AFRICA NEEDS YOU

 The day before we left Arusha in Tanzania, East Africa (12/01/10), we watched on the television news channel the awful destruction caused by an earthquake in Hiati. Some eleven days later we are still being exposed to the dreadful news of the deaths and consequences of that disaster. The world has rallied to help, quite rightly, and millions of dollars have been sent as well as food and water and temporary shelter packs to help the needy.

The reality though is that Africa daily is in need of help. People live in areas where there is no water, no food and no shelter. Even in more affluent areas where these things are available there is so much poverty that people cannot afford them. Many get sick and die. Every three seconds a child under the age of fifteen dies from either, malnutrition, malaria, aids or a number of other diseases. This adds up to ten and a half million children a year.  Aids is killing off many people leaving orphans in the care of grandparents who can hardly look after themselves, let alone their children’s children. It is alright saying they should use condoms and practise contraception etc.(most people cannot afford them or they are not available) These answers we give are to flippant, excuses to ease our consciences. Do you know that aids was caused by using fluid extracted from monkey glands in earlier polio vaccine which started on the Uganda, Zambia , Tanzanian Border?  

In most African countries they do not have financial payouts to help in great times of need. No homes to go into for rest and care. No money to buy food when work comes to an end because one is not capable any longer. No medication to help with the aches and pains. It is not our fault or theirs but life is so different for us here in the west. We can and must help I can`t express the feelings of helplessness I feel when people I know ask for help and we cannot give it because we have not got enough money to go round.  It hurts so much knowing what they are suffering.

Imagine you are a granny; you live in a mud hut with an earth floor. You sleep on rags on the floor. Your spare clothes, if you have any, are kept in plastic bags to protect them from the rain as it pours in through your grass roof. Your only furniture is a three legged stool which you sit on most of the day waiting....... Your grand children wake up hungry, they went to bed without food. Perhaps a neighbour can spare a little porridge flour which you cook on a charcoal fire formed from a metal rim of a car wheel. The wood used was collected by the children the day before, searching, searching everywhere like all the other children, no school for them. No money for books, uniforms or shoes. They have to be careful because of wild life and snakes as they search for the wood. The youngest girls walk back carrying discarded plastic buckets or bottles which they have filled with dirty contaminated water sourced from a stream where others wash their clothes, their bodies and which also animals drink from. Granny stirs the dirty water in to the porridge meal; at least they will have breakfast. The older children can then go and wash themselves and their clothes in the stream. After this they can go and forage for free food from the bush, but because of the large population there isn’t much left. This is not an imaginary tale just made up; it is the truth of people we meet on a daily basis when we are out there.

We are making a difference but we need people to partner with us to sponsor the projects i.e.-: food, clean water, medical needs, education etc. We really are desperate for funding and need immediate help to be able to carry on with these projects. 

We also run a small orphanage with eight children. Six girls age from five years to fourteen and two boys who are eleven and fifteen. We have room for a further eight children. The orphanage is run by a wonderful trustworthy couple who are babu (granddad) and Bibi (grandma) to the children, Daudi and his wife Miriam and a houseboy Mateus who helps with the chores. Each week we send out money to pay for food, milk, school fees, charcoal, electricity and water. Any spare money is used for school books, shoe repairs and haircuts etc. At the end of each month we send out extra money for wages and every three months for rent of the building.  Every penny is accounted for and at the end of each month we receive a balance sheet.

Other projects include putting the eleventh best student in Tanzania through University, another orphan through senior school and a further orphan who lives with his grandmother help with uniform, shoes, school books and food. We work with the local social services and have funded the refurbishment of the junior remand centre which was in a terrible state. We had steel bunk beds made and provided mosquito nets, mattresses, bedding, clothes, food, towels and washing materials. This project is ongoing and as money comes in we need to replace the wood burning cooking stove and also the perimeter fence so the boys can do some gardening and grow maize and vegetables instead of being contained in a small compound doing nothing for twenty four hours a day. This project has gained us favour with the Government. We received a certificate of commendation from them two years ago for the work already completed.

The main task though is to help these and other orphans. The way forward is to acquire some land and build small family units like we have at present, to provide a safe loving space for the children to grow and be educated. Education is the key to ending poverty. We would ideally like to purchase about ten acres so that we could grow our own food, keep chickens and a goat or two. It would also be a place where grandparents can come and visit and eat with us and retain the contact. It works we have proved it and our children are so happy and integrated.

           Daudi has fought and fought to get good teachers for extra tuition for our children and his success story is that Sumayia our eldest girl has started secondary school, a rare privilege for most Tanzanian children. Junior school is free but secondary education has to be paid for.

           So this is where you, your friends, your work colleagues, your business or companies come in to the vision. We need you to partner with us, perhaps sponsor a child, buy some land or sponsor a building. We are not asking for an unrealistic amount of two pounds a week or month to feed a child. We are asking you to take responsibility for human being’s that cannot help themselves, after all an orphan is every ones child. We want you to go out and see the children, help build a home or school or garden. Go and teach the children, share your talents with them.

           In return we will have on our web site monthly accounts from Africa from the money sent out. Regular updates to our news letters and of course you can check our accounts on line. African Orphans U.K. is a registered charity here in the U.K. Our charity number is 1105383. We are also a registered NGO out in Tanzania.

            Please, please we do need your help and together we can make difference.

            For further information or questions telephone Roy or Lesley Fyles on 01407 761878 or 01407 769613 or e mail africanorphansuk@aol.com or royston53461@aol.com