Peace Lutheran Ministry to AIDS Victims in Tanzania
July 2011
Health Center
The Mwanga Parish Health Center had occupied two buildings near the main intersection in Mwanga, one for treatment of HIV/AIDS patients and one for general treatment of illness. The latter building has been closed and all of its functions have been moved to a new government health center. The HIV/AIDS treatment center is still in full operation. We bought new HIV testing kits for them while we were there from funds supplied by a member of Peace. We expected that the new government health center would be supplied by the government with all of the items they needed, and this is supposed to be the situation. However, it is not what is happening. They lack sheets for the beds, mosquito nets for children under 5 years, and diapers (alias drypers) for newborns. Dr. Aubrey, who was director of the parish health center and the chair of our orphan committee in Mwanga, has moved to the health center at Bonde La Ruvu in a large Maasai area, still in the Pare Diocese. That center was built by German Lutherans, particularly a group of doctors, who continue to support and supply it.
Education for Orphans
The orphan committee has begun a more rigorous system of having all students come to the church and apply for secondary, high school, college, and university scholarships. This way they can confirm that they are really orphans and are really attending school. In addition, they will get lists from the schools of all AIDS orphans that they will check against their lists. As of the second term of 2011 we have 200 students in 22 secondary schools, 5 in trade school, 4 in teachers college, 1 in agricultural college, and 3 in university. Several students were removed from our lists for the second term because they have not been attending classes. This saves us some money, but has all the feeling of a failure.
We have not provided uniforms for primary school students for three years. I had been told that they had found other funding for that. On this trip I found out that the other funding dried up two years ago, so no one has been providing uniforms for two years. We need to resume this program at the beginning of the 2012 school year. This will be in conjunction with our work with AIDS widows (see below). The cost per student will be higher than before, as inflation has hit Tanzania, particularly for shoes. We will know later exactly what the cost per student will be. At this point I am guessing it will be close to $35 per student.
AIDS Widows
We bought three regular treadle sewing machines and an embroidery machine and paid to have three widows trained to sew. They learned to sew straight sewing, but did not learn enough on the embroidery machine to use it commercially. One of these widows has another job now and two are still sewing. We have seven more widows who want to learn to sew. The two widows who are trained to sew will teach the seven others. We have hired an expert tailor for two months to teach the two how to use the embroidery machine and supervise them in teaching the seven new students. We are purchasing four new machines, so we will have seven machines for the classes, and buying the supplies and materials necessary for the classes as the result of the generosity of two Peace member families. We do not yet know what the total cost of this project will be and we may have to ask for further funds in the future, but we have the funds necessary to start. When the widows have reached an adequate level of expertise, they will begin making uniforms for primary school orphans as well as doing business in the Widows Shop and taking some goods to market days. A woman from the Mwanga parish has volunteered to oversee this project and make sure it continues.
Mforo Well Project
The well continues to produce clear, clean water as fast as the solar pump can pump it out. While we were visiting the well Elliot counted 58 cows that came to drink from the trough, and they clearly knew where they were going, as they came running, not walking, to the water. We didn't even try to count the goats. We had quite a party at the well site, with singing, dancing, and a delicious meal cooked by the local women. The chairwoman of the District Committee was there and said that she would be bringing other people out to see this well as model of what can be done. The local committee for the well took the opportunity to ask her for three batteries so that the well could pump more strongly in cloudy weather. She said since we had done so much to provide the well, tank, trough, pump, and solar panels she thought the Mwanga District could provide the batteries. We began planning for getting water from the well to the three villages it serves. I suggested that as a first step they contact the District Commissioner, with whom I had talked earlier, and request that the District Water Engineer draw up a plan for the project so that we could have an accurate estimate of the costs. Mwanga now has a Rotary Club, so we will be going to the Pella Rotary Club to see if they will partner with the Mwanga club to get funds from Rotary International in a program they now have for water projects in developing countries. The villagers agreed that they would dig the ditches to lay the pipe from the well to the villages. That will be about four miles of trench dug by hand. We still have some money in a fund for pipe, and Sheffield Lutheran is interested in helping with a pipe project. When we get the water to the villages we will have to start examining whether it is still a need to provide housing for AIDS widows and orphans at the well site.
There is much more that can be done, and will be done in the future. But our ministries together are making a significant impact on the lives of real people. I have taken a Swahili proverb as my motto, Haba na haba hujaza kibaba "A tiny bit at a time will finally fill a basket."
For further information please contact :
Dick Whitaker
1198 Highway S71
Knoxville, IA 50138
(641)628-4360
rwhitaker@iowatelecom.net
Or
Bev Meyer
809 Hazel
Pella, IA 50219
(641)620-1604
its_mama_bev@yahoo.com
Please send gifts marked "AIDS Orphans" to:
Evangelism Committee
Peace Lutheran Church
410 W. 5th Street
Pella, IA 50219
Average for 1 year of support:
Primary School Student $30
Secondary School Student $170
Teacher Training College $365
Trade School $385
University $1700