You really have to get your head around the difficulties people face in rural Tanzania. Look at previous blogs about Neema or Lily, Paulina and food aid.
We lived and worked among the subsistence farmers and the rural poor, helping out where we could and in the most appropriate way we were able. Of course one thing leads to another and as we progressed at Makumira for DME we became more involved and we experienced every conceivable emotion.
Sure we were taken for a ride: like the woman who had a child suffering from, I think, spina bifida. She brought the child one and a chit from the doctor saying what drugs the child needed. We would give her money, but she would buy booze and share it with her boyfriend. However were were not hard enough to actually refuse her - just didn't give as much.
However by far the majority were genuine and appreciated the help given. Paulina would send one of her girls with a note that they had no food (remember them from earlier?) Sometimes I would give some money, or just a loaf of bread - any food I had in the house. It worried me that old Sylvester would take money for booze.
The rains are always a blessing in the Meru area - rain means food. The rains can also bring problems. Heavy rains cause damage.
I have received two texts: One from Lily saying that her mother's house had collapsed in the rain. Lily is now in her last year at university and the only way she could help her mother was to use her meal allowance to make makeshift repairs. Lily is able to eat two times per day. She has requested money to tide her over.
The other text was from Upendo - she hasn't figured in any blogs yet, but she will. Her friend's mother, Mama Joyce, had the same misfortune - her house fell down in the rain! Somewhere back in the blogs is a little about Joyce's child, Neema suffering from Herpes.
I have great regard for Mama Joyce and she has asked for a bag of cement to help restore her house. There is some detail here that I don't know and I need to find out if Joyce and Jerome are contributing to help their mother. Sadly Baba Joyce died two years ago.
I will send money; not as much as Lily requested, but a contribution and for Mama Joyce, I will send more than a bag of cement, but again not as much as she hopes for.
I suppose there remains some of Tanzania in my blood.
We lived and worked among the subsistence farmers and the rural poor, helping out where we could and in the most appropriate way we were able. Of course one thing leads to another and as we progressed at Makumira for DME we became more involved and we experienced every conceivable emotion.
Sure we were taken for a ride: like the woman who had a child suffering from, I think, spina bifida. She brought the child one and a chit from the doctor saying what drugs the child needed. We would give her money, but she would buy booze and share it with her boyfriend. However were were not hard enough to actually refuse her - just didn't give as much.
However by far the majority were genuine and appreciated the help given. Paulina would send one of her girls with a note that they had no food (remember them from earlier?) Sometimes I would give some money, or just a loaf of bread - any food I had in the house. It worried me that old Sylvester would take money for booze.
The rains are always a blessing in the Meru area - rain means food. The rains can also bring problems. Heavy rains cause damage.
I have received two texts: One from Lily saying that her mother's house had collapsed in the rain. Lily is now in her last year at university and the only way she could help her mother was to use her meal allowance to make makeshift repairs. Lily is able to eat two times per day. She has requested money to tide her over.
The other text was from Upendo - she hasn't figured in any blogs yet, but she will. Her friend's mother, Mama Joyce, had the same misfortune - her house fell down in the rain! Somewhere back in the blogs is a little about Joyce's child, Neema suffering from Herpes.
I have great regard for Mama Joyce and she has asked for a bag of cement to help restore her house. There is some detail here that I don't know and I need to find out if Joyce and Jerome are contributing to help their mother. Sadly Baba Joyce died two years ago.
I will send money; not as much as Lily requested, but a contribution and for Mama Joyce, I will send more than a bag of cement, but again not as much as she hopes for.
I suppose there remains some of Tanzania in my blood.
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