Lis Wilson 262-8678 lisbeth707@earthlink.com
Barb Bixby 455-9442 arnpbarb@aol.com
“Tumaini” is the Swahili word for “Hope”. Hope for the people in the Kagera region of North West Tanzania. This work is inspired by the love and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the spring of 2009, Dr. Susan Wilson came to Trinity-by-the-Cove and made several presentations. Her passion for Tumaini was caught by many members of our parish and several projects have begun as a result.
Dar-es-Salaam is the capital and main port of Tanzania. It is on the east side of Africa just below the Equator. The region of Kagera is divided into two dioceses: the Diocese of Lweru in the north, bordering Uganda and the Diocese of Kagera in the south, on the border of Rwanda and Burundi. The administration of the Tumaini Fund is overseen by the Episcopal Church in the regions of Tanzania in which it operates.
Tanzania is one of the 10 poorest countries in the world as measured by most poverty indices: most of the wealth is concentrated around Dar es Salaam, the capital, in the SE of the country…the province of Kagera is furthest from the source of wealth, so is one of its poorest regions and the Aids widows and orphans are the poorest section of this community…. the poorest of the poor.
Subsistence farming is not a good way to survive, especially with climate change and unpredictable rains. Education is the only way to get out of this hand-to-mouth existence. Primary schooling is free in Tanzania, but children cannot enroll unless they have school uniforms, books and pencils, which prices education out for a lot of subsistence farmers’ children and makes it impossible for sick widows’ children, or children in child-headed families.
Children are called Aid’s orphans if one parent has died from Aids, as the other parent is already likely to be ill themselves. Tumaini tries to lengthen their time with their children, by improving their health and life circumstances…the children just want to have their Mum or Dad with them for a bit longer and, as Tumaini works with the family, the parent will come to know that, after their death, their children will be supported… at the death of the parent we promote the children’s rights to their parents’ small-holding and support the family as a child-headed unit.
Each Aids orphan is supplied, by Tumaini, with school uniform, books and pencils for getting to primary school, everyone in the household gets 2 sets of clothes and a mosquito net (Malaria being the biggest childhood killer in Sub-Saharan Africa, while repeated episodes of malaria threatens the lives of immuno-compromised parents.)
10,000 orphans are now supported by the Tumaini Fund and receiving this help. 8 local social-workers are employed in Kagera to carry out the project…monitored by the Episcopal Dioceses… with 70 local parish-workers, working in pairs, in the parishes. The aim now is push on and find support for all the estimated 200,000 orphans in the area.
Tumaini workers assess specific needs in orphan families and supply immediate needs, blankets, grain etc; we repair or re-build derelict family-houses and encourage churches to set up nursery-schools, so that older children can go to school, knowing that the younger children are safe and receiving the stimulation of early education.
Secondary Schools are all fee-paying, but if a child passes their 11 Plus in the top 10% of their class, they are entitled to a place in Government Secondary School, costing about $70 per year and pricing it out of most families’ budgets: we are supporting. 3000 Tumaini orphans in 2009 who have passed to Government Secondary School… such Secondary Education is likely to lift the entire extended family out of poverty! We are also supporting 10 students in Teacher Training College and planning our tertiary education programme.
Tumaini has a bore-hole pilot study numbering 12 water sources, but is planning to extend this to 100 bore-holes following it’s on-going evaluation. Kagera is particularly affected by seasonal drought, while use of contaminated water causes numerous children to die each year.
A container is currently being shipped out annually from Europe carrying medical, educational and relief material, difficult to source directly in Kagera.
In both areas all drawing of funds from the Tumaini account must be counter-signed by a named Diocesan signatory as well as by a Tumaini signatory. All monies credited to or debited from the bank account, together with a breakdown of expenditure, are reported back to the head office in Guernsey via a monthly spreadsheet. An annual audit is carried out of the accounts by a qualified auditor.
The Tumaini fund is administered as follows: Dr Susan Wilson, MB ChB, MRCGP, a practicing medical doctor for 30 years, began working with the Kagera Diocese in 2001, founded Tumaini in 2003, continues as its CEO and travels to Kagera annually for field-work audit.
Tumaini accounts in both Tanzania and Guernsey have been professionally audited since 2004. Guernsey Auditor, Mr Roger Arundale FCA, visited Kagera in 2008 and 2009, auditing the Tumaini Tanzanian accounts for these years, in addition to auditing the Guernsey Tumaini accounts.
Overview