My Week in Tanzania: Days Five & Six

Catch up on Days Three & Four

Day Five

The confident children of Nkoma

The children at this primary school in Nkoma are a delight. There are so many girls, which is a great sign of development in an area where an educated girl is not worth as much as a girl with no education when it comes time to marry.

In Luguru as soon as my camera came out the children would run away. In Nkoma they fight to get in the shot! I love their playful confidence.

The headmaster of this school is a fresh-faced, enthusiastic young man. He tells us how thankful and fortunate he feels for all the assistance the school has received from World Vision, including classrooms, an office, a water tank, desks and books.

He tells us that because of these improvements, school attendance has increased and children are achieving better results.

Girls from another primary school in Nkoma learn
about hygiene at one of the shallow wells.

Last year, 25 out of 46 students at this school graduated from 7^th grade to secondary school. That number seems far from satisfactory, especially for an area where World Vision is removing its assistance. I asked how many students would have graduated before World Vision’s help. His reply was – at the most – four.

There is a long journey ahead for Nkoma but for this school to go from having 8% of students graduate, to 54% is a massive achievement.

It is so important to look at where these communities have come from and not just where they are, and to give them the grace to continue on their journey.

Some children leave home when they are adults, while some leave home when they are still teenagers. They may technically be able to look after themselves, but they still have some lessons to learn. Nkoma ADP is a mature teenager about to leave the care of its parent – World Vision. However, World Vision will be there to counsel and guide if needed.

Although the initiatives that the community wanted World Vision to help them with have been completed, not all are fully utilised yet.  It is a reflection of a model of development that World Vision has learnt from and has caused us to focus more on empowerment, as witnessed in Budekwa and Luguru.

This is not to say that the achievements in Nkoma have been in vain – far from it. The health centre, shallow wells, the dam, the schools, and so on have set a solid foundation for the community to build on so that the lives of families continue to improve. It is clear that the leaders of Nkoma have the vision for this to happen.

When God appeared to Moses and told him to deliver His people from Egypt, Moses felt so incapable of doing what the Lord was asking. So God  asked Him, “What do you have in your hand?” All he had was a shepherd’s staff – but God was able to use that, even to part the Red Sea.

The people of Nkoma have a lot in their hands, which they can do so much with. I look forward to celebrating these things with them tomorrow at the closing ceremony.
View the achievements in Nkoma on the WVNZ website

Day Six

In my WV gear for the Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony was quite emotional for me. It was touching to hear how far the community has come in so many areas.

 A community leader shared many achievements;  farmers now harvest 17 bags of maize per acre instead of 4, cows produce 12 litres of milk per day instead of 1, 99% of children attend school instead of 50%. The achievements went on and on. But there are still challenges. So he called on the local government to support the community.

The government officials responded in the affirmative. They say that they are here to ensure that the development work continues and does not go backwards. If the government and the community can work together to make this happen, there will be a bright future ahead for Nkoma.


Seth Le Leu, the Chief Advisor for
International Development and HEA at
WVNZ, but more importantly - my travel
buddy, gives a speech on behalf of
WVNZ and the Kiwi sponsors of Nkoma.
(Translated into Swahili here by
Machibya Mwalla, our excellent host from
WV Tanzania.)

It was wonderful to hear World Vision being honoured by the people. They acknowledged that World Vision worked with people regardless of tribe, religion or gender. This is something that I have told many sponsors over the years so to hear it being testified by those who experienced it makes me so proud.

Most of all, it was moving to hear our sponsors acknowledged. The people know that sponsors are not necessarily rich and they appreciate their commitment to supporting Nkoma.

As a Kiwi, I am so proud that 5000 New Zealanders have changed the lives of 50,000 people, including 23,000 children, half way around the world in Nkoma. The impact of a little country like New Zealand helping Tanzanians who they will never meet will last long after the final dollar is donated.

The Regional Commissioner put it best at the ceremony – “This kind of giving is not about wealth, it is about the heart. If we can learn from this kind of giving, we will be able to move ahead.”

Party time!

Some of the children of Nkoma, sharing
about the changes in their community
in the form of a rap

Now I am starting the long journey home and there is a lot for me to reflect on.

At the beginning of the week, when we arrived in Mwanza, it rained and our driver told us that if it rains on the day that you arrive in a place, it is a sign that you are bringing a blessing. Only the people I have encountered will be able to say whether that has been the case. I pray it has.

This lovely little boy Joseph really liked me,
and/or my camera

How blessed I have been this week! It is a blessing just to be in Africa, this vast and beautiful continent with amazing people. It is a place with so many resources and so much potential. I can understand why many people lose their hearts in Africa, even though I have only glimpsed Tanzania.

Surprisingly, the people who have made the biggest impression on me during this trip is our World Vision staff who live and work in the communities. I could write about them all day long. These wonderful Tanzanians, a few of them from the areas where we are working, are some of the loveliest people I have ever met. They are passionate about seeing the lives of the communities they work with change for the better. Some of them sacrifice a lot to achieve that, including living apart from their own families.

I have witnessed their determination at the beginning of a project, as they come to terms with the many barriers to development and prepare to work with the communities for the next 15 years to create sustainable solutions.

I have seen them struggle with loss as the project enters its final year. These communities are not just ‘projects’ to them, they are friends and family and it is a bittersweet time as they prepare to say farewell.

I have enjoyed celebrating their successes and seen the pride in their eyes as the communities take their final steps towards having full responsibility for their own development.

My final reflection is this –

I have continually been prompted to think of when Thomas refused to believe that Jesus was risen. When he finally saw the Christ with His own eyes and touched His wounds,  Jesus said to him, “You believe because you have seen.  Blessed are those who believe but have not seen.”

Our sponsors are amazing. They believe in what we have seen. 

Seeing an image on a screen is nothing to seeing it in person. Yet our wonderful sponsors trust us, they believe in our testimony and they take action. They take a leap of faith when they sponsor a child, but we need to help them keep the faith by showing  them the impact of their financial sacrifice in the lives of all sponsored children and the communities we serve.

I never thought I would cry for our sponsors while I was in Tanzania, but I feel so privileged to get this opportunity to be here, a privilege that most of them will not have, and now this opportunity feels like a huge responsibility.  I leave Tanzania asking myself what I will do about what I have seen.

So perhaps I have been changed, just a little, after all.

Happy to be home with my proud family

http://www.worldvision.org.nz