Brian and Alexis in the Field

Educate 500 Orphans and Needy Children in Tanzania: Project Number 2047

Location: Rufiji District, Tanzania

Today we met the president, three doctors, a few parliamentarians, and an engineer. Well, they weren’t these things yet, but, thanks to CAMFED, the students of 10 districts across Tanzania will have the opportunity to achieve their dreams. CAMFED partners with local schools to sponsor children that would otherwise be unable to afford schooling by providing uniforms, shoes, scholastic materials, and in some cases, school fees.

At Ikwiriri secondary school (high school), CAMFED supports 46 girls. Unlike primary school, the Tanzanian government does not pay school fees for secondary school. We asked several of the girls how CAMFED helps them. Msumi, a 10^th grader, told us that “CAMFED provides more than school fees, it provides everything we need.” The girls all agreed that without CAMFED, none of them would have been able to afford school. One girl, Jessica, a 9^th grader, told us that her parents had left to find jobs in the city, abandoning her and her sister, who is also supported by CAMFED. Today, the two girls live in a small house near the school, paid for by CAMDED.

The students also mentioned that they appreciate the help of their teacher-mentor who helps them purchases uniforms and shoes and provides them with counseling on children’s rights and HIV/AIDS and more. CAMFED trains one teacher-mentor as every school with which it works. During our visit, we were fortunate to attend the annual teacher-mentor training, organized by CAMFED where teachers were trained how to support “most vulnerable children” (orphans and impoverished children). In addition to supporting students, teacher-mentors teach their colleagues the strategies they learn.

Later in the day we visited Umwe Primary School where we met with head teacher Rwambo, who explained that CAMFED supports 366 students. While the government pays the school fees for primary school students, secondary school students and their families are responsible for paying the often insurmountable costs of uniforms, shoes, and scholastic materials. The head teacher introduced us to the 1,000+ students at her school that had gathered on the front lawn to greet us. We asked the crowd how CAMFED had helped them. Over the course of five minutes, literally hundreds of students sprung to their feet, one at a time, to confidently introduce themselves and proudly tell us “CAMFED bought me shoes” or “CAMFED paid for my uniform.” Teachers of the school explained that as a result of CAMFED’s support, school attendance had improved. Prior to receiving support students had come to school unclean and in rags. Now, with new, clean uniforms, students are proud to come to school.

The next day, as our visit continued, we met two restaurateurs and a store keeper. Unlike the students who are well on their way to achieving their dreams, these three women have already achieved success because of CAMFED. Hadija, Miriam, and Mwajabu are all part of CAMFED’s CAMA program, which gives women business training and start-up grants to become entrepreneurs. CAMA also creates communities of women to support each other, including weekly trainings. Now, with the money they have earned, these three moms can support their families, send their children to school, and even hire others. CAMFED is in the business of making girls’ and women’s dreams come true. From what we saw, they are doing a great job.

To learn more about this project and how you can help, visit: www.globalgiving.com/2047.

HeroRATS:Saving African Lives & Curbing TB Spread- Project #1953

“Hi, my name’s Rosie, I’m a HeroRAT. They tell me I’m saving lives by sniffing out landmines, which is all well and good, but I’m just in it for the bananas. Ever since I was little they have been teaching me how to find landmines and how to tell the people where they are. It’s a pretty good gig; I scratch myself and I get some food. Soon I get to go to Mozambique where I’ll get to find real mines. There, because of rats like me, 200,000 square meters of land are cleared of mines per day! That returns the land to the people for personal and commercial use.”

Our visit to HeroRAT was nothing short of remarkable. Through conditioning (think Pavlov and his dogs), this project trains giant African Pouch Rats to smell for landmines, and more recently, Tuberculosis (TB)! During our visit, we were stunned to see this theory we had learned in high school psychology put to use; as rats sniffed unmarked pieces of land, scratched themselves and indicated that a landmine was buried there. Time and time again, the trainers confirmed that the rats had found a real bomb. Equally impressive were the TB detecting rats which were able to sort through 70 saliva samples (what doctors use to test for TB) in 10 minutes, a task that would take doctors three and a half days. These rats have even found 353 cases of TB that doctors originally missed. This means that those patients can receive treatment for this disease, which can be fatal if undetected.

While at first thought, rats seem like an unlikely solution to landmine and TB detection, but we came to appreciate the simple logic of this project. African Pouch Rats, which are local, and thus carry the appropriate anti-bodies for local diseases, are easy to come by, and have an impeccable sense of smell. Further, unlike dogs, which are expensive to impart and care for, rats are cheap (they cost 25% less than any other intervention) and too light to set off mines.

By the end of our visit, not only were we amazed by the ingenuity of this project (and the fact that it works!) but we were jealous of the rats, who are well loved by their trainers, receive plenty of play time, and get to snack all day long!#

To learn more or support this project, visit:

http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/provide-tuberculosis-test-africa/

Ode to Morogoro Regional Hospital

Saturday Alexis gets sick.

Alexis goes to hospital.

No doctor at hospital, it’s a weekend.

Nurse gives Alexis phone number.

Alexis calls doctor.

Doctor is in a loud place, says “text me!”

Alexis texts doctor bodily problems.

Doctor texts Alexis diagnosis and prescription.

Alexis goes to pharmacy.

Alexis shows text to pharmacist.

Pharmacist gives Alexis drugs.

Hooray! Alexis is better.

Always an adventure….

Location: Somewhere in Western Tanzania

We left Kigali in the morning to get an early start, We were trekking to Mwanza, we thought we were smart. Four hours on the minibus was quite a pain, But we made it to the border as it started to rain. The fellow mzungu (white person) who picked us was funny, When she dropped us she reminded us that we had no money. She exchanged some cash and she sent us on our way, On to Kahama where we wanted to be by mid-day. With 26 people, our minibus was full, The bumper nearly cracked while giving another bus a pull. When we arrived in Kahama it was too late to go on, We decided to leave for Mwanza the next morning at dawn. Here, we expected a relaxing night’s stay, But the station master told us the only train leaves today! We settled in for the 36 hours, That’s a long time to travel without any showers! We left Kigali 72 hours before, When we reached our hotel we nearly collapsed on the floor!

Feeding and Educating 50,000 Orphans in Rwanda: Project Number 2139

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Help Rwandan School Children, run by CHF International, empowers Rwanda’s unsung heroes, the men and women that better the lives of the country’s many orphaned and vulnerable children, by providing them with financial resources and skills training. Theogere, a 26-year old, who has been caring for his two younger brothers since his parents passed away almost a decade ago, is one of these unsung heroes. Because of the free vocational training he received (now funded by CHF), Theogere and seven other child heads of households now run a restaurant and catering business. Prior to receiving skills training, Theogere, like his fellow business-owners, was barely scraping by, doing any odd job to pay rent and send his siblings to school. Today, having been empowered by CHF, and its local partner, AEE (one of twelve partner organizations), this already amazing older brother can be a superhero for Eric and Jean-Paul, his two little brothers. Aside from helping their older brother, Eric and Jean-Paul benefit from CHF’s school sponsorship program, making it possible for them to buy school uniforms and scholastic materials.

During our visit to CHF we met another unsung hero, this compassionate woman runs an orphanage called Village of Peace, for 88 children, ages 1 day old to 18 years. CHF supports her mission to improve the lives of these children by sponsoring each to go to school. Village of Peace had been struggling to provide milk for its babies and pay for cooking feul. They approached CHF with a very innovative solution: cows. With the financial support of CHF, and the technical help of a local university, Village of Peace purchased 4 cows (which have now multiplied into 14), whose milk feeds the babies and whose dung (that’s right, poop!), now fuels the stoves to cook the children’s meals, using a sanitary, cutting edge biogas system.

It is because of these unsung heroes, and the support of GlobalGiving donors, that CHF is able to assist 43,000 orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda, each year.

To learn more about this project and how you can help, visit: www.globalgiving.com/2139.

Location: Southwest Rwanda

According to our Lonely Planet guide book, there are five things you “must do” in Rwanda:

#1-See the gorillas. Too expensive

#2-Kigali Memorial Center. Been there.

#3-Rwanda National Museum. Done that.

#4-Gisenyi. Beach vacation sounds nice!

#5-Parc National Nyungwe Forrest. Never been to a rainforest before!

We had heard that Rwanda was a short four hour drive across. According to our exhaustive (and exhausting) research, that’s simply not true. With our one free weekend in Rwanda, we decided to see the last two “must sees,” as well as a few other sights. Little did we know we were about to embark on an impossible journey. It turned out it’s a 12 hour drive from Gisenyi to the park, so at the last minute, we grabbed a bus to Kibuyi, an equally nice beach spot on Lake Kivu.

The following morning, after a splash in the beautiful Lake Kivu, we trekked 8 hours on an overcrowded bus (7 hours riding on laps), we arrived in Cyangugu with just enough time to catch a glimpse of Bukavu, over the border in the DRC, just before the sun set. The next morning, as we planned on crossing the border for a look around Bukavu, we realized our next mistake. Our passports were in the Tanzanian embassy, awaiting our visa stamps. With nothing more than our faded and ripped passport copies and some smooth talking, we got the border guards to allow us onto the bridge between the two countries, a “no mans land”. After waiting hours for our minibus to fill from Cyangugu, we set out to the rainforest, where our guidebook promised self guided monkey tours for only $20. Through broken English, we were told we had arrived, and we jumped off, just as it began to drizzle. We rushed to the ranger’s office, excited to get looking for monkeys. We were told by the nicest ranger we’ve ever met that not only did we get off at the wrong place (an hour’s drive from the parks visitor entrance), but it was impossible to go in the park without a guard ($50 each) and on top of everything, it was too late to head out. And so we began our long trek to the visitors entrance on foot in the rain.

It was over half an hour of walking until the first car passed us, but shortly thereafter, we were able to hitch a ride with the local police chief. After being dropped off at the visitor’s center, our fears were confirmed. We couldn’t see the monkeys today. Instead, we camped out under a small thatched pavilion and had a picnic. Luckily, the rain stopped and we headed out again on foot, sure we wouldn’t get to Kigali by nightfall. Before we knew it, we were hurtling around Rwanda’s hills in a Mercedes-Benz. On the road through the park, we even managed to see a colobus monkey and two baboons! Our drivers dropped us off at Gikongoro, our very last destination of the trip. We saw the infamous memorial where over 50,000 perished during the genocide. As we left, we knew we had to get back to Kigali, despite the setting sun; we had scheduled a project visit Monday. Our moto-taxi drivers confirmed that we could take a bus al the way, and they dropped us off at the bus company. The company, of course, told us it would be impossible get to Kigali. They put us on a bus to Butare (half way to Kigali), and told us to go to Kigali the next morning. As our bus started to pull away, and the feeling of defeat settled in, another bus pulled in, and, as we found out, was going to Kigali. We stopped our bus, climbed over our fellow passengers, and sat on the new bus. SUCCESS! We did everything we wanted, and made it back to Kigali by Sunday night!