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One Bedkit At A TimeLiz Vandewater — Barrie, ON
You don’t need to be able to speak the language to understand the impact your donation makes in the life of a Tanzanian child.
August 20, 2009, Day Seven of our distributions, was another great day; made more special by our home visit to one of that day’s bedkit recipients. It was going to be a great opportunity to see bedkit recipients in their own environments, far away from the noise, hub bub and excitement of the daily school distributions. By 1:45 pm we had completed the last of the photos and arrived shortly thereafter at the home visit site. As we exited the van the first thing I noticed was what appeared to be a lean-to and close by was “a poor people’s house” (to quote Mama Wandoa, our overseas volunteer contact). The “ house” had a corrugated steel roof that looked collapsed and the outer grey appearance of the house looked neglected. Mama told us that the family had been told that they could not stay there because it was an unsafe place to live. So, the family of three: Baba (father), Mama (mother), and Fatima (daughter) moved out and a square “hut” like shelter was built less than 15 feet away.
Baba was much older and weathered for his years, and I could see the hardships in his eyes as we shook hands and exchanged our greetings of Jambo (Good Day] and Karibu [Welcome]. The Mama appeared younger and was very proud to be showing us her humble home. Fatima, around 8 years old, appearing shy at first. Fatima had been one of the day’s bedkit recipients and I was sad that I had not remembered her face. Once my eyes had adjusted to the shelter I noticed the bright yellow and red SCAW mattress on a bed frame. On the mattress lay the bag with the remaining pieces of the bedkit. Baba and Mama’s bed was parallel to and offset behind Fatima’s bed. The rest of the family’s worldly possessions were placed underneath each of the two beds, at either end of the parent’s bed, with some possessions partially scattered outside the shelter. And that pretty much was all the room the family had. A white mosquito net hung from the centre of the shelter and Mama and Baba slept under this net. Up until today, Fatima had slept without a net. It didn’t take long before the team immediately set to work and soon thereafter, Fatima’s mosquito net was in place so that her next sleep would be under the protection of her new net. The bed sheet covered the mattress; the blanket placed at the bottom of the “ bed”, and the mosquito net was hung and tucked in under her mattress, making sure that no mosquitoes could get in.
Fatima’s smiles spoke a thousand asante sanas (thank you very much). During this whole process, Baba and Mama were watching the transformation of their 6 foot deep x 8 foot wide x 6 foot high (approximately) shelter [roof made from sticks held together with what appeared to be twine, and covered with a white sheet and the back of the shelter protected with a piece of cardboard] into a safe place to sleep for their daughter. As we said our goodbyes, Baba worked hard to stop his eyes from welling with tears. He could only say asante (thank you) as we shook hands. With his hand to his heart and the look in his eyes, he was saying, “ Thank you with all of my heart”. Thank you, donors, with all of our hearts. Your donations do make a difference in the life of a child. |
