Bahati's Story

Life here is difficult. Not so much for me. But certainly for so many of my students. Education is not valued in this community, and it is difficult to instill the importance of learning in a community where the worth is not present and often not applicable. For a very select number of students, their education will take them places, while the rest will generally continue village life as parents, farmers, or herders. This is something I’ve come to accept, because there is only so much that I could do in a short amount of time. It will take years, even generations, to truly promote education at a new level in these communities. And such is life.

However, for the few students who are gifted, driven and devoted to their studies, it becomes imperative that their education is encouraged. These are the few who will make it out of the village to pursue higher degrees, hold government positions and make more of their lives. These are the bright stars of Tanzania’s tomorrow…

When my headmaster came in to share the story of one of my students this past week, a huge wave of emotion crashed down on me. Bahati is by far the top Form 1 student at Bukiriro. He is incredibly smart and a natural leader in class. His English is better than many Form 4 students. In class, he would raise his hand to answer any and every question I posed during our lessons. He scored nearly 100% on every assignment, quiz and exam I gave, and was always eager to ask questions and assist any of the teachers when needed. Needless to say, he is certainly going places.

But then, come to find out that his mother is not supporting his education. She told him if he was going to study in secondary school, then he would have to leave the house. So he did. And for a while he was living with the nuns in the community, until they decided they couldn’t support him because he is now a grown man. Sure, he is tall, but he is still a young, growing boy in need of a place to say and someone to support his education. With no other alternative, he returned home to his mother, who threatened not to feed him if he continued attending school. I can personally say that Bahati has never missed a day of school all term….which unfortunately means he has missed several meals in the past few weeks. Imagine if we didn’t serve the students porridge in the mornings? My heart aches….My headmaster found him studying at school late in the evenings a few days in a row, and when he heard the story became determined to find Bahati an alternative.

For now, that alternative is to stay with my headmaster and his family, who will care for him while he continues learning. My headmaster is one of the most loving, kind, and generous men I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and I am happy to hear that at least for now, Bahati’s basic needs of food and education will be taken care of. And as Marisa and I are moving out of our house, we were able to provide him with a mattress, sheet, pillow, blanket and bicycle. Knowing that he will also sleep soundly at night and that he’ll have a bicycle to travel, support the family, and potentially begin earning some money of his own, makes me confident that we will be hearing more of Bahati’s story in the coming years!

I am reminded of God’s unfailing love and provision. I am reminded that sometimes life is really difficult, but that this can be overcome by the power of persistence, the pursuit of your dreams, and one or two people who truly believe in you. I have been reminded of how blessed I am to have the untiring support of my family and friends, and I hope that in some small way, I was able to show the same love and support to Bahati and the rest of my students. They are all facing a daunting uphill battle, and unfortunately many of them will not make it to the top. But for Bahati, the boy whose name means “Luck,” there is a unique drive and unparalleled resolution to receive his education. Thoughts and prayers for Bahati, as he continues his education in a community that is continually trying to prevent him from learning…

“Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Romans 12:2

I'm going to miss him!

My Open Window

Have I mentioned that we bought 4600 kilograms of maize for my school?? Have I mentioned that I’m a math teacher…so I’ve finally done the math…and that is literally FIVE TONS of maize!

Wait…what…

Yes, that’s right 5 TONS. 10,000 pounds.

Each bag is 100kg of maize!

And who was I kidding last week, this will certainly last the entire year and then some. Potentially through next April...KUMBE!!!

Seriously I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who donated to this project. It was incredible watching load after load of maize be delivered and brought to my office this week. With each bag that was unloaded, all I could think was “This is another week all my students are guaranteed to eat.” Simply amazing.

I’m reminded of the story of five loaves and two fish…when Jesus fed 5,000 people and then still had 12 overflowing baskets of food remaining. Somehow, when I said I wanted to help feed the students for two months, it turned into 14 months. When I said my goal was $1500, we pulled together over $4000. When I wrote one blog post and a few facebook statuses, people generously jumped on board and believed in our project. When I say that Bukiriro Secondary is like a whole new school, I couldn't be happier about it...

And what have I learned? That God will provide if you simply trust in HIM. And while I've known this for years now, I have come to a whole new level of understanding of provision and faith. Ask and you shall receive. When I came to Tanzania, I knew I wanted to do more than simply teach esoteric mathematics concepts to students who will never need to know them...but I had no idea where this would take me. When I thought I had one opportunity to give back, it fell apart. But when God closes one door, He always opens a window. 

And when I look through that open window now, here is what I see...

4 months of uji down and 5 tons of maize later...

Uji Update!

I cannot thank everyone enough for your support of our Uji project! We have passed $2700, which is simple incredible! Not only have we purchased a water tank for the school grounds, fed all 300+ students uji everyday, fed all of the staff milk tea and mandazi daily, and employed two local man as our cook and as our supplier of flour and sugar, but now we also have the opportunity to purchase 4,600 kilograms of maize for the school to use for the rest of the year! That’s a LOT of maize! Which means a LOT of uji! And while I cannot guarantee that it will necessarily last until the end of the school year, I can safely say that it is enough to provide the students with uji for at least five more months after I leave.

We had a meeting on Thursday this week with all of the village board members, my headmaster, myself, and a few teachers, and I have been asked to relay their gratitude for your support. They are eternally grateful for the assistance in feeding the students, and while they have nothing to give in return, they are acutely aware of the impact this has had and are happy for the blessing we have given them. They look forward to continuing this relationship between Bukiriro and all of the schools, families and friends in America who have so generously donated. I assured them that my departure is not the end of our relationship, and that we will be in communication to continue promoting education in the community.

My headmaster also presented some exciting news at the meeting, saying that the government will be paying for the construction of 6 new pit latrines and they will also be finishing the repairs on one of the teacher’s houses. In addition, we were also selected as one of three schools that will be receiving outside funding to build a laboratory, two new classrooms and a third teacher house. So many great things! I can’t wait to return one day to see all these wonderful things come to fruition!

Bringing about change in a community happens one day at a time, and I can personally say that over the course of these past 9 months Bukiriro school, village and community have been positively changing and growing each and every day.

Birthday in the Bush!

While at the outset, celebrating a birthday in Muyenzi might not seem like the most exciting way to ring in 24 years on this planet. But overall, I must say that it was a very pleasant day. We woke up to the sound of rain pounding on the roof, a typical occurrence lately. And while this might normally make me feel trapped inside the house with nothing to do, it was my excuse to lie in bed reading Harry Potter until 11:30! How great is that? When it finally stopped raining around midday, the sun came out and we were certainly in the Tanzanian heat again. We took a stroll to visit Mama Kabibi and then to explore the fields and land around us. We live in such a beautiful part of the world, nearly completely untouched by man, other than the simple footpaths that meander the mountainsides and occasional mud hut. It’s easy to take for granted the beauty that surrounds me daily, so it was nice to have a day to wander aimlessly along the paths, exploring rice patties, smelling the flowers, and merely soaking in the loveliness of life here. We finally made our way back home and decided that it was the perfect day for some good old mac n’ cheese! Tasted just like home! For dinner, eggplant stew and homemade tortillas was certainly delicious, as was the birthday cake Marisa made for me! Funfetti!! While cooking a cake on our jiko never fails to be an adventure, this one faired decently well. And while slightly undercooked, neither of us has experienced symptoms from eating the raw eggs, so I would say it was a success! The cake even had candles that I blew out after a lovely rendition of “Happy Birthday!” was sung for me. And the evening was complete with a bottle of wine, just for good measure.

I even had a few cards and gifts to add to the celebration! Sue bought me a…unique…authentic singing Tanzanian birthday card, covered with hearts and glitter and the sappiest Happy Birthday message I’ve ever read. Marisa happened to find a “Best Friend” card, with two white children on the front holding hands…how perfect is that? Larissa, our friend from the Netherlands, brought Marisa and I both suckers and stroopwaffels(?), a Dutch delicacy from home, while also leaving us her hand sanitizer. Which might not sound so great, but when you live in here, there is no more practical gift you could receive! And while all of my Happy Birthday text messages didn’t come through until Monday afternoon (I HATE Vodacom…), and while I couldn’t read my facebook wishes until this weekend, it’s the thoughts that count! And I certainly appreciate everyone who took a moment to wish me happy birthday! I can’t wait to see you all again soon :)