Inspired

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

By Stephanie Amaya (First Fifth Global Advocate)

One of the most difficult things I’ve had to do thus far is not adjusting to the African lifestyle, it has not even been leaving my home, family and friends behind (though it was tough, I admit), it has been the key focus of all nonprofits: fundraising. Being present in Africa and adjusting to the lifestyle here, I have become an observer of the local people, culture, beliefs, traditions, and habits. Everyone so very colorful, happy, simple, embracing, charming, and creative. This is reflected in the jewelry, footwear, art work, clothing and the list goes on.

Literally, my inspiration. I thought it would be a brilliant idea to somehow offer local African made items to the states. How could I possibly do that? My wheels started turning and through brainstorming with ex-housemates, I came up with the idea of having an online website where I could post pictures of locally made artisan items. People need to see the wonderful things Tanzania has to offer. Authentic, quality, original, one of a kind items that are all hand-made by local communities and artists. It was the perfect way to connect the US and Africa where I would be helping out the local communities and local shops and at the same time fundraise where the profits made will go to my project at St. Timothy’s Boarding Home. I was on a mission to find the best things Moshi has to offer. This was the fun part. I met local business owners and local artists who became more than just business partners, we became friends. It was a quid pro quo type of situation. I then had a thought, it would be absolutely amazing if there was a way to get to the source directly. Where I could interact with the local communities where these businesses get their merchandise from.

How was I to do that? I thought to myself, “well if it’s meant to happen, then it will.” And it did.

Things in life sometimes can be serendipitous. I believe that every single person that you happen to meet serves a purpose in your life, whether small or big. We had two girls from Canada living in Abu Dhabi come stay with us. We befriended each other and immediately became a tripod. On a hot day, after work, we decided to go to the pool in town for a little R and R. We were poolside talking when this tall guy with a quite impressive mustache walks in and sits down to the left of us. We eventually started to talk and found out that they were three British doctors traveling by car from England to South Africa and they were currently passing through Tanzania. We hung out, talked, and decided to have a big group dinner inviting all of our friends the next day. We ended up being a group of 10 having nyoma choma (African BBQ) at Chagga Grill. They then told us they had met an expat the previous night who had invited them to his house party. They suggested we go, and obviously, we all went. There I met so many interesting people from different parts of the world. I also met a girl who is working with a local Maasai group in Msitu Wa Tembo.

Exactly the person I needed to meet!

She invited me to go to her workshop on the following Saturday and of course I agreed. We met at the truck stop at around 2pm. The idea was to get on the back of a truck and take it through the TPC plantation to the village. We stood there with a box of tomato seedlings each that we were going to give to the mama’s to plant at their home. Finally a truck worthy enough of our presence showed up and we hopped onto the back along with 15 other people. It was a hot day and thankfully I wore sunblock though I wish I had brought my glasses to keep the dust and particles from getting into my eyes. It was a bumpy and dusty 45 minute ride through the plantation. I had never seen the whole plantation, only the beginning part when I’d go to St. Timothy’s School. I was impressed at how beautiful, green, and well maintained it was. Even the roads were smoothly paved. To my surprise, the plantation is almost like a small town, with houses, a hospital, and a post office for its employees.

Finally, we reached the end of the plantation and cross a small narrow bridge over a river. I look to the horizon and see a beautiful trail of blue mountains. We reach the village and jump off the truck and walk over to the community meeting spot. I was excited to meet the Maasai woman for the first time. When they see me, I can equally see the excitement on their faces to be meeting me. They all walk up and embrace me, greeting me and shaking my hand one at a time. I couldn’t believe I was there meeting all these exotic women from one of the biggest tribes in Africa.

They were all so colorful and had amazing pieces of jewelry. I wanted all of it! They took out the jewelry they had and started dressing me in it. I became their dress up doll. We all laughed and who I assume to be the tribal mama leader kept holding my hand and talking to me in Swahili. After three months of living here I know a little bit of Swahili but definitely not enough to speak fluently but somehow we understood each other. I was invited to their home to meet their community out in a rural part. It was a long walk from town, but I didn’t care. We walked through the green fields with the blue mountains staring right at us. Huge baobob trees were all around us and I saw flora I hadn’t seen before.

We started off with just three of us and as we progressed into the field to the Maasai village we kept expanding. We had two Maasai girls and a grandmother walking with us along with a few dogs. We reach the village. It was impressive to see first hand their living conditions. They lived in nature, in hut houses, with the most minimal things. Everything they needed they had and nothing more.

They would spend their days herding the animals, taking care of the little ones, and making jewelry. Quite the simple life, and I appreciated every bit of it. They showed me their jewelry with such pride and confidence, by far these pieces were the nicest I had yet to see. It was exactly what I had been looking for but I couldn’t find it at the local shops. I bought a few pieces and I told them I had an idea of using Maasai fabric to make scarfs and they suggested I return on Wednesday since that’s when the market is open. I agreed, and left with a huge smile on my face, my idea was becoming a reality.
My website is up and running and I have all kinds of different artisan Maasai items including the scarfs I had made. All items are a direct donation to my current project at St. Timothy’s School. Feel free to browse around! https://tzheritage.blogspot.com

Make a change in these women’s lives, donate now!

Tags: Africa, Children, Community Banking, Development Work, Mama Hope, moshi, nonprofit, School, St Timothy's, Stop the Pity, tanzania, Women
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania | No Comments »

Not Just Classrooms

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

By Martina Tomassini (First Fifth Global Advocate)

Teaching kids about gardening and water conservation, while feeding them healthy, organic veggies for lunch? Yes, it’s happening!

Thanks to a partnership with the Yes to Seed Fund, St. Timothy’s Primary School is the first school in the Kilimanjaro region to have a drip irrigation garden to feed its students and teach them about gardening and water conservation! Yes, it is the same skin & hair care company that many of you know for its yummy fragrances and organic content: Yes To Carrots.

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Getting ready!

How does it work?

Mix hundreds of eager students with 850 square feet of fertile land, a few handfuls of local seeds, several meters of drip irrigation pipes and voilà: you have a healthy recipe for a successful environmental & educational project. And It’s fun too! The kids love helping in the garden and can’t wait to get more involved with the school environmental club as soon next semester starts. The environmental club will teach them basics about water conservation, gardening, crops, sustainable agriculture techniques as well as nutrition. This way, while students learn about theory in the classroom in the morning, in the afternoon they can put it into practice, get their hands dirty by weeding, mulching and harvesting and have fun! With the help of teachers, students take care of the garden and the vegetables harvested supplement their daily lunch programme.

Talking about teachers, I spoke with teacher Beatrice the other day, who told me how working in the garden every day is helping her a lot. Not long ago she was diagnosed with high blood pressure but since she started working in the garden she’s had no problems and her blood pressure levels are back to normal. What a welcome side effect of the school garden!

Photo © MT/Mama Hope – Teacher Beatrice planting spinach seeds

The garden currently grows kale, onions, cabbage and spinach. Each leafy vegetable crop can beharvested once a week for three to five months before replacing them with new seedlings. Along the pathways of the garden we are planting drought-resistant papaya, avocado, mango and passion fruit trees! Vegetables and other crops are chosen based on different factors like nutrients, market scarcity and profitability. For example, kale is too expensive at the market? Then, we can grow it ourselves! And if we grow more than we need, we’ll sell it to buy cheaper items we don’t have land to grow, like corn or wheat. Genius.

Meshak, 13, puts it in plain words, ‘I like the garden…it is so good! I like the fact that we can get some money for the school by selling extra vegetables that are grown here! My favourite is spinach!

Drip irrigation

Simply put, drip irrigation is a water delivery method that saves water and grows healthier crops by dripping the exact amount of water needed, directly to the root system. This is done through narrow pipes with little holes, which are positioned just above each seed. The garden manager opens the gate valve and water drips for a fixed amount of time, exactly where it’s needed – as opposed to flushing the whole plot with a sprinkler.

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Drip irrigation pipes

We spent a couple of days preparing the land, connecting the pipes and laying them out so that the pipes would be straight and the holes face downwards – the city girl in me stepped aside and let me enjoy the process. A lot! It must be said, though, that the lion’ share of the work was brilliantly executed by our environmentalist extraordinaire Rocky Muuri and Mama Hope’s pillar Tom Veazy.

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Dig deeper! Work harder!

Both the village leader and the academic director have shared with me their concerns about the weather changing and the soil becoming drier and drier. In fact, the biggest problem that the village leader identified for Newland, the village where the school is located, is maji: water. Over the past 20 years, Sub-Saharan areas like the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania have been affected by severe droughts which, together with deforestation, affect water supply and food production. Setting up water-saving drip irrigation gardens in areas where water is scarce? Makes sense.

Why does this matter?

Educational tool, food source and income generator – this is the drip irrigation garden, in a nutshell. And this is why it’so relevant to St. Timothy’s School. The school relies on tuition fees paid by its students as its main source of funding: attracting more students thanks to the garden, and to more classrooms, has an incredible long-term positive impact on the school’s sustainability. As Alex, 12, sums up, ’Our garden is a good garden! It has fertile soil that helps vegetables grow. And it is an incentive for additional children to come to our school. Also, it attracts people’s attention. For example, somebody is passing by but, when they look at our garden, they have to stop and look closer. And they say, what’s this? Beautiful!’

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Thriving spinach & kale

Alex told me his favourite vegetable is Chinese cabbage. ‘When the cooks prepare it it’s so good we lick our fingers…’ A finger-licking drip irrigation garden is what I call an exceptional garden. This is a drop in Tanzania too. This is not just classrooms…

Be part of the solution Bold Solutions

Learn more at: http://adropintanzania.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/not-just-classrooms/

Tags: Africa, Children, Community Banking, Community Gardens, Development Work, Drip Irrigation, Education, Food Relief, Mama Hope, moshi, nonprofit, St Timothy's, Stop the Pity, tanzania
Posted in Agriculture, Education, Health, Moshi, Tanzania | No Comments »

A Note from our Sponsor, Erick Aluru, Kenya Program Director

Tuesday, April 9th, 2013

As part of our Stop the Pity. Unlock the Potential movement, we are committed to connecting our partners directly to you. We want our readers to know about the potential we witness everyday and we want it to be heard directly from the people we serve. Below is a story from Erick Ochieng’ Aluru, the Program Facilitator at OLPS (Our Lady of Perpetual Support) in Kisumu, Kenya.

“I have been working as a mentor and facilitator with Our Lady of Perpetual Support for people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans since 2006. I am a proud product of intense mentorship. Having lost my dad in 1997 through a tragic road accident, life took a dramatic turn. No one in my family was prepared for this. Were it not for the psychological counseling and subsequent mentorship from OLPS’ team, I would not have made it this far. I later learned that part of the process of this mentorship was facilitated by one generous lady whose name I can’t remember, but one I later learned was the reason behind the founding of Mama Hope, (Stephanie Moore).

I have to admit that providing mentorship to children made vulnerable due to devastating effects of HIV/AIDS among other factors comes with important challenges, especially due to the compelling needs of such children such as education, food, shelter/care, healthcare etc. Talking to a child is one thing, actualizing what you discussed is another thing. I joined OLPS with a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of children who go through what my family went through. I realized I made the right choice since behind OLPS were other partners who were willing to help vulnerable children pursue their dreams. Mama Hope was one of these partners and has remained a steady and understanding partner for as long as I can remember.

Mama Hope support has evolved from proving direct support to individuals in need to providing the means for such individuals to personally take charge of their lives in a sustainable manner. I have been part of the process that will ensure that children in great danger of abuse are housed in a rescue center with the capacity to care and rehabilitate 25 children at a particular time. The current community water and sanitation project is intended to provide safe and clean water to over 2,000 community members, as well as sustainable agriculture and environmental education through a demonstration garden ran by OLPS and two local primary schools. These projects leave a bright smile on my face and gladden my heart. I look at them with immeasurable joy.”

- Erick Ochieng’ Aluru, Program Facilitator-OLPS

Erick is currently facilitating 4 separate projects in Kisumu with the help of OLPS staff. His flexibility and patience is unlimited despite our varied, often immediate requests. We feel so lucky to partner with him and OLPS. He is an inspiration to everyone at Mama Hope.

Stop the Pity: http://stopthepity.org/

Read more about one OLPS project at: http://www.mamahope.org/kisumu-rescue-center/

Tags: Africa, Kenya, Kisumu, Mama Hope, nonprofit, Stop the Pity, Women
Posted in Education, Health, Kisumu, Kenya | No Comments »

Standing room only for Mama Hope Supporters

Monday, February 11th, 2013

By Andrew Shaffer and Brianna Russell

Every month a group of Tuesday Night Writers gets together for their Pints & Prose fundraising event at Peri’s Bar in Fairfax, California to read original pieces of fiction and short stories and to raise money for women a world away. In their small corner of the world, these American writers are hopeful about the impact they can make in another small corner of the world, Kisumu, Kenya where their monthly donations reach the Stephanie Moore Women’s Group. These Kisumu women are the heads of their households and run their own businesses in order to support their families thanks in part to contributions from the Pints & Prose fundraiser.

Stephanie Moore led writing groups and taught dance classes mainly out of her home for years before she passed away in 2006. The Tuesday Night Writers include Cyndi Cady, Amanda Conran, Chris Cole, David Winton, Jill Tidman, John Phillip, Jon Wells, Tom Joyce and Tanya Egan Gibson. This group has remained together and motivated to continue what they learned from Stephanie, creating a sort of writer’s support group with the goal of carrying on her spirit. “She would never do anything half way, it wasn’t just send $25 a month to Bernard in Kenya, she wanted to know his grades, then about his mother and family, and then about the women in his village” recalled Cyndi.

In their monthly meetings these writers also raise money for Mama Hope, a non-profit started by Stephanie’s daughter, Nyla Rodgers. In an effort to recover from the loss of her mother, Nyla traveled to Kenya to meet a young man whose education her mother had sponsored. When she arrived, however, she was surprised to meet hundreds of people that were helped by her mother. Realizing the impact that a single person can have, Nyla founded Mama Hope to honor and continue her mother’s work.

Stephanie proved to us all that one person can in fact make a difference in the world. This year marks the third anniversary of Pints & Prose, whose meetings now pack the bar full, often leaving standing room only for those that come to show their support and carry on Stephanie’s legacy.

There is no doubt that the number of people touched by Stephanie and Mama Hope is forever growing. According to Cyndi, “It was important to her so it is important to us, Stephanie is ‘Mama Hope’.”

You can find more information about the Tuesday Night Writers on Facebook.

For more information about Mama Hope’s work, click here.

Posted in Articles, Education, Health, Kisumu, Kenya | No Comments »

Second Week in Photos

Sunday, August 26th, 2012

Hussan and Baboo wait for their team to be called to the starting line at the St. Timothy’s Olympics in Moshi, Tanzania. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

Tempers flare as Shadrock and Alex duke it out under the banners of their adopted countries during the St. Timothy’s Olympics. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

James Nathaniel address the St. Timothy’s School student body on their final day of the semester. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

Nyla and teacher Mercy help to organize the Tanzania team for the St. Timothy’s Olympics. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

Students wait in line for the new St. Timothy’s school bus. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

Making the best of a broken down bus during a field trip at Arusha National Park. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

The kids and staff get to see themselves for the first time in Mama Hope’s Stop the Pity videos. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

Nyla and the St. Timothy kids instant messaging with their friends in the U.S. © Bryce Yukio Adolphson, 2012

Tags: Mama Hope, St Timothy's, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Locations | No Comments »

Interviewing the families of St Timothy’s

Monday, August 16th, 2010

We kicked up a cloud of dust as we entered the village of New Land, just outside of Moshi, to interview the parents and students of the new St. Timothy’s School we all enabled the community to construct. Bryce (Mama Hope’s Visual Journalist), James (Director of St Timothy’s), Godfrey (New Land’s elected Street-Chair) and I ventured down a dirt road with the mighty Mt Kilimanjaro looming in the background. Our intent, find out why the community identified education as one of their most pressing concerns. Moreover, what impact the addition of St Timothy’s school would bring to the families and community.

Many residents were around doing chores here and there, while others stared at us in wonder. We trailed between mud homes, pig pens and occasional family graves. As we approached our first home to interview many thoughts whirled through my head; so this is life at the $2 a day poverty-line, what is daily life like here, if not for being born in a different country it might be strangers here interviewing me. Finally Bryce and I arrived at our first home.

Thoughts of things I heard and studied about Africa, Africans and global poverty whipped around my mind as we sat down face-to-face with student Theresia and her mother Elis. “Can you tell us about a day in your life?” we asked and James translated. Elis went into detail about how she prepared her home each day before going to work as a laborer in the neighboring maze (corn) fields until sun down. If she is able to pick enough maze that day she is paid 2,500 shillings (about $1.60) and buys dinner for the night. When we asked Theresia what she looked most forward to about starting school at St Timothy’s in January she said it was having a meal everyday.

Then we got into the more focused questions, “What difference does having St Timothy’s School in the communtiy have?” Elis response reflected that of all the families we interviewed, St Timothy’s school sought out and provided an option for the “forgotten kids.” The families made it clear that there were two options for children in their community, attend school and get an education or become a “street kid” exposed to many many dangers. Before St Timothy’s there were no other options for them.

As Bryce and I interviewed Elis and Theresia the grandmother joined us. The grandmother said she had hope that with a quality education Theresia could get a job and bring the family the support they desperately needed. We found it profound to see the hope that education could bring to three generations of family. Mother and Grandmother sought a better life for their family in Theresia’s education at St Timothy’s which had just begun.

This is just a little sample from the interviews we did. I couldn’t capture it all in a blog. I attached some picture of us interviewing the kids and from the footage we took.

Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania | No Comments »

St. Timothy’s School, Moshi, Tanzania

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7_1UJIV_qY]
Here we have a short overview and progress update on St. Timothy’s School in Moshi, Tanzania. Construction began in September of this year and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30th, with children attending in January 2010. I can’t tell you how exciting it’s been to see this project rise from the fields of Newland village! The efficiency and care our local community partner Tanzania Children Concern has been giving this project is a shining example of how communities know best. From local knowledge of land rights, power and water to the best vendors and manufactures. Again and again, it’s made me believe that communities need to be helped to help themselves!

-Bryce

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To read about my nonsense between work, check out my personal blog at: neitherherenorthere.org

Tags: Children, moshi, School, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Locations, Our Projects, Videos | No Comments »

St. Timothy’s: What I want to be…

Friday, October 30th, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qn7x3hzt8]

What started out as a Q and A about thoughts on the new school turned into a “What I want to be..” fest. It really seems to me that kids throughout the world generally have the same aspirations. Whether it’s about excitement or connecting with people, the occupations are usually somehow related with the people who take care or us. And, of course, there’s always one kid who wants to be president.

-Bryce

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Read about my moments between the work on my personal blog at: neitherherenorthere.org

Tags: Africa, Children, moshi, Occupations, School, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Locations, Our Projects, Videos | No Comments »

St. Timothy’s Students on the New School

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYL2g4_-bSc]

Our plans were to ask a few of the students what they thought of the school. Thanks to their vigor we ended up with a mob of children ready to tell us how excited they were about the number of toilets. Amazing since it was mere bricks when they saw it! Afterward, James was telling us that some of them wanted to have class in it before it was even completed. A few wanted to go live in the construction site. Wow.

-Bryce

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To read about my moments and people between the work, check out my personal blog at: neitherherenorthere.org

Tags: Children, moshi, School, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Projects, Videos | No Comments »

St. Timothy’s Kids Visiting the Site

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWeNcb9cLis]

This was a treat to behold. On October 14th, all the current St. Timothy Students got to visit the construction site of the new school. What’s not included in the video is the jostling and kid climbing the kids did to get into the buses that brought them to the school! Hope you find it as ridiculouly cute as I did.

- Bryce

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To read about my moments between the work, check out my personal blog at: neitherherenorthere.org

Tags: Chilren, moshi, Orphans, School, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Projects, Videos | No Comments »

Lucia, James and Facebook Causes

Monday, October 26th, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1FsHOATg1E]

Here’s a video of Tanzania Children Concern Founder, James Nathaniel getting a lesson about what the heck Facebook Causes is from Lucia. I also had it explained to me about 3 minutes before this video was shot.

You can check out our Causes page for yourself here:

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/60174/15070448?m=e56504ed

-bryce

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To read about my moments between the work, check out my personal blog at: neitherherenorthere.org

Tags: Chilren, Facebook, Facebook Causes, moshi, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Locations, Our Projects, Videos | No Comments »

St. Timothy’s Update

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

by Lucia Crenshaw

When I wrote you the last blog, I said that I thought things were about to get moving really fast, and I sit here today, exactly one month after breaking ground on the school, completely blown away by just how fast they have gotten moving.

The new school, two months ago just a barren piece of land, is now a completed foundation, and the beginning stages of the exterior walls. So, needless to say, the past month has been extremely busy.

The more time I am here, the more I am aware of things that I take for granted—things both learned and observed. When it comes to the school, I have realized just how reliant I am on technology to build and cultivate things, and how here, almost everything is done by hand. This might not seem like a “no-brainer”—Africa is behind the times when it comes to technology. But after watching the progress of this school, I am starting to wonder if we are not the ones who are in fact “lagging behind in terms of development,” and by development, I mean actually building something from the ground up.

Building

In the past month, I have witnessed exactly this—a building process that is tedious; however, it is beyond resourceful and it involves the whole community. Neighbors store and guard the building supplies; women cook lunches and bring them to the site; and local masons combine their skill and expertise in such a way as to make it look effortless. Many of the workers are members of the community with whom Tanzania Children Concern does outreach with—some are masons who have worked on the current orphanage, others are parents of some of the students. I guess for all of these reasons and more, that is why I get the feeling that this project goes deeper than bricks and mortar. It is a true community project—designed by, built by, and sustained by the community that it will serve.

Tanzania Children Concern has been trying to build this school for over 5 years, but due to financial restraints, they have been unable to do so. James says that this past spring, he received a letter saying that St. Timothy’s must register (which means build a school) as soon as possible, and at the time, he had no idea what they were going to do. He then said, “I can’t believe that I am getting to witness this (the building of the school) in my lifetime! I am just so overjoyed; I can’t wait!” I am right there with James—I feel privileged to be a part of this!

To read more of my personal stories from St. Timothy’s check out my blog:
Luciacrenshaw.blogspot.com

Tags: construction, Education, moshi, tanzania
Posted in Education, Moshi, Tanzania, Our Projects, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Where it all began

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Bernard and I, 2006

This originally is a letter that I sent out to my friends and family but I have been urged to share it on the blog as well.

-Nyla

As I write to you I am sitting on the porch of my hotel in Kisumu. This is the same hotel that in April of 2006, I shared a dinner with Bernard and talked about his dreams for the future. So much has changed since then. First, Bernard is no longer a boy but a man whose dreams are now within his grasp. Second, this is now my fourth time in Kenya and instead of it just being 3 months after my mother passed away it has been years. And it is only now that I am truly starting to understand how I ended up here in the first place.

I am here in Kisumu. Where it all began. Where 3 months after my mother died I came here to meet Bernard, the orphan that she sponsored. Not really knowing why but just following my instinct that when I got here things would fall into place. And they did to a certain extent. I met Bernard, learned about the project that my mother funded at OLPS-Neema that helped hundreds of women and out of this experience sparked the inspiration for Mama Hope. But what I have learned now is that this really is just the surface story. There is actually so much more.

A couple days ago, while driving with Bernard and Anastasia, the founder of OLPS-Neema, I asked her to tell me a little bit more about how my mother contacted her. She said one day in 2003 she just got a call from my mother and in true Stephanie Moore fashion, she just launched into her pitch. “Hi, I am Stephanie Moore. I am Bernard Olando’s sponsor. I want to help the young women in your community who are losing their parents to AIDS to become self sufficient? I saw a special about this on TV about how these women end up needing to take up prostitution to support their siblings and I want to help prevent this. You see I have a daughter and I hope that if anything happened to me she would be able to be self sufficient…and so on…and so on…..etc.” Once Anastasia could get a word in she told my mother that it was her dream “to start a program to teach these women how to run their own businesses.” Then she told my mom how much she needed to raise to start it. She said that my mother answered confidently, “Give me two weeks!” And so began a wonderful relationship where my mother would call Anastasia, ask her what she needed, then raise the money from her friends and send the funds to Kenya to help these young women.

Time went on and at the end of 2005 Anastasia got a very different call, “Anastasia, I have some bad news. I am very sick and I don’t think I will be around much longer. But I have a daughter and I promise that she will not abandon you and Bernard.” This was the very last time they spoke.

Anastasia told me that she had a beautiful picture of my mother who she said looked like a very young woman and so she thought for sure that the daughter must still be a young girl. She said that after that call she just prayed for the girl; that her whole community prayed that she would be alright. She told me that she wished to bring that girl into her home and care for her.

So four months later when I called her she thought it was a miracle. And a few weeks later when I showed up at her door in Kenya to meet Bernard she was so shocked to see a young woman who looked so similar to her picture of Stephanie Moore. She told me, “you know when you arrived and you were crying, and my whole staff was crying too. It was tears of joy because we knew that you had made it home.”

I want to point out that up until now I KNEW NONE OF THIS. My mother never told me of her promise to Anastasia. I didn’t go to Kenya to fulfill some destiny. I just saw it as an opportunity to meet Bernard and escape from my life in California and everything that reminded me of my terrible loss. Little did I know that what I was escaping to would eventually be the thing that healed my grief.

I remember now how I felt when I showed up; totally defeated and hopeless. The day before I met Anastasia and Bernard for the first time I was sitting on the porch of this very same hotel by myself. Cursing the universe. Asking why the hell I was in Kenya? How could my mother’s death ever have any meaning? How was I ever really to have faith again? I did not know that it would be renewed the very next day by meeting the people that my mother helped and inspiring me to create something so special in her absence.

The Women's group during a drip irrigation training in 2009

So today, I am meeting with Anastasia to launch a garden in her community to honor another mother, named Rita Rose. Through Mama Hope a young girl named Mimi Rose contacted me who also lost her young beautiful mother to cancer and decided to fundraise in her memory. The Rita Rose Garden is going to help 100 women, (the very same women my mother helped, who are no longer girls but now mother’s themselves) have a sustainable source of nutrition for their children.

And in two weeks Bernard begins Medical Training College. We were so excited when he got the call with us on Saturday and learned that he was the only student accepted from his high school and that he also got a $1,000 scholarship. I know my mother is beaming with pride!

Bernard and I, 2009

I have no idea why I woke up this morning to write this to you. I think I just wanted to share that the universe works in strange ways. People might leave us but it seems that love is something that can connect us beyond the boundaries of death in the most miraculous ways and that sometimes when you think you are completely lost you are just on another path home.

Tags: Kenya, Kisumu, Mother, Nyla, Sponsor
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James Nathaniel, St. Timothy’s is a refuge

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

This is a video of James Nathaniel, the Founding Director of Tanzania Children Concern and the headmaster of St. Timothy’s School in Moshi, Tanzania. Here he talks about what St. Timothy’s means to the children that currently attend.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5YFGeQZZE0&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b]

Tags: Education, moshi, st timothy, tanzania
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Breaking Ground on the new St. Timothy’s School!

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

We broke ground on the new St. Timothy’s School yesterday, August 15th, 2009, exactly one month and one day after I first arrived in here in Moshi, Tanzania!

It was absolutely perfect–not a dramatic, public event (it was just James, a few village executives,the workers, and me)–but James’ excitement and enthusiasm felt almost tangible.

For the past three past weeks, James has worked endlessly to finalize the building proposal for the new school. A process that I have come to learn is more meticulous than even the most complicated college application (kind of sad that that is all I can compare it to, but you get the drift). After a lot of patience and some compliance on our part, the proposal was approved with flying colors by the Moshi municipal ministry of education, and it has now been sent to Dar-Es-Salaam (Tanzanian business capital) to be officially registered by the country government.

In the meanwhile, we were given the go-ahead to begin construction. And so yesterday, I met James in town. He had just purchased the piping for the plumbing, and together, along with a truck load of supplies that followed, we ventured to Newland. In the past month, I have made this drive several times, and each time, I am continually amazed by the beauty that is Newland. It is a beauty that has changed since I first got here. The sunflower fields have been cut for harvest, and in their wake, the wildflowers have taken over, reclaiming their land back.

We pulled up to the site of the new school to see the workers busy digging trenches for the plumbing. We got out to walk along part of the newly dug trench, and James stopped to take it all in. He said with a huge smile on his face, “You know Lucia, this is going to be where the classrooms are going to be!” And he pointed to the land right next to where he was standing. He then ran over to where one boy was rhythmically hoisting a shovel up and down into the ground, and asked if he could try. He laughed as he pounded the shovel into the ground, pushing the dirt over to one side.

On the drive into Newland, James told me that when he was a child, public school cost one dollar per year. At the time, he did not have the money to pay for it, and he had to sell his bike so that he could go to school. He explained that this is one of the reasons that he feels so called to educating the “vulnerable children” in Tanzania. Watching James swing that shovel into the ground, I could see how determined he is to help these children, to make this vision a reality. He has come a long way, and now because of this school, others like him will now have an opportunity to receive an education. It was pretty amazing to witness.

The plumber and his workers say that they expect to finish digging the trenches and installing the tubing in the next few days, and after that, construction on the school will officially begin! James says that he thinks everything is about to get moving really fast, and judging by how fast the men were working yesterday, that is an understatement!

As for me, I have been busy working with the children at St. Timothy’s and helping with some of the Tanzania Children Concern outreach. I am planning to meet Nyla and Bryce in Kisumu, Kenya this upcoming weekend, and together we are going to launch the Rita Rose Drip Irrigation Garden! I look forward to keeping you updated on the school construction and everything else that is going on over here! Thank you again for being a part of all of this!

Yours In Hope,
Lucia Crenshaw

Tags: Africa, Education, moshi, St Timothy's, tanzania
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“We are together now”

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Dear Friends of Mama Hope

For the past two weeks, I have been living in Moshi, Tanzania, working with Nyla and Bryce on Mama Hope’s most recent project, the new St. Timothy’s School in honor of Vince Mulroy. How this whole project got propelled into action, I am still unsure, but I am going to do my best to try to explain.

Three months ago, I sent Mama Hope an email asking if they could help to build the new St. Timothy’s School. My email explained that a few summers s ago I volunteered as a teacher at the St. Timothy’s school. Currently St. Timothy’s rents their facility, and due to a Tanzanian law they must build a school of their own. In my email, I emphasized the sense of community that I felt in the Newland community. Before I knew it, Mama Hope had agreed to take on the project, I had a plane ticket to Tanzania booked, and the rollercoaster of a ride had officially begun.

Last Wednesday was the community meeting with the Newland village leaders. It was in a small one-room school. We squeezed onto about 5 benches with 16 village leaders. At one point in the meeting, almost every single village leader had their hands up with ideas and suggestions about how to get the community involved, using local labor and the most cost-efficient materials.

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Minja (the village chairman) said, “We are together now.” He then explained that the village leaders had decided to hold another community meeting on Saturday where they would invite all of the surrounding villages.

That following Saturday, over 200 people crowded outside in a makeshift arena. Nyla and I sat with the women against a wall in the back (they tried to get us to sit in the front with the men and we said no way jose!). Bryce sat in front with the men.

Throughout the meeting we could hear a man going around the village announcing the meeting on his megaphone, and soon enough people started arriving from all corners; men on bicycles and women with babies on their backs. For 3 hours there was a lot of back and forth in Swahili, and then all of a sudden, we were being taken to look at a plot of land the village had just given for the health center (phase two of the project). I’m going to be honest. To me, this was a plot of land—no different from the next plot of land. But when we turned around and smiled, the whole place erupted in cheers, laughter and clapping. To them, this land was the best of the best, more so, it was the future site of their health center, and very symbolically, they were entrusting this land to “us” as their partners.

It was humbling. It also once again emphasized that these communities are far stronger and more united than anyone gives them credit for; they really do know what is best. We couldn’t help but laugh and dance along with them.

As you can see, this whole project is progressing at a very fast pace and it is definitely taking on a life of its own. We will break ground in a short while, and I look forward to keeping you updated!

All the best,

Lucia Crenshaw

Tags: Education, moshi, St Timothy's, tanzania
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Movement in Moshi, Tanzania

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Dear friends of Mama Hope,

After a 12 hour bus ride where we got trapped at the border for 2 hours with no visas and money, we have made it safely to Moshi, Tanzania. Yesterday myself, Lucia Crenshaw Mama Hope’s Program Coordinator and Bryce Adolphson, our photographer met with James Nathaniel the founder of Tanzanian Children Concern and visited the site where St. Timothy’s school is going to be built. Throughout the day we met with the architect, and the local officials who will be overseeing the project. They told us that they had purchased this land for the school in 2005 and they had all but given up hope that the school would ever be built.

The site of the school is in the center of six villages and will serve a community of 30,000 people when completed. It is a beautiful plot of land about 5 miles from Moshi at the base of Kilimanjaro, surrounded by sunflower fields and enormous baobab trees. During the committee meetings Mama Hope’s team stood back and let the community officials run the show trusting that they would know best what was needed to initiate the construction. Because of this approach by the end of the day they had decided all labor and the construction of the bricks would come from the communities themselves. That they would simply tap into the city water instead of dig an expensive well and that they didn’t need to put up power lines to get electricity that they could just share the lines of a neighboring building and share the costs. In the end these creative solutions are going to save them thousands of dollars and make the school a truly sustainable project. We were very excited about these conclusions because we know we would have never learned about them if we insisted on leading the project. They are true examples of how incredibly resourceful the communities are when you leave the planning and implementation of the project in their hands.

That’s all from the field for now!

Yours in hope,

Nyla

To learn more about St. Timothy’s School project: Click Here

Tags: Education, moshi, St Timothy's, tanzania
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The Final

Monday, August 4th, 2008

-Bryce

On July 29^th the Pepo La Tumaini ECD (Early Childhood Development) preschool tackled their year-end final with the same intensity of a bar exam. Children ranging from 3-5 years old sat through hours of tests deemed essential by the Kenyan Ministry of Education.

“Do you think you’ll pass?” Project Coordinator Khadija Rama asked Abdallah Mohamed.

“I don’t know. Only the teacher knows.” The 4-year-old sternly answered.

The student’s tests began at 8am and lasted, interspersed with recess, until 12:30pm. Their tests ranged from animal identification in English and Kiswahili to math and science.