote by placing ive seeds on "clinic" and two seeds on "school.") Then we discussed the challenges to addressing the issues and what they wanted to do about them. The community members identified three main issues: