So, this is a 2-part entry. Shocking, right? After the EPIC WATERMELON SAGA , I know you expect nothing less than a 8 chapter novel! However, this time is different. It’s 2-part because the stories are so opposite I don’t want them to share a screen. I don’t want them to be anywhere near each other for fear of one contaminating the other. Part 1 is The Sweet because good news needs to be shared first. Part 2 is The Bitter.
PART 1 – THE SWEET
I would have and should have announced this MONTHS
ago but once you read part 2 (The Bitter) you will be far more forgiving
of the delay… I hope. However, without further delay.. let me tell you the
sweet sweet news…
HERO HOME’S COMMUNITY
CENTRE IS BUILT!!!!
WE DID IT!!
ALL OF US!!!! TABITHA, VICTOR, YOU, ME, AND THE INCREDIBLE WORKERS IN TANZANIA!
We did it! We made this happen and I’m SOOOO proud
of everyone!!!! It has been an incredible journey (I cringe using this word as
it’s been overused by every reality show on TV but it does seem appropriate for
the adventures that have happened to make this a reality!) There have been oh
soooo many ups and downs… so many obstacles overcome… socks pulled up… tears
dried… screams yelled… hugs given... laughs spilled… and love shared but
through it all, WE.KEPT.GOING. We all kept going. You kept
believing in us and we kept giving it our very best! I personally cannot
ever thank any one of you enough for your support, in the form of
encouragement, hugs, a sympathetic ear, financial donations, equipment
donations and all you did to help us spread the word! Without everyone’s
commitment, we never would have accomplished this incredible feat! So, from the
bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!!
I now I need to take a minute to toot Tabitha and Victor's horn! I wish everyone could meet them!! They are an incredible duo who I have
had the privilege to work with! They are the definition of a TROOPER!! They never
gave up or gave in and in the end, Tabitha and Victor made this happen!!
Throughout construction, they were on site every day, working
alongside the contractors. Through one of the rainiest rainy seasons,
they were there! In the burning hot sun, they were there… And as of October, ground that had just been officially broken
in April, held a beautiful COMMUNITY CENTRE complete with an attached living
quaters! It may not sound like much but the amount of love, sweat and
tears that have gone into making it happen makes it priceless! Check out more picture HERE!! It's beautiful!
Our next step is to start running a nursery school
in the building. It will be in the mornings and the plan is to keep our amazing after school sports program running in the neighbouring town until we
are ready to move it on-site. Tabitha is just in the process of getting the
benches and tables made and hopefully by February we can officially open our
doors to the first class of nursery school students at Hero Home!! From there,
the possibilities are endless! Our future plans definitely include workshops
and seminars for community members, tutoring for students, and anything that
can have a positive impact for the community!
That’s the amazing Tanzania news! Now on to
Rwanda where the news keeps getting better and better with every visit!
In 2008, we broke ground on two little classrooms
so we could help Marceline move her 80 students from her front porch to a
beautifully painted, fully equipped classroom. In 2013, we took it 10
steps further and added a library, books, toys, school supplies, a rain water
catchment system, toilets, 7 amazing play structures, and a fence. In 2015, we were
able to take it another huge leap further! Thanks to Marceline’s incredible
dedication, we now provide the students with warm, delicious and incredibly
nutritious porridge everyone morning! Never did I imagine that we would be able
to get to the point of offering a daily breakfast program for the kids but
Marceline expected nothing less! The vast majority of the students walk to for 8am with nothing for breakfast. The play, learn, sing, and
dance in the heat until 11:30, at which time they walk back home. Some of
them may not have their first meal until 1:00pm or 2:00pm. Marceline saw
everyday how this impacted the little kids (aged 3-6) and was committed to
doing something about it. She got parents on board and they contributed a
small amount towards buying the porridge supplies – corn flour, sorghum flour, and sugar.
GO! provided some initial funds to buy the cookiing supplies and subsidize the
extra costs to make porridge happen. We decided to do a trial run for the
last three months of the school year to see how it could work. Thanks to
Marceline’s dedication, it was AMAZING! She got up at 7am every morning to
prepare the porridge and then set it to cool. The kids then went in
shifts around 10am to have a HUGE cup of nutritious porridge! (Sorghum flour is
extremely high in protein, iron, fibre and vit B so every cup has huge benefits for
the little kids). The parents were thrilled and Marceline could physically see
an increase in energy in the students.
The new school year started in January and thanks
to extremely generous donations and through the sales of the hand-drawn thank
you cards, we have raised enough to cover the 5$/day that it costs to provide
porridge for all 87 students! (Yup, you read it right! It costs 5$/day to buy
the flour, sugar, water, and cooking fuel to prepare enough porridge for 87
kids!!) The parents are still contributing towards the costs and we have
committed to subsidizing the remaining expenses until we can come up with a way
to find the money locally. This may go slightly against our mission of
creating completely self-sufficient projects, but when it comes to providing a
healthy breakfast to a 4 year old for 6 cents/day, it's ok to make an exception.
So there you have!! I bet you haven’t read that
much good news in one-sitting in a long time!!! When you look at all the saddest
and destruction in the world these days, I think it’s always important to
remember, there is so many people here and overseas that are doing incredible
things for others and are succeeding in making their little corner of the
universe a better place. TO ALL OF YOU AND ALL OF THEM, THANK YOU!!!!
Now, whether you read Part 2 (The Bitter) http://amazingamandaintanzania.blogspot.com/2016/02/part-2-bitter.htmlor not,
is entirely up to you. However, regardless of what you read, I do want
you all to remember that there are AMAZING people out there doing AMAZING
things everyday to make the world a better place! And theirs accomplishments need to be shared and celebrated!!!
