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| L/R Baraka, Bibi, Lucia, Eva . . . |
A Home Visit – “Shida” “Problem”
Here? Shida Ningi! Many Problems!
People ask all the time how our outreach begins, where
the families we help come from, and how we choose those we will help. Bibi Lucia’s family and our recent visit to
their home illustrate clearly the extreme conditions many people find
themselves living in.
On Tuesday of this past week an older woman (Bibi Lucia)
with a small, very pretty little girl (Evelin) walked through our gate at
Tumaini House. We try to keep the gate
locked to prevent people just wandering in but one of us had forgotten. Bibi found her way to my office where Oddo
and I were working together. After
formal greetings (a custom here), Bibi was seated and began her story.
Bibi Lucia is from the “interior” of Tanzania. She lost her husband a number of years ago
and was struggling along as a widow until her health began to fail. Her daughter (Esther), out of love for her
mother, and in a very uncustomary act, asked her husband to allow his mother in
law to come and live with them. Uncustomarily, he said yes. That was last year. Her health has stabilized (blood pressure
mostly) and the family has been scraping by.
A
s an aside, Esther, her husband and teen children have
been building a home for four years and were renting two rooms, one for them,
one for Bibi, while construction progressed.
Progress is slow . . . As of our visit the house has walls (rough brick
with gaps present), a sheet metal roof (with eaves and gables exposed), no
windows, some grills (the ironworks placed into the windows for security) and
no doors. The floor is rough, raw
concrete. I mentioned they’ve been
saving and adding a bit here and there for the past four years. Mume Esther (her husband) is a meter reader
and at present she has no income.
Enter Lucia Alex, (DOB Oct. 20, 2002) granddaughter of
Bibi Lucia, her namesake and sister to that pretty little girl Evelin (DOB Jul.
24, 2008). In January of 2011 Lucia and
Evelin buried their mother just three years after their father’s death in 2008 and
only weeks after Evelin’s birth. Knowing
that Bibi had health issues and was fortunate enough to be allowed to reside
with her son in-law, the family was loathe to burden her with the children of
her dead daughter, which IS customary here.
Eventually though, it became apparent that, even with her struggles Bibi
was the best candidate to provide for the girls. Family discussions ensued, Esther’s husband,
(my partner Oddo marvels at the compassion this man has for his in-laws as it
is NOT traditional) acquiesced and the girls were brought to their Bibi.
Money, which was tight, became tighter still and the
family had to give up those two rooms they were renting and move to their
unfinished, unsecure home. They live and
sleep, every day and night, without a door or a blockade of any kind preventing
intruders, human or otherwise, from entering their home.
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| Baby Belina, 7 mos. may be positive . . . |
Additionally, Esther has a sister (Neema) who has a six
year old son (Baraka) and a new baby Belina (7 mos). During her pregnancy she was tested and
discovered that she is HIV+. We had the
children tested and Baraka is negative but it is too soon to tell for baby
Belina and so we wait. An immediate
problem for her is that Neema cannot nurse and so milk must be purchased for
her. Fearing her husband will leave her
once he discovers she is positive, she has declined to inform him. We explained as strongly as we could that,
(she swears she has been monogamous) if she doesn’t tell him soon and he receives
treatment, he will fall ill and leave her in a different way . . . please pray
for courage . . .
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| Completely open . . . to the elements human and otherwise . . . |
There is no money for school, little for food and none
left over to secure that house. Bibi and
Esther shared their struggles with friends, our name came up, and Bibi trekked
up here to ask for help. Oddo and I and
volunteers Luke and Dallas from Canada visited their home and we recorded the
family history which brings us to today.
We’ve asked our fundis (carpenter and ironsmith) to go to
the house and provide estimates for doors and grills to secure the house. A very pleasantly surprised husband
calculated what we will need to make the house livable. It has three bedrooms (the children sleep on
the floor, lacking beds), a large living/dining space and a kitchen. There are three doorways and the house still
requires two grills. The floor needs the
cement finished to level it. I am asking
for your help.
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| Baraka |
What have we done thus far? We are paying for milk for baby Belina. We’ve put Lucia, who is a very fearful and
serious little girl (I can appreciate why), slow to smile, very gentle and very
willing, to listen, to obey, to study, into Haradali Boarding School on a
promise to pay. We have purchased her
uniforms, mattress and linens, and school supplies. We have done the same for Baraka who is
virtually silent, quicker with a smile but still serious and carries the
responsibility of caring for his sick mother and potentially sick little sister
on his tiny (and they are tiny as he is especially small for his six years)
shoulders. When you look in his face you
can see that he recognizes his responsibilities already . . .
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| So proud to go to school! |
I have made a small business loan to Mama Esther who will
partner with her sister (a pragmatic decision in case her husband leaves her)
and bake and sell bread. They should net
about 25,000 shillings each, weekly (about $16.00) and this, in conjunction
with Esther’s husband’s income will change the course of the both families’
lives.
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| Baraka and cousin Lucia |
I am not asking for sponsorship or any sort of ongoing
support. I am hoping you will help us help
this family secure their home and establish a stable environment for
everyone. The family count now sits at
eleven. Here is what we need:
Milk for Belina for three months SH. 90,000 or $57.00
Two sets of bunk beds SH.
400,000
or $253.00
Mattresses, sheets and blankets for 4 beds SH. 220,000 or $139.00
School Fees for Lucia for one year SH. 1234,000 or $781.00
School Fees for Baraka for one year SH. 1234,000 or $781.00
Sand, gravel and soil to mix with cement: SH. 610,000 or $386.00
40 bags of cement: SH. 600,000
or $380.00
Nails SH. 96,000
or $ 61.00
Lumber
(Esther’s husband said this could wait SH.
800,000 or $506.00
Ceiling Board (He said to wait for this also) SH.
578,000 or $366.00
Fundi (labor) (This too will wait) SH. 60,000 or $
40.00
Doors SH.
794,000 or $503.00 (FYI-Profit? $20.00)
Grills required for security-Doors/windows SH.
705,500 or $443.00 (Profit?
$70.00)
JUMLA/TOTAL SH.
7421,500 or $4,697.00
I just totalled that number! That is a lot of money . . . true . . . BUT,
it corresponds to just $427.00 per family member and six of them are
children! If we could just find eleven
people each to give us $427.00, or, eleven groups of people to compile the $427.00, or, perhaps if one or another of you could
choose from the list above what you may be able to help with, THAT, would be
wonderful!
This is how we outreach at Tumaini . . . we meet, listen,
visit and assess need and then we reach out for help. I’ve attached photos for inspection and will
do on completion.
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| A shy smile from Lucia . . . |
So many of you would like to help but you don’t really
know where your dollars go. You can help
this family now and watch the progress of every dollar . . .
For caring, for wanting to help, thank you so very much!
Mama . . .
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