What would love do?

On the eve of this historic election, I wanted to share an op-ed I wrote recently in the hopes that it may help promote peace.

 ***

Six years ago Unite The World With Africa Foundation was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) public charity to create “a world in which people unite in service, crossing borders seen and unseen, so that every human may live with health, hope, opportunity, and dignity.”[1] What seemed as a lofty vision at the time could now become a reality, thanks to COVID-19.

Why? Today, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, nearly all 7.82 billion[2] of us living on Planet Earth find ourselves facing a common enemy—an invisible-yet-potentially-deadly-airborne pathogen—and we are experiencing first-hand how the actions of a few can affect the lives of many, even from thousands of miles away. No amount of wealth, influence, or resources has proven, yet, to render anyone immune.

“So many people who live a comfortable, easy, safe life in the western world, who have never had to deal with malaria, typhoid, dengue fever, cholera, Ebola, HIV/AIDS, and all the other deadly diseases that so many less privileged countries deal with on a daily basis, are now saying ‘one life lost to COVID-19 is one too many,” writes conservationist Stephanie Fuchs, a German-born woman now living with the Maasai tribespeople in Tanzania, on her Instagram @masai_story. She goes on to ask, “Where have they been?!”[3]

Like it or not, Ms. Fuchs has a point. Here in Fairfield County, Connecticut, people lament their kids having to take classes from home via zoom, understocked markets, extended wait times, and being stuck at home. Elsewhere (and here at home), millions have no access to quality education, safe housing, medical care, clean water, or adequate nutrition. In October 2020 my town’s printed glossy magazine ran a feature article about the importance of cloth napkins. It’s time for the privileged to shift focus.

For nearly 30 years I have studied, worked, and traveled in and out of East Africa. In response to the extreme poverty and human suffering I witnessed, I found an amazing team (bless them!) and together we launched Unite with the mission of “providing opportunities for impoverished youth and women to thrive and prosper by investing in and developing quality education, health, and business development programs.”[4] This work has taken me to the side of a Hadza hunter-gatherer woman and her two-hour-old daughter as they lay in dirt in their upside down, hand-built bird’s nest of a home; a 28-week-old newborn who was being kept alive by a heated water-balloon-style baby-warmer donated by an international charity; an 18-year-old girl who, after her baby died during childbirth, lay leaking feces and urine while waiting for an international doctor to perform her fistula surgery. I have met families who lost children and loved ones to all kinds of preventable and treatable diseases (from diarrhea and pneumonia to respiratory illness and untreated infections); diabetics with no access to insulin or glucose monitoring devices; early-stage cancer patients who go on to die because they could not afford, or access, proper treatment; men and women who lost legs to road accidents (in places where there are no orthopedic specialists, broken limbs are often amputated). And the list goes on.

Last summer when most of the world shut down to curb the spread of COVID-19, Tanzania’s President John Magufuli declared Tanzania covid-free. Within two months of the virus officially arriving in the country on March 16, 2020,[5] Magufuli called upon the Tanzanian people to engage in three days of prayer to destroy the coronavirus. “God will do a miracle in our country,” he said.[6] Soon thereafter Covid testing centers closed; the reporting of cases, and deaths, stopped; students returned to school; sporting events resumed; and the small businesses that had popped up to manufacture and provide face-masks and hand-sanitizers shut down. Coronavirus in Tanzania was over.

While Tanzania’s course of action may be questionable, I do wonder what viable choices are available in one of the world’s least developed countries where approximately 70 percent of the population (~60 million people) live on less than $2 a day[7] and where there are no safety nets, beyond extended family. In such an environment, quarantine and lock down would result in economic catastrophe and mass hunger. And while it appears that COVID-19 is not, in fact, ravaging Tanzania, as widely predicted (experts speculate this may be in part because of the young population—nearly half are under 16[8]—and the predominantly outdoor lifestyle), what the future holds, no one knows. However, what we do know, is that the Tanzanian people are intimately familiar with vulnerability and uncertainty. They live with the same diseases that Ms. Fuchs cites – everyday. So, coronavirus or no coronavirus, life goes on. 

I am a natural optimist and believe the day will come that COVID-19 is behind us all. And I am hopeful that this experience will influence, positively, the decisions we choose to make over coming days, months, and years. According to a study published in Lancet, COVID-19 has “triggered enormous displays of pro-social behavior with neighbors coming to the aid of (the) isolated…”  Let’s hope that this compassion; desire to use one’s time, talent, and treasure in service to those in need; and humility that comes from knowing “it could be me” will continue long after the pandemic is history.

 COVID-19 has made what has always been a stark reality impossible to ignore:
Ours is one world; our lives interconnected, our health interlinked.

***

When faced with the challenges of the day, we must ask ourselves…
“What would love do?” And then, we must act.

~Anne Wells, Founder & Director, Unite The World With Africa Foundation

***

[1] Vision Statement. Unite The World With Africa Foundation. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.uniteafricafoundation.org/our-mission-and-goals

[2] Worldometer. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

[3] Stephanie Fuchs, Instagram @Masai_story. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/masai_story/

[4] Mission Statement. Unite The World With Africa Foundation. Retrieved October 29, 2020https://www.uniteafricafoundation.org/our-mission-and-goals

[5] COVID-19 Pandemic in Tanzania. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 29, 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Tanzania

[6] Nyaguthie, Racheal (March 23, 2020). “President Magufuli says coronavirus cannot survive the body of Christ.” MSN.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020 from https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/president-magufuli-says-coronavirus-cannot-survive-in-body-of-christ-it-will-burn/ar-BB11Aa80

[7] “Tanzania Mainland Poverty Assessment: A New Picture of Growth for Tanzania Emerges.” The World Bank. Retrieved October 29, 2020 from https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/tanzania/publication/tanzania-mainland-poverty-assessment-a-new-picture-of-growth-for-tanzania-emerges

[8] World Fact Book. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html

Unite Clubs are launching at secondary schools across Tanzania

Our goal here at Unite is to empower youth across Tanzania with quality education and the skills necessary for them to achieve independence and professional success post graduation. To this end, we are launching Unite Student Clubs in six government secondary schools to reach more than 1,000 students by the year end.

Specific Unite club activities include studying the Unite Curriculum, which includes modules about such essential “soft skills” of professionalism as personal branding and self awareness, verbal and non-verbal communication, active listening, leadership, time management, networking, social media, feedback vs. criticism, and more.

Students also spend time each week watching one to three Unite Passion Videos and discussing in break-out small groups what they have learned and how they have been inspired. The mission of our Unite Passion Project is expose the Unite Scholars and Unite Club members to a wide array of career options, activities, and perspectives by sharing the stories of people around the world—who come with a wide range of talents and backgrounds—who have found their passions and translated those passions into successful careers.

Unite provides each school club with a laptop, projector, screen, smart phone, printer, speakers, and modem along with notebooks, pens, Unite pins, and all necessary supplies for each club participant. We also provide tree seedlings — the size and species depends on the local environment and access to water — to reforest areas in need and help combat desertification. Additionally, we supply everything necessary to build and maintain school gardens (fencing, seeds, training, etc.) to help ensure the students and faculty have access to nutritious food while on campus.

Unite’s Environmental Scientist Clara Ngowi working with the girls at Mtwara Technical to plant trees around the school.

Each Unite Club is assigned a faculty leader who receives a small stipend to cover phone air-time and student club leaders, many of whom are Unite Scholars, who help manage and direct the clubs. Click HERE to hear Isaac, one of our Unite Scholars, speak about his work as a Unite Club team leader at Same Boys School. Click to see club members Ngemi, Sasani, and Bakari speak about their experiences with Unite.

(Left) Unite Scholar Neema showcases her fashion designs as a runway model at the Mtwara Girls Unite Club launch. (Right) Students from Same Boys display their soil-enriching invention.

At the Unite Club launch events, which will continue through mid-October across the country, scholars celebrate with our Unite team leaders by putting on unique performances (songs, dances, skits) and by sharing their many passions and talents. While our team of Unite Mentors are based in Dar es Salaam, they visit partner schools for launch events, remain in regular contact with Unite Club faculty leaders via phone and email/text, and conduct on-site visits as needed to facilitate the clubs’ growth and development and maximize impact. Click HERE to see Unite Club students at Mtwara Technical School dance during their recent celebration.

Unite Scholar Michael (center with glasses) with his Dream Chaser team at a Unite Club meeting at Same Boys School, September 2020.

Click HERE to see an e-flip book images from recent Unite Club launches at schools across Tanzania.

To learn more about our work with Unite Student Clubs, email anne@uniteafricafoundation.org. To make a donation in support of our Unite Clubs and help us reach thousands more students in need across Tanzania, click DONATE. Thank you!

Introducing the Unite Passion Project

As part of Unite’s commitment to educating and empowering marginalized, at-risk youth, we recently launched a guest-speaker platform called The Unite Passion Project. The goals of the project are to expose our Unite Scholars and young people across East Africa to a wide array of perspectives and activities and to showcase ways that various ideas and talents can be translated into meaningful, impactful, and rewarding work and careers.

To date we have received more than 50 video submissions (and are awaiting dozens more) from professionals, students, and change makers around the world covering a wide range of topics from medicine, music, education, leadership, finance and the arts to acting, branding, business, science, entrepreneurship, and more. To watch any one of these passion videos and learn more about what makes these extraordinary people tick, visit Unitepassionproject.org and subscribe to our Unite Passion Project Youtube channel.

Above, a few of our recent Passion Project contributors who include ambassadors, doctors, artists, heads of school, teachers and professors, scientists, film makers, writers, editors, entrepreneurs, and others from around the world who have personal passions to discuss and share. We are most grateful for their participation and support.

Why?

Oftentimes when you ask Unite Scholars or teenagers in rural under-resourced towns or villages what they would like to do with their lives, their response will be the same: “To become a doctor, pilot, or engineer.”  This may be, in part, because they are driven by a love of medicine, aviation, and science. However, oftentimes, it is because they know of nothing else to dream.

THIS IS WHERE THE UNITE PASSION PROJECT COMES IN.

***

Unite is now partnering with a number of higher secondary schools across Tanzania to launch Unite Student Clubs, which are focusing, in part, on watching and discussing our Unite Passion Project videos. Each club will watch one to three videos per week and then spend time in break-out group sharing insights and ideas.

We will reach more than 1,000 students through our Unite Clubs by the end of 2020.

Students in our Unite Club at Same Boys School gather for the club’s kick-off event on September 1, 2020.

Unite Club students at Same Boys watch a passion video by Dr. Morton Shapiro, President of Northwestern University, on September 1, 2020.

To learn more or to contribute a passion video, email Lila@unitepssionproject.org.

In this time of widespread turmoil, fear, and suffering, we can—and must—focus on what brings joy. By sharing what feeds our spirits and ignites our minds, bodies, and souls, we can authentically connect with one another — across borders seen and unseen. And when we can unite as human beings on Planet Earth, we can and will create a more compassionate, equitable, just, and balanced world. 

LEARN MORE AT Unitepassionproject.org.

Subscribe to our Unite Passion Project Youtube Channel HERE.

The Unite Youth Ambassador Program was a huge success!

Cultivating connection, camaraderie, and compassion in the time of COVID-19

We are thrilled to report that our pilot Unite Youth Ambassador Program, which ran from mid-May through early July 2020, was a huge success. Led by Lila Wells, 12 American ambassadors from colleges and universities across America were paired with 23 Unite A-Level Scholars in Tanzania, and together they forged deep and lasting friendships and explored academic, cross-cultural, and creative topics of shared interest.

Click here to see the Unite Ambassador-Scholar “RAP,” an original song by Stella Calista Mosha.

Below, a few highlights, video links & testimonials:

Maria John with her Unite Ambassador Lila Wells.

From my ambassador Lila I learned the importance of respect, empathy, curiosity, and always being charming and friendly. She has taught me about time management and how to improve my self confidence and accountability. I loved making our group videos about BLACK LIVES MATTER and for INTERNATIONAL ALBINISM AWARENESS DAY. May the good Lord find the best way to bless Unite.

~Unite Scholar Maria John Kwanga

Click here to see a short video of Maria John, Lila, and fellow scholars Zainabu Seiph and Furaha Ngowi.

Click HERE to see their self-created PLAY performed from America all across Tanzania!

Zaituni with her twin sister (and fellow Unite Scholar) Zainabu Ally and their Unite Ambassador Maddie Banish.

From my ambassador Maddie, I learned about confidence. She always made me feel very comfortable and I was able to ask her many questions. I also grew my talents in dancing, since my ambassador loves to dance. I also learned a lot about leadership, time management, and how to earn and save money.

~Unite Scholar Zaituni Ally Mjanja

Click here to see Zaituni and her twin sister Zainabu dance a tic tok video with Maddie, Tanzania to America!

Loveness with fellow Unite Scholar Winson Mahenge and their Unite Ambassador CJ Johnson.

“My ambassador CJ studies very hard and takes excellent care of his health. He taught me about engineering and how to keep my body fit by doing push-ups and running. He showed me the importance of having a courageous heart, always encouraging me with my dreams and pursuits. Also he made us so happy by sharing so many funny stories and even dancing. He showed me that happiness is key to success.”

~Unite Scholar Loveness Apaeli

Click here to see a short video of Loveness and CJ.

Lazaro with fellow Unite Scholar Andia Rubai and their Unite Ambassador Mahfouz Soumare.

From my ambassador Mahfouz I learned the importance of working hard, believing in myself, and always aiming higher. I am empowered now to speak up and contribute my opinions. I also learned that Americans are hospitable people who have a culture of cooperation.

~Unite Scholar Lazaro Frederick

Click here to see a video of Lazaro, Mahfouz & Andia.

Michael with fellow Unite Scholar Neema Paul and their Unite Ambassador Jake Turner.

My ambassador Jake is a very kind and charming person. He taught me a lot about self determination and self awareness. He also showed me ways to apply what I study in school to “real life.” I learned that in America people are encouraged to love to other people — even total strangers — and that in America gender inequality is not like it is in Africa.

~Unite Scholar Michael Charles

Click here to see a video of Michael, Jake, and Neema.

John John with his Unite Ambassador Quinn Boyd and Unite Program Leader Lila Wells.

From my ambassador Quinn, I learned the importance of sharing ideas openly and being honest and creative. We discussed a lot about beekeeping and raising goats. My favorite part of the program was our video calls.

~Unite Scholar John John Mashimba

Click here to see a video of John John & Quinn on their farms.

Imani with fellow Unite Scholar Loyce Cheja and their Unite Ambassador Danny Mares.

I learned from my ambassador Danny to believe in myself and be confident when sharing my opinions. He has taught be about the importance of hospitality, cooperation, and being on time. I especially liked discussing leadership, how to empower women in our societies, and how we must fulfill our responsibility to help people in need and change our communities for the better.

-Unite Scholar Imani Faustine

Click here to see a short video clip of Danny & Imani’s conversations.

Stella with fellow Unite Scholar Luther Kavishe and their Unite Ambassador Celine Bitegeko.

My ambassador Celine taught me to compose poems, and I have since written dozens. Since she is an American citizen with Tanzanian parents living in the USA, she has also taught me a lot about the differences between cultures, specifically that Americans like to express emotions and listen to other perspectives. I have been empowered through this program to assist my fellow scholars in many ways, like giving them advice, hope, and encouragement.

~Unite Scholar Stella Calista Mosha

Click here to see a video of Stella, Luther, and Celine.

David with his Unite Ambassador Ramzy Issa.

From my ambassador Ramzy, I have learned many things… three of the best are: faithfulness, responsibility, and humility. Ramzy has a clean heart. I also liked learning about American culture. It is so pleasant. American people are kind, and they like to be healthy and follow routines. They also like to do what is right, like uniting to fight oppression against the black race in the Black Lives Matter movement.

~Unite Scholar David Sichone

Click here to see a video “day in the life” for Ramzy and David.

Elina with fellow Unite Scholar Khadija Mkopi and their Unite Ambassador Caroline Crosby.

My ambassador Caroline is a caring and a very kind girl, even to people she has never met before. She has a commitment to service, which means she is passionate about helping society. Through this program I have learned how to develop friendships and build healthy relationships. Moreover, I have learned that I too am able to explore to the world and share my experiences with others.

~Unite Scholar Elina Green

Click here for a short video highlighting Caroline and Elina.

Ephraim with fellow Unite Scholar Witness Mbise and their Unite Ambassador Nathan Lopinto.

From my ambassador Nathan I learned about time management — making time for school, business, chores, and doing my favorite things. Americans make time for all kinds of things that are important to them. I also learned that Americans like to have pets. Nathan even has a snake that he lives with, and he even gave it a name.

~Unite Scholar Ephraim Thomas

Click here to see a video of Ephraim, Nathan, and Unite Scholar Witness.

Ashura with her Unite Ambassador Shaunmei.

My ambassador Shaunmei taught me the importance of time management, listening to and respecting other people’s opinions, and being committed to my goals, no matter what. Through this program, I increased my confidence and can now speak in public without being afraid. I really like how the American culture values peace, love, and joy for all people.

~Unite Scholar Ashura Amiri

The Hadza: Evolving Footprints

There in the Lake Eyasi Basin of Northern Tanzania, on June 25, 2013, I crouched as low as my 5'10" self could to avoid getting my frizzy blonde hair caught in the thorny roof of that little hut that reminded me of an upside-down birds’ nest. My eyes struggled to adjust. Moments before I was surveying the vast scrub forests and acacia bushlands of this harsh, arid landscape from a look-out point atop a massive rock kjope, squinting my eyes against the blinding light of the midday African sun. However, once inside the structure, the darkness was near complete. Constructed by skilled hands following an ancient art of bending, weaving, and manipulating soft tree limbs, twigs, and short and long grasses, not even a ray of sun, nor a drop of rain, should one come, could penetrate the walls of this traditional Hadza home. 

Newborn baby Raheli.

In time, the blackness turned to shadows and finally to figures. And there, just inches from my knee, a teenage girl lay stretched out on the dried skin of a large gazelle or maybe a zebra. I guessed that she was about four feet tall, small even for a young female Hadza, a hunter-gather tribespeople believed to be related to the pygmies and San bushmen. Next to one of her exposed breasts was a tiny bundle of fabric with the head of an infant poking out. This Hadza baby girl, who I later learned was named Raheli, was born in the night. Someone from the camp had used the group’s cell phone, which was purchased for emergencies by the charity Unite The World With Africa (Unite) for which I am the founder and director, to contact Ruth Matiyas, a skilled local Tanzanian nurse. Unite had been providing funds to support Ruth’s work with her Milagro Hadza Health Program to conduct regular HIV/AIDS and STD screenings and provide medical care, basic health education, and food relief.

The Hadza women wanted Ruth’s help with this delivery because the young mama was uniquely small, and this was her first baby. However, because this particular family group was situated in such a remote rocky area dozens of kilometers from Ruth’s home in the village of Mangola, Ruth could never have reached them by foot nor by motorcycle. (Unite had purchased a motorcycle for Ruth’s transport.) So instead Ruth coached the attending women and laboring mama as best she could through the night by phone, and when I arrived to pick her up at dawn with my two rented four-wheel-drive land rovers and 12 teammates, she told us that Raheli had been born just hours earlier. To help celebrate this new life, we stopped at a small village market to purchase blankets in addition to our pre-ordered boxes of medicines and kilos of rice, maize, and beans before venturing out of town, off-road, across deep gulleys, and over jagged sandy paths to meet these Hadza people ourselves.

“Tulikuletea zawadi ndogo. We brought you a small gift,” I said softly to the exhausted young mama in Swahili as I placed the fresh new blankets on the ground by her side. I wasn’t sure if she spoke Swahili, but I certainly didn’t speak her native click language of Hadzane, so it was the best I could do. “Mtoto wako ni mrembo. Hongera. Your baby is beautiful. Congratulations.” After sitting there a bit longer feeling deeply honored to be invited into this sacred space, wishing there was more I could do for this mother and child, and deeply worried about their uncertain future, I slowly backed my way out on my hands and knees. 

I knew that the chances of baby Raheli surviving weren’t great. For the Hadza, who are some of the last hunter-gatherer people on planet Earth today living primarily as we all did before the advent of agriculture more than 12,000 years ago, life is truly Darwin’s survival of the fittest. One of five babies dies before their first birthday and nearly half of all children perish before the age of 15, often from such preventable and treatable diseases as measles, malaria, and diarrhea.[1]

Kids at the first Hadza camp visited in Lake Eyasi.

But if Raheli did survive, she would be lovingly held, cared for, and carried by many women in her mother’s family network while they foraged for wild berries, dug with sharpened sticks for tubers (edible roots similar to sweet potatoes), and pounded the thick coating of nutritious Baobab tree fruits into powders for porridge using rounded rocks. As soon as Raheli was old enough to walk on her own, she would toddle along beside her mother and these women with small bells tied around her ankles so that any one of them could find her if she wandered off. 

Hadza women pounding baobab fruits.

A Hadza baby with ankle bells.

As Raheli grew, she would feast on honey provided by the Hadza men and boys who follow the calls of the honeyguide bird to locate hives hidden high in the Baobab and Acacia trees. Skilled climbers amongst them ascend the trunks and smoke out the bees before extracting the honeycomb by hand. And Raheli would eat bush meat provided by the male hunters who take down wild game using bows crafted out of the malleable branches of the kongoroko tree, bowstrings made from stretched animal ligaments softened by human saliva, and hand-carved metal-headed arrows covered with lethal poison blended from the pulp of the desert rose (Peterson, Hadzabe. p.65).

In the old days, long before Raheli’s birth, the Hadza’s land was plentiful—untouched and unrestricted by outsiders. However, in the last 50 years or so, the Hadza have lost an estimated 90 percent of their land to encroaching pastoralists and agriculturalists, who have themselves been pushed further and further afield due to population growth, climate change, land feuds, and urban sprawl. With this influx of farms, forests of trees have been razed and an incalculable number of wildlife displaced. Land that was once teeming with such large animals as giraffe, buffalo, eland, and zebra for the Hadza to hunt, can now only support such small mammals as the dik dik (the smallest East African gazelle), warthog, bush pig, baboon, vervet monkey, and rock hyrax (Peterson, Hadzabe. p.65). However, no matter how large or small their kill may be, in accordance with the governing paradigms of the Hadza’s egalitarian culture, the meat must be shared. 

A Hadza hunter.

Hadza men starting a fire.

If Raheli is alive today, she would be seven years old, and according to Tanzanian law, she must go to school. Chances are, her mother, unlike previous generations of Hadza, will support this decision. 

“Decades ago, when Hadza children were taken by the government to boarding schools, many would run away to find their families back in the bush,” says Alyssa Crittenden, a research scientist and anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has been working with the Hadza for the past 16 years. “They didn’t understand what school was or the importance of education. However, things have changed, and the Hadza elders now know their children need to learn to read and write to be able to advocate for themselves and their people with and against both predatory and well-meaning groups.” 

In July 2020, Crittenden, who is an American, co-founded the Olanakwe Community Fund with her long-time friend Shani Msafiri Mangola, a Hadza who grew up in the Lake Eyasi district. Olanakwe, which means “children” in Hadzane, is “a direct response to the Hadza people asking for a community-based non-profit that would be run primarily by the Hadza for the Hadza and would work to meet the expressed needs of the community.” Shani was one of the first Hadza to be sent to primary school by his progressive grandfather who realized that the Hadza people would never truly have rights or resources if they didn’t send their children to school. With the support of Crittenden and dozens of others around the world, Shani was fully sponsored throughout his education beyond government primary school, and he now holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Tumaini University Makumira in Tanzania, and, as of June 2020, a Master of Law degree in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy from the University of Arizona in America. 

The Hadza’s first request to Shani, Crittenden, and the team at Olanakwe, which includes Ruth Matiyas, was for uniforms and school supplies so they can send 193 of their children to the Mangola district government Endamaghay primary-level boarding school. However, like so many other rural government schools across Tanzania, Endamaghay is woefully under-resourced. According to Crittenden, they have 10 teachers serving more than 600 children and few, if any, basic supplies. “Last time I was there I saw with my own eyes children lining up for a meal. They would get a scoop of beans in one hand and rice in the other. They did not even have plates to eat off of,” says Crittenden.  

While Hadza parents miss their children when they are away at school and do not agree with the widespread practice of corporal punishment in the classrooms, they know their children need to learn and have asked Olanakwe to do all they can to improve the school and the quality of education it provides. And when their children return to their bush homes over school holidays, parents and elders can continue to impart their traditional Hadza knowledge to these younger generations, as they have for millennia, through stories shared around slow smoldering fires.

Perhaps the most widely recognized expert and most committed advocate for the Hadza people today is Daudi Peterson, an American who grew up in Tanzania and is the founder of Dorobo Safaris and The Dorobo Fund. Peterson is also the author and editor of a book that is “believed to be the most participatory account of Hadza culture available today” (Peterson, Hadzabe. p. 11), HADZABE, By The Light of A Million Fires. When I asked Peterson how many Hadza still live exclusively as hunter-gatherers, his response was, “None. They can’t. They are not isolated anymore and traditional resources are not enough.” However, more than 90 percent, says Peterson, still forage to enhance their diets to a varying degree with some depending directly on the land for the bulk of their livelihoods.

So if the Hadza have lost too much of their land and wildlife to live solely as they once did, what are they doing now? According to Peterson, some farm, some keep cattle, some find jobs in villages or towns, and many others look to earn money through tourism.

“For the Hadza, tourism is both a blessing and curse,” says Crittenden. “They need the income as there is not enough wild game left in their condensed land area on which they can survive; however, tourism, as it is today, isn’t equitable or sustainable.” 

According to Crittenden, more than 300 safari companies are now bringing tourists to “hunt with the Hadza” in the Mangola – Lake Eyasi area. “Last summer I saw eight to 10 loaded vehicles of tourists visiting each Hadza camp every day,” says Crittenden.  

***

My experience in 2012 bringing American tourists to visit the Hadza was an utter failure. Earlier that morning, before I met baby Raheli and her mama, Ruth and I had taken my 12-year-old daughter Lila, my sister Kim, and two American families, ages eight to 48, to a visit another Hadza group for whom Ruth was providing food relief, medical screenings, and health care funded by Unite.

Within moments of arriving, one American girl nearly fainted when she saw a Hadza child bite into the head of a bird that was not-quite-yet-dead, still flapping about. Later, while sitting with the larger Hadza group around an open fire, one American mother whispered in my ear that she and her family needed to leave after she realized the pipe being passed around and smoked by the Hadza men, women, and children was full of marijuana. I did my best to coax and soothe her. “This is a very different culture. Just try to relax and observe.” I succeeded in getting them to stay, for a while, and shoot bow and arrows alongside the Hadza men. However, things took another turn for the worse when a few women took our hands and walked us through thick bush to a clearing where they had laid out their “shop” of hand-made beaded jewelry and bags made of animal skins, zebra manes, and bird feathers. These were not items any of us would wear or use at home in America, but we were happy to buy to provide a bit of financial support to people who, quite literally, had nothing.

A Hadza hunter walking in the Lake Eyasi Basin of Northern, Tanzania.

Everyone chose something, and I went to pay. However, I didn’t enough small bills to give each woman the exact change, so I asked Ruth to manage the payment. From there, harsh-sounding Swahili words were tossed about in alternating quiet-and-aggressive voices, and finally, Ruth told me to hand the money to one Hadza woman who would be responsible for its distribution. As soon as the shillings transferred from my hand to hers, the group descended upon the woman like vultures. The cries and screams were sickening. “Don’t worry,” said Ruth. “They will figure it out. I just hope the men don’t take all the money and spend it on gongo, their local homebrew."

That was the final straw for my American visitors. Lila, Kim, and I went on with Ruth to meet baby Raheli and visit a few more camps, while the others headed back to our Western-styled tented camp that was comfortably outfitted with sit toilets, beds with mosquito nets, and bottled water. 

When I asked Peterson how, in a society famous for sharing, women could be so verbally abusive to each other over a few shillings, he explained. “The Hadza are people just like you and me who have traditionally been governed by different paradigms. And as people who have had to survive day-to-day, they are natural opportunists. So when you introduce outside things (like individual money) it complicates things, and it takes time for them to figure out how to reconcile this with their traditional paradigms.”

Peterson’s advice? The same as Ruth’s. “Let them deal with it.”

 ***

What can we learn from the Hadza people of Tanzania’s Lake Eyasi whose elders hold the wisdom of some of the most self-sufficient people living on planet Earth today? Who once existed in total harmony with one another and their environment? Whose woodlands once provided all the game, honey, berries, and natural materials they needed to survive? Whose footprints were once invisible to the eyes of their neighbors who came and conquered because they thought the land was uninhabited?

“For thousands of years, Hadza culture worked,” says Peterson, whose Dorobo Fund continues its work to protect Hadza land rights and thereby provide this marginalized, at-risk culture some degree of choice and dignity. “Historically, they are an example of what is possible when the paradigms of equality and sustainability govern a society.” 

“The Hadza remind us of the critical importance of staying connected to our food sources and networks as well as the power of community childrearing, cooperation, and collaboration,” says Crittenden. “Empathy scores are declining in American and European children because we are teaching them only to look out for number one. And what people don’t realize is, by ignoring certain wisdom of such cultures as the Hadza, we are doing our children, and our planet, a terrible disservice.”

Lila and Hadza children drawing pictures in the sand.

 ***

In the end, Unite could not continue funding Ruth’s work with the Milagro Hadza Health Fund. Western donors tend to prefer an ROI, return on investment, that is far more logical, clear, and straight forward. That said, I am deeply grateful to Peterson, Crittenden, Shani, Ruth, and the countless others who continue to work in support of the Hadza – whether by campaigning for their land rights or by providing access to health care, education, professional training, and more. Their shared dream is, I believe, the same as mine (now as an interested and compassionate bystander), which is to find and nurture Hadza leaders “who will lead forcefully but from behind and by consensus for the good of all” (Peterson. Hadzabe. p.193).

If Raheli is alive today, if she can attend the Endamaghay school and get the necessary uniforms, books, and school supplies; if she can secure sponsorship for continued education beyond primary and still somehow retain the wisdom of the generations that came before her; perhaps then one day she will become like Shani, a pioneer for her people, forging new hybrid norms and paradigms to support, govern, preserve, and grow their ever-evolving Hadza culture. 

Raheli’s extended family in Mongola.

With Ruth and the Hadza at the first Hadza camp.

With my daughter Lila at the second Hadza camp.

SOURCES

·      Daudi Peterson (2012). HADZABE, By The Light of A Million Fires. Dar Es Salaam. Mkuki na Nyota,

·      Brian Wood (2020). Hadza Fund. Video retried from https://vimeo.com/404352873.

·      National Geographic. Encyclopedia Resource Library. Hadza. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hadza/

·      Olanakwe Community Fund. Retrieved from https://www.olanakwe.org

·      Phone interview with Alyssa Crittenden, August 12, 2020.

·      Phone interview with Daudi Peterson, August 12, 2020.

[1] Brian Wood (2020). Hadza Fund. Video retried from https://vimeo.com/404352873.

Hosiana has been Hired!

We are thrilled to share the great news that our Unite Scholar Hosiana Thomas Laitatok has accepted a full-time salaried position at the Kivulini Maternity and Fistula Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, to work with their administration and patient care staff.   

I first met Hosiana in October 2017 during a visit to Unite’s Maasai Health Project in Mkuru, Maasailand (which was completed in 2019). She attended a class we were sponsoring for traditional midwives. I was immediately struck by Hosiana’s big smile, bright eyes – that locked boldly with mine — and her beautiful baby named Happiness. Hours later when my team and I went to leave, Hosiana, who was 19 years old at the time, approached me, introduced herself, and asked for help. She said that she desperately wanted to go back to school to fulfill her dream of championing the rights of girls and women and to be able to support herself and Happiness. I gave her my business card and told her to contact me. (Click HERE to see a short video about how we met.)

Hosiana and her baby Happiness at our first meeting in October 2017.

The next day, sitting snug in my KLM seat preparing to leave Kilimanjaro for Shiphol in Amsterdam, I received a text from Hosiana via What’s App. She had borrowed a friend’s phone and walked two hours to find a signal to say goodbye. From there, our communications continued.

The following March, my family and I went to visit Hosiana and her family in Mkuru to ask her father for his permission to sponsor Hosiana to study at the Tengeru Community College in Arusha where she would earn her certificate in Community Development. The Maasai are a polgymous, pastoralist tribe in which women traditionally have no rights or power. We could do nothing without Hosiana’s father’s blessing. He agreed. Since Hosiana was the only one in her large extended family (her father has three wives and more than 30 children) to have completed secondary school, it made good sense for her continue her education. Hosiana’s mother agreed to take care of Happiness while Hosiana was away studying.

The Wells family and members of Hosiana’s family in 2018.

With Hosiana, Happiness, and her father in the Chief’s home.

Hosiana with her mother Elizabeth.

During her year at Tengeru Community College in Arusha, we also worked with our friend and colleague Jude Holden to secure for Hosiana a month-long unpaid internship for Hosiana at Kivulini Hospital, which was then followed by a 10-month-long unpaid secondment following her college graduation. (Unite paid for all of Hosiana’s living expenses, food, transport, as well as an appropriate living stipend.) During these months, Hosiana assisted with the care of fistula patients and teen mothers (in Unite's teen-mama care & education program) as well as with patient registration and family planning services. From the hospital, in return for her work, Hosiana received ongoing professional training in patient-care and administration.

Hosiana and Jude Holden (the director of Kivulini until the spring of 2019 when the pandemic hit) attending to a teen-mama whose delivery and post-natal care and education was sponsored by Unite.

Hosiana helping to care for patients at a Fistula Clinic at the Kivulini Hospital.

In May 2020, Hosiana completed her secondment at Kivulini and went home to Maasailand to run a 10-week-long Boma-2-Boma COVID-19 Community Outreach Program for Unite.  Hosiana traveled long distances across the extremely rural, barren landscape going door-to-door, “boma-to-boma,” with her materials. Her focus was on teaching families about COVID-19 (what is it, how people get infected, how can people protect themselves, etc.) as well as about the critical importance of proper hygiene and sanitation, hand washing, and mask wearing (in public areas.) Hosiana also distributed 250 masks made by Unite’s Brave Widows to families throughout Maasailand.

Hosiana in a family boma starting her training about COVID-19.

Hosiana setting up a hand-washing station for a Maasai family.

Hosiana distributing masks to Maasai families in Mkuru.

Hosiana started her new position at Kivulini Hospital late last month. To Unite she writes:

“I want to thank God for bringing me Unite. I never believe that there could be someone who would lift me up and make me better and more successful. Unite has welcomed me and made me a member of their family. They have showed me great love and helped me to achieve my dreams. Through Unite I have built up a lot of confidence, and I can now stand up in front of people and speak, teach, and lead. To Unite I say Asante Sana (thank you very much). I am happy. I am doing well. I am shining because of you.”

Hosiana (right) with members of her team at Kivulini Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, holding up a Certificate in Counseling she earned after successfully completing an on-site professional training.

Hosiana’s dream has always been to help educate, care for, and fight for the rights of girls, women, and young mothers, like herself. Today, she is a fully-employed single mother who is independent (nearly, Unite has paid her rent for six months to help her get started), extremely well respected, and thriving. We are so proud of her! HONGERA SANA! Congratulations Hosiana. We love you. 

Click HERE and HERE to see Hosiana’s daughter Happiness doing a celebration dance for her mama.

Sundowners in the Serengeti

NOTE: This letter is to all of you who would like to visit Tanzania AFTER this COVID-19 pandemic is safely behind us. That day WILL come, and Tanzania and Unite Tours are waiting to warmly welcome you.

Dear future safari-goer,

So you are planning a safari to Tanzania? Excellent. I’m excited for you. The Tanzanian people are some of the warmest, kindest, and joyfully-spirited people you will ever encounter, and the country is one of the most beautiful on Planet Earth. You will surely be enthralled by the vastness of the Serengeti plains; the sheer size of the setting orange equatorial sun; and the snow-covered peak of Old Man Mzee, the local people’s pet name for Mount Kilimanjaro. You will find yourself lulled to sleep by glow of the Southern Cross in the draping canopy of the night sky, and even the high-pitched whooping sounds made by the prowling hyena and the wafting aroma of fresh elephant dung will grow on you. 

Wherever you choose to safari – whether it be in the Serengeti, the Selous, Lake Manyara, Mikumi, Ngorongoro, or Ruaha – you will see an abundance of wildlife. Fear not. A country twice the size of California, Tanzania has more than a quarter of its mass (an area larger than all of Germany) set aside as protected lands. It is one of the only places, other than being out in the middle of the sea, where your gaze can stretch to the horizon 360-degrees in every direction. And while you may feel small and insignificant in the face of this awesome universe, do not be fooled. Your presence here matters, and the choices you make have an impact. Pay attention. 

Whether you consider yourself wealthy, a bit well off, middle-class, or even poor, chances are the value of your luggage alone is more than a typical Tanzanian family earns in a year or longer. This is a land where children die because parents cannot afford $4 antibiotics and $8 malaria treatments; where the majority of the people live as subsistence farmers cultivating small swaths of land with hoes and sickles; where about half the population has access to clean drinking water and a small fraction to improved sanitation; where some people choose witchdoctors over hospitals believing in a greater chance of survival; and where — in certain rural areas — infants who are born with disabilities are seen as curses sent by demons. With one of the highest incidences of HIV/AIDS in the world, it’s perhaps not surprising that the average life expectancy in Tanzania is just 63 and nearly half of the country’s ~60,000,000 people are under the age of 18. Believe me, you have more than you think.

Tourism is an essential part of Tanzania's lifeblood. It is a major engine of the economy and the source of employment for thousands. So don’t be cheap, but also, spend your money wisely. 

“How do I do this?” you may ask. “By doing your homework,” I say. Research outfitters, camps, and lodges carefully. If they say “Our philosophy is to give back,” dig deeper. If their slogan is: “Our promise to you: a genuine safari that makes a genuine difference,” find out more. Inquire how exactly these highly-profitable companies fulfill such lofty claims. Find out exactly what percentage of your money will be allocated to these promises. Ask to meet the beneficiaries of your funds in person. You have a right to do this and if all is legitimate and as they say, this should be a warmly welcomed request. If it is not, look elsewhere. 

Here, a few “musts” to help guide you: 

• Know the man whose face is featured in the framed photo displayed on the wall of every business in the country alongside that of the current president John Magufuli. His name is Julius Nyerere, and he was Tanzania’s first president. Nyerere is lovingly referred to by the Tanzanian people as “Mwalimu,” or teacher, because he taught them that their fight was not against each other or any other African nation but instead against the three most powerful evils: poverty, ignorance, and disease. While Nyerere may have devastated Tanzania economically with his socialist policies, he succeeded in uniting more than 120 tribes and making Kiswahili the country’s primary language. As a result, Tanzania is one of the few peaceful countries in Africa, and more times than I can count I have heard Tanzanians say, “I will choose poverty over war any day.” 

• Take time to learn at least a few Swahili words, and don’t rush your hellos and goodbyes. In the morning, say, , “Habari za asubuhi? Umeamkaje?” “Good morning, did you wake well?” At night before retiring for bed, try “Usiku mwema. Lala salama. Tutaonana kesho.” “Good night. Sleep well. See you tomorrow.” And remember, just as you do at home, always use your “asante” and “tafadhalis,” your “please” and “thank yous.” 

• Dress modestly. Leave your mid-drift shirts, cut off shorts, and fancy jewelry at home. 

• Everyone in Tanzania has a powerful faith, whether it be Christian, Muslim, or Indigenous beliefs. Watch your language, everyone is listening. (You cannot imagine the x-rated conversations I have overheard in nearby safari vehicles from loud, foul-mouthed Americans while their guides blush with embarrassment in the front seats.) 

• If you are a woman who is not married, people will feel sorry for you. Don’t be offended. 

• Listen to your guide. When he says at the entrance gate of the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area to sit inside your vehicle and wait for him with your windows closed while he goes inside the building to process paperwork, do as he says. Once I had a group of teenagers who went rogue and were nearly mauled by a huge baboon who jumped through their opened window in search of a lunchbox. 

• The Tanzanian people do not like having their pictures taken unless they are your friends or you have asked their permission. Why? It’s rude. Would you want strangers hanging out their car windows snapping photos of you? 

• Try the local food. A few good options include ugali (simple porridge made with millet or sorghum flour), chapati (fried dough), sukumawiki (cooked okra-type greens), and goat soup (the horns, skull, hoofs, and every other unused part of the animal thrown into a stew). Your pioneering culinary spirit will surely put smiles on many faces.

• Before you finish your safari, if you haven’t already, please invite your safari guide to join you for dinner. Inquire about his life. He has a compelling story to tell. And if you want to have your mind blown, ask how many languages he speaks. Then ask how old he was when he learned his third, fourth, and fifth languages. And, if he hasn’t told you already, ask him the Latin names of all of the animals you have seen and about the mating patterns of your favorite bird (mine is the Love bird). If he is good, which he likely will be since the competition is fierce, he will know. Ask him about his country and its history, its land and its people, the government and the next presidential election. Again, he will know. Every Tanzanian knows. 

Lovebirds

Now, here is what you need to know to respect yourself. First and foremost, as it is with most tourism industries across the “developing” world, there is a masterful, behind-the-scenes game being played, and you are a pawn with a big dollar sign on your back. An example of how it works: I am a safari outfitter who has a friend who owns a camp in the southern Serengeti where beds are empty. I send you there for a few nights so he makes money, and I get a hefty commission. He, of course, will do the same for me when my business is slow. However, chances are, if you knew better, you would have preferred spending those precious and very expensive nights a few hundred miles to the north, closer to the Grumeti River where wildebeests are crossing by the thousands on their migration north into Kenya and where crocodiles are feasting.  

While on safari, you will likely be taken out for an early morning game drive and then brought back to camp for lunch and a siesta before being taken out for an evening game drive during which time you will be served “sundowners” (which, in the safari world, is the name for cocktails consumed in the bush around the time of sunset) on the ancient Ngong rocks in the Serengeti or on some other spectacular vista point. While this is all lovely and good, how you spend your day is actually up to you. (You are the paying client.) So, if you want to go out and safari all day long and take boxed lunch with you, you can. Some outfitters impose a mileage limit so the guides can only take you out so far. You won’t know this, so ask ahead. And, if your driver stops the vehicle alongside a pride of sleeping lions and wants to sit there for 15 minutes, you can tell him it’s time to move on. The polite way to do this is, “Samahani kakangu. Tuko tayari. Twende.” “Excuse me my brother, we are ready. Let’s go.” Followed, of course, by “Asante,” which means “thank you,” once you are rolling. 

You will notice that when you are out in the bush driving around searching for the leopard, lion, cheetah, or any other rare find like the wild dog, anteater, or topi gazelle, your guide will be on his phone or transistor radio speaking in Swahili. Most often he is talking to other guides and assuming you aren’t listening. But if he thinks there is even a small chance you understand even the easy Swahili words like tembo (elephant), simba (lion), and twiga (giraffe), he will use special made-up terms for the animals, terms that only the guides themselves understand. Why? To get you, the paying-and-hopefully-big-tipping client, well-positioned to take a good photo of the massive bull elephant, the leopard sleeping high up in the umbrella acacia tree, the mama cheetah hunting for her babies, or the mating lions, your guide needs help. And these guys are clever; they work as a team and take turns being the one who finds the best photo-ops. Clients don’t know this, so that they naturally think that their guide is the one with superhuman instincts who can smell giraffe poop from miles away (some can) and have eagle eyes that can spot the camouflaged head of a lion peering just slightly above the tall dried-out grasses (some do). If your group is more than four to six people, you will likely be split between two vehicles, and in no time you will find yourselves competing. Dinner conversations will turn into boasting matches of who saw what first, who saw the most, and which group’s guide is better. It’s all part of the game.

The last thing we need to discuss is tipping. Whew. This is a big one. Here is what you need to know but few people will tell you: Nearly all the men and women who have waited on you hand and foot throughout your entire journey – from the porters, waiters, cooks, and gardeners to the maids, security guards, front clerks, and your drivers and safari guides themselves – rely mainly on tips for their income. Some are paid a basic or meager wage. Some are not. And all of them have extended families back home that they, as the one who is working, must take care of. Prepare for this by carrying stacks of cash in small- and medium-sized bills in your secure fanny back. (Note: $100 bills dated before 2009 are not accepted in Tanzania. No one trusts them, so they are as good as trash.) Many safari clients are annoyed when I tell them this. They say, “I just paid more money for this two-week family safari than I paid for my first car, and now you want me to bring hundreds of dollars in cash to stuff into every tip jar and extended hand I see?” My answer? “Yes.”

When it’s all over and you arrive home, safe and sound, you may decide that Tanzania was one of the best trips of your life, and, like me, you have fallen in love and must go back. Or you may feel perplexed, thinking that you have discovered a magical and mysterious place on Earth where, as David Lamb writes in his book “The Africans,” “nothing is ever quite as it seems and nothing ever happens quite as it is supposed to.” (Lamb, 1987). Or you may even feel slight dismay over being a bit taken advantage of. Or you may experience all of the above. In any case, you will be different. It may be that your spirit is now more connected to Mother Earth or that your smile now reflects those of the dozens of little barefoot children who chased your vehicle beaming and waving, calling out enthusiastically, “Mzungu, Mzungu!”“White person, white person.” (Regardless of whether you are white, black, or brown, if you are from America, you are mzungu.) Or perhaps you can feel the lingering warmth and wonder of the cracking fire dancing in front of you while you enjoyed your evening sundowners. However microscopic the change may be, it will be there, and — I dare say — you will be better for it.

Any questions, give me a call.

Anne Wells
Founder & Director, Unite Tours Service Safaris
Unitetours.org * 314.239.3997 * anne@uniteafricafoundation.org

SOURCES

1. Editorial Staff. 50 Interesting Facts About Tanzania. The Fact File. July 16, 2020. Retrieved from https://thefactfile.org/tanzania-facts/

2. World Population Review (2020). Tanzania. July 16, 2020. Retrieved from https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/tanzania-population

3. Asilia Africa. Our Story. July 16, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.asiliaafrica.com/about-us/

4. Ker & Downey. Giving Back. July 16, 2020. Retrieved from https://kerdowney.com/giving-back/

5. David Lamb (1987), The Africans. New York. Vintage Books. 

Musings about Dar es Salaam - The Place of Peace

If you head due west through the archipelago of the Zanzibar islands you will likely see a line-up of container ships stretching into the distance as far as the eye can see. Floating islands laden with scads of cargo lie in wait for days, weeks, and even months, before gaining clearance to enter the port of the Dar es Salaam where they will unload and reload bound for destinations around the world.

 In the bright blue, aquamarine waters that run beneath the ships’ gargantuan hulls, small dhow sailboats are skippered by barefoot fisherman. With ragged crews, these men work through the nights and into the early morning hours casting and retrieving nets and baited lines, guided by the lights of the ships towering above and the distant stars of the southern hemisphere. Around 6:00 AM, as the rising sun’s rays can be seen glittering and ref\cting off the glass sides of the skyscrapers that loom on the horizon ahead, the fisherman haul in their final catch before journeying back to shore.

Come closer and you may pass an overcrowded ferry boat bound for Zanzibar. These boats, always in a state of great disrepair, move humans along a passage that was used for centuries to move captured slaves from their homelands to their points of sale and ultimate demise. 

If you look to the city and scan your eyes to the north, you may find yourself overcome by the pristine beauty of the white-sand beaches of Mbezi Beach and Msasani Bay. Here, mostly light-skinned people gather to relax on plump cushions overlaid upon hand-crafted beach lounge chairs placed in the shade of palm trees. They drink tropical cocktails made with fresh fruits and stirred with ice cubes in martini-style glasses. They escape the intense heat and humidity of the Swahili Coast by submerging their bodies in crystal clear waters that stretch off the shores of beaches that have been meticulously cleared of hawkers and are guarded around the clock for their protection. At modern, European-style restaurants overlooking the sea, they enjoy such delicacies as beef tenderloin, tuna tartare, veal scallopini, and fresh salads pre-washed in filtered water. 

If, however, the people you see along these northern shores are not tourists from Europe, North America, Australia, or Asia, they are likely international residents. These “ex-pats” may live in pristine bungalows with gardens overflowing with scarlet flame and palm trees, purple bougainvillea, blue jacaranda, and red hibiscus. They likely sleep peacefully at night, tucked safely away behind well-fortified walls lined with broken glass and barbed wire. Their employers have engaged for them private security systems, which include on-call fire and ambulance services as there are no public services in this Place of Peace – the Arabic name for Dar es Salaam. These people, who are known in Kiswahili as Wabenzi (the people of the Mercedes Benz) may purchase their mangos, papayas, bananas, passion fruits, and melons from refrigerated cases within air-conditioned markets. They may drive well-policed roads that run along the outer edges of the city to meet friends at the Yacht Club and to drop their children off at the sweeping compound of the international school. 

To the south of the city, you may see along the shore the Kivukoni open-air fish market where throngs of people come to buy and sell everything from tiny sardines to gigantic kingfish. Some have fished their catch legally. Others have dropped home-made bombs into the ocean waters before casting vast nets to scoop up their kill. In the market, restaurant owners, mamas, and money collectors gather around low fish-display tables to argue loudly over prices, and a roar of Swahili negotiations fills the air. At the far edge of the marketplace—where the stench is less pungent and the ground not fully blanketed with fish scales, blood, and guts—passersby choose pieces of octopus, squid, shrimp, and prawns to be roasted over open fires and eaten off toothpicks.

Straight ahead, from your position at sea, you may see the slender opening to the city’s natural, nearly landlocked harbor. This is East Africa’s largest and most powerful port for imports and exports flowing from around the world. Tugboats lead vessels coming from America, China, India, Japan, South Africa, Europe, and beyond to and from 11 wharves where massive cranes unload and reload containers. Everything imaginable moves through these 10 transit centers. Oil, machinery, wheat, palm oil, plastics, pharmaceutical, medicines, motor vehicles, and more flows in. Tobacco, coffee, cotton, cashew nuts, tea, cloves, and gemstones flow out. And once taxes have been negotiated and paid, goods pilfered, pockets lined, and mouths fed, the journey of the cargo can continue overland by lorry or rail to mainland Tanzania and beyond to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Malawi. (Calas, Bongoland. p. 315)

Move through the port and beyond the upscale neighborhoods assigned by the British in the early 20th century to the Indians, Pakistanis, and Asians, and you will reach the inner sanctum of the city. Here, sounds of the Islamic call to prayer and church bells fill the air. Limbless lepers lay on wet cardboard beneath huge flashy billboards for such companies as Coca Cola and Vodaphone. Wide-open boulevards that were once well maintained and flanked by the administrative offices of the German and British colonial rulers are now dilapidated and jammed with lorries moving heavy cargo; flatbed trucks top-loaded with harvested items from the interior; coach-style buses decorated with such slogans as “Jesus Loves Me” and “Inshallah;” dala dala minibusses with 30-plus people crammed into a dozen seats; and piki piki motorbikes that snake and squeeze precariously through the traffic with one or more passengers holding tightly on to the waist of the driver. Skeletal men push wheelbarrows and bicycles loaded high with goods. School children wearing matching blue and white uniforms make their way along busy roadsides. Women clad in colorful kitenge fabrics move in perfect unison with babies tied to their backs and heavy loads balanced upon their heads; and cows, goats, and chickens scamper between feet and wheels. 

 Continue west to the spider web of unpaved roads that move through such neighborhoods as Tandale, Tabata, Vingunguti, and Vituka. Here you will find swarms of grifters and hustlers who, after fleeing their rural villages in search of jobs, opportunity, and a better life, have found themselves in complete despair, with no options beyond theft and petty crime for survival. This is a world of yellowed, jaundiced eyes and stunted bodies living on top of one another in makeshift homes constructed in haste with tin sheets, mud, sticks, tarpaulin, and repurposed rubble, and it indistinguishable from any other slum in any other city on the African continent. Shallow streams of raw sewage and garbage stagnate between dwellings and fill the air with fetid smells. Street children sniff glue to tame hunger pains. Everyone here hustles to survive. 

It is from these places that the fishermen you saw this morning at sunrise commute hours upon hours every day to their worksites at sea. Here, in this second-fastest growing city in the world[1], a tsunami of humanity is rapidly filling every inch of open space as the city creeps and sprawls further and further inland. 

Article by Anne Wells.

---

Sources:

Bernard Calas (2010). From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland: Urban Mutations in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam. African Books Collective.

Jonathan Rosen, Tanzanian City May Soon Be One of the World’s Most Populous. National Geographic, April 5, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/tanzanian-city-may-soon-be-one-of-the-worlds-most-populous/

[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/tanzanian-city-may-soon-be-one-of-the-worlds-most-populous/

INTRODUCING THE UNITE YOUTH AMBASSADOR PROGRAM

CULTIVATING CONNECTION, CAMARADERIE AND COMPASSION IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

Unite’s Vision: A world in which people UNITE in service, crossing borders seen and unseen, so that every human may live with health, hope, opportunity and dignity.

Last week we launched a new 6-week-long pilot “Unite Youth Ambassador Program” connecting college student Ambassadors across America to our Unite Scholars in Tanzania to promote friendship, connection and collaboration, creativity and imagination, camaraderie and compassion, and academic and professional success. Click HERE to meet our Ambassadors. Click HERE to meet our Unite Scholars enrolled in this program. Click HERE to meet our leadership team.

As I am included in every Ambassador-Scholar What’s App group, I can report that the program is off to an awesome and enthusiastic start… Why? My phone is blowing up! “Ping,” “ping,” “ping ping ping” all day every day. In fact as I write this I am listening to Lila, Quinn and John John on a Zoom call behind me sharing stories and discussing John’s John’s rabbit keeping business. This extraordinary group of college students (who come from Northwestern University, UC San Diego, University of Michigan and Fairfield University) are busy texting and video-chatting every day with their paired scholars, introducing themselves and their families; sharing their dreams, challenges and passions; discussing such topics as the impact of the coronavirus; leadership and the power of mindset; astrophysics, black holes and space programs; livestock keeping, best organic farming techniques and food insecurity; chemical kinetics and engineering; pop culture and their favorite music; and so much more.

Each of our Ambassador/Scholar teams is engaging in academic challenges and preparing creative final projects. Some teams are working on writing new music to perform and rap videos, some are preparing group speeches and poetry, some are even doing side-by-side workout challenges (sit ups, push ups, sprints). While they may be 7,000 to 10,000 miles apart, they are together through technology and in heart and spirit… For me (note Unite’s vision statement above) this program is A DREAM COME TRUE.

In July, after our Unite Scholars head back to school in Tanzania for their A-Levels, we will compile all of their creative projects and present them to you, our extended Unite family, for your enjoyment. For now, please click on the links below for some video insights to this program:

• Click HERE for a 60-second video capturing highlights from this first week of connection.

• Click HERE for a short video higlighting a recent conversation between Loveness and CJ.

• Click HERE for a short video of Danny and Imani discussing their love of music.

WANT TO GET INVOLVED?

Contact Program Youth Director Lila Wells at lilawells2023@u.northwestern.edu.

To date, Lila and her teammates have enrolled a number of “Guest Speakers” from such academic institutions as Northwestern University and Greens Farms Academy and such businesses as EY and MILK who have kindly and generously agreed to submit five to 10-minute videos of themselves speaking about a topic of their choice (topics currently range from economics and globalization, business development, stress management and essay writing to organic chemistry, leadership and public speaking techniques). These speakers and their presentations will soon be featured on our Uniteafricafoundation.org website for your review.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at @unitetnz. We are posting regularly and the excitement and creative vision of these Ambassador-Scholar teams is thrilling to see and be part of. Follow our hashtags: #unitetnz, #unite_scholars, #unitehummingbirds.

“It has been so delightful and fruitful to connect with David who is such a bright student living a daily life that is so different than my own but with whom I share so many similarities and interests. I’ve been learning more about the education system outside the U.S., and I’ve been learning some Swahili as well as a bit about Tanzanian culture. So far we have discussed our goals, leadership, science, and current events. For our creative project, we will do a skit where we both act as news channel hosts/ reporters, and we’ll be informing the public about the impact of this amazing program. We plan to have some guest interviews in our skit as well.” ~Ramzy Issa, rising Sophomore at Northwestern University.

Screenshots from some of the many videos being sent back and forth, ambassador to scholar, scholar to ambassador. So much LOVE, HOPE & JOY is being spread around the world!

“I'm glad to have this opportunity to connect with unique and interesting people around the world. John John (my paired scholar) is a great partner for me with his entrepreneurial disposition, skill and ability in raising animals, and with his curiosity and kindness. And, as an engineer, I am learning to be more conscious of other ways of problem solving.”

- Quinn Boyd, rising Sophomore at University of California San Diego.

Unite Scholars Extend their Blessings

As the assault of COVID-19 continues and the wildfire of infections, fear, sickness and death penetrates the remotest corners of Planet Earth, many of us wonder: What can we do? How can we help?

Like countless others, our Unite Scholars face an extremely challenging time rife with hardship and worry. Unite has provided each of our 70+ teammates and scholars everything from food relief, sanitizers, gloves and face masks to interest-free small business loans, and we continue to seek more ways to be of service. Last week our Program Director Anty Marche told me that she sent one of our scholars, Loyce Cheja, just $20 to purchase some food items from Loyce’s small business that Loyce could then give to others in need. I thought it was a great idea and did the same for a few other scholars. The results have been astounding. Our hearts are overflowing. If you want to know how $20 can transform lives in Tanzania…. read on.

LOYCE CHEJA

“By blessing others I have experienced the great joy of giving. I am now more connected to my community as I have earned a sense of cooperation and trust with people I did not know before. I want to work harder than ever so that I may have something to give. And even if I do not have money, I can share my time, ideas and energy.”

Loyce Lucas Cheja and her auntie with whom she is running her small store business. CLICK HERE to see Loyce’s roadside stand where she sells her wares.

Loyce, 20, lost both of her parents in a motorcycle accident when she was just 11 years old. Following the accident Loyce and her five brothers and sisters lived with their grandmother in the Tabora region of Western Tanzania. Her grandmother wanted to sell Loyce off for brideprice into marriage to avoid having the burden of caring for her. To escape early marriage Loyce ran away to town to work as a housegirl. Four years later, after her grandmother passed away, Loyce returned home to live with her older sister, who was married by then, and four younger siblings. Her older sister was able to help Loyce complete primary school, but she died when Loyce was 16 years old. At that time Loyce was left alone to care for her four younger siblings. To earn money to pay for their basic needs, Loyce sang gospel songs with a singing group, taught singing lessons, and sold fried groundnuts. She then went to her primary-level teachers and begged for them to help her continue her education. They were able to pool together enough small funds for Loyce to attend the Tabora Girls Government Secondary School, even though she often did not have books, school supplies or the appropriate uniforms. While at school Loyce was elected to serve as Class Monitor, Head Prefect and Choir Master. In October 2019, Loyce graduated Form 4 (10th grade) top of her class. We chose Loyce to be one of our new Unite A-Level Scholars in early 2020, and she is now an active and beloved member of our Unite family. During this time of coronavirus when all the schools are closed, Loyce has used her small business interest-free loan from Unite to start a small food market. With each $20 installment, Loyce is able to gift food packages, which include highly nutritious baobob fruits, rice, sugar, beans, cooking oil, matches and more (enough to feed a family of four for one week)… to at least three people in need.

THREE OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY LOYCE: Naomi Makoye, 12, who has never been to school and spends her days working the fields as a day laborer and her evenings smashing rocks for people in need of stones for building projects — all to help pay the rent for the single room in which she lives in with her mother and six “irresponsible”brothers; Elizabeth Lameck, an orphan for whom Loyce is caring along with Loyce’s four younger brothers and sisters; and Esther Ntimba, a single mother of four children who was abandoned by her husband.

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JOHN JOHN MASHIMBA

“Blessing others with rabbits has filled my heart with the joy of charity. Many elders now see me as a good example — responsible and determined — and they are instructing other youths to pay attention and learn from me.”

John John,17, is from the Mwanza District of northwestern Tanzania. His father died in a road accident when John John was just a baby leaving his mother to care for him and his four older siblings. His mother has no education or job so she sent John John to live with his grandfather who was able to get him through primary school using his pension. John John finished primary school with all As and was accepted to attend the top government lower-secondary (7th - 10th grades) school for boys, Kibaha Boys School. At Kibaha, John John was elected to serve as Class Monitor and Health Secretary. While at Kibaha, John John started a weekend jogging club to support the students’ health. He also started a club to prevent and combat“the killing disease of we Africans—corruption.” His anti-corruption club is now successfully rolled out in 12 schools. John John also started a campaign to cut back the bush around his school to help prevent the spread of malaria, and he served as a member of the school’s United Nations Youth Club. John John graduated Form 4 (10th grade) from Kibaha in October 2019. However, his grandfather has since passed and his mother is too poor to help him with his education, so we have accepted John John into our Unite Scholar Program. Now, as a Unite Scholar, John John is thriving and participating in our many online study groups. He is also using this time at home during coronavirus to grow his rabbit business. Click HERE to learn more.

Above: John John sits with Edgar Gervas and his family. Edgar’s father died years ago in a road accident leaving him as the “man of the house” to take care of his mother and two younger sisters (right). Edgar’s mother sells fruits to try to earn money for her family. However, she was born with one leg shorter than the other, which often causes her too much pain to walk. When this happens, Edgar must drop from school and do his best to provide for the family. John John blessed Edgar with two rabbits and is visiting Edgar weekly to make sure he cares for the rabbits properly.

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Lazaro Frederick Lazaro

Lazaro, 19, is the first of four children born to peasant farmers in the coastal region of Tanzania. Lazaro’s father is an alcoholic and physically abusive to the family. He has always tried to make Lazaro drop from school, drink alcohol with him, give up on his dreams and just work in the fields. Yet Lazaro has remained steadfast in his commitment to education and learning. Lazaro attended lower secondary school (7th - 10th grades) at a government school. During those years, Lazaro lacked the most basic supplies (books, uniforms, stationaries) and had to walk more than an hour to and from school each day. Lazaro faced extreme hunger and exhaustion, and with no electricity at home, he was never able to study after dark. Yet somehow Lazaro managed to perform extremely well, and he was elected to such leadership positions as Class Monitor, Academic Prefect and the Discipline Master of the Tanzania Youth Catholic Student Group. Lazaro also received certificates of “Best Student”in Chemistry and Mathematics. Lazaro graduated Form 4 in October 2019 with As in all his subjects, and he earned the extremely-difficult-to-achieve Division 1 on his Form 4 National Leaving Exam. Lazaro was then chosen to join our Unite A-Levels Scholars Program and will begin school again with the rest of our scholars once this coronavirus pandemic has passed. Lazaro used his interest-free loan from Unite to start a small business selling corn flour (maize). Last month he traveled to the nearest large town to buy maize in bulk a wholesaler, and he is now selling the maize in smaller quantities to local people in his village who cannot travel during this pandemic. With each $20 purchase from Unite, Lazaro is able to bless three people with enough maize to feed their families of four for a week. About this opportunity to “extend his blessings,” Lazaro writes: I would like to dedicate my sincere thanks for your support and more lovable heart that you have given to me and my community. May God bless all you are doing.

THREE OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY LAZARO: Thomas Kamgusha, who suffers from leprosy; Christina Peter, a disabled mother of three young children who was abandoned by her husband; and Emmanuel Mandago, who was left permanently disabled after a motorcycle accident and is now struggling to provide for his five young children.

TO SEND $20 (OR MORE) TO ANY OF OUR 40+ UNITE SCHOLARS TO HELP THEM SUCCEED IN THEIR SMALL BUSINESS VENTURES AND BE ABLE TO EXTEND THEIR BLESSINGS TO THOSE IN EVEN GREATER NEED, DONATE HERE.

Our Unite Scholars WON the Planet 911 Youth Earth Video Competition

We are thrilled to announce that our Unite Scholars’ video, featuring our scholar, actor & environmental activist Luther Kavishe, WON the social media prize in the Planet 911 film challenge for Earth Day 2020.

Planet 911, a Global Initiative of Creative Visions and EarthXfilms, is an international call to action to youth across the world using film, arts, music and media as a way to protect the future of the planet. Planet 991engages over 20 million youth globally in creative activism. This year, our Unite Scholars’ film won one of three grand prize awards that includes a $1,000 cash prize that will be used to grow our tree planting campaign to reforest and replenish degraded lands in Tanzania. Our deep and heartfelt gratitude to all those who voted in support of our campaign!

Our deep and heartfelt gratitude to all those who voted in support of our campaign!

Women of the world UNITE by making and distributing face masks to protect the vulnerable

ONE FOR ONE

For every mask sold in the USA, one will be made and donated in Tanzania.

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In honor of Mother’s Day 2020, the social enterprise Tembo NYC is supporting Unite’s work to empower impoverished, at-risk women around the world and protect vulnerable populations from Covid-19.

THEIR OFFER: For every Tembo face mask ordered off their website before Mother's Day, May 10th, 2020, Tembo will donate back to Unite's “Brave Widows” sewing cooperative in Tanzania funds to make face masks that we will then donate to local at-risk populations (e.g. to hospitals and to people living with HIV/AIDS).

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To support this campaign, visit Tembonyc.com and type UNITE for your coupon code during check out.

CLICK HERE to read an article about our Unite Founder Anne Wells’ recent visit with Mama Murassa in Dar es Salaam (pictured above), who is a lead member of our Brave Widow Program in Tanzania and one of our “mask makers” in Tanzania.

Unite and Tembo NYC are both working to empower impoverished women by supporting them to launch and grow small businesses. In Tanzania, where widows are often stigmatized, marginalized and victimized, Unite provides them with loans, grants, mentorship and business opportunities to help them achieve independence and live with dignity. Tembo NYC’s mission is to “support women’s cooperatives at home and abroad in a way that is sustainable and good for the earth.” Tembo’s colorful face masks are made by immigrant women working with The Artisan Sewing Cooperative in Queens New York and fashioned out of African waxed fabrics sourced through The Netherlands. CLICK HERE to learn more about Unite and Tembo’s unique alliance.

One of Tembo artisans wearing a homemade Tembo mask (and carrying a package of many more) in Queens, New York.

CLICK HERE to purchase a Tembo face mask. For every mask sold before May 10, 2020, a mask will be made by a Unite Brave Widow in Tanzania and donated to someone in need. NOTE: You must use the coupon UNITE in order for the donation to be made back to us by Tembo.

The women of Tembo’s sewing cooperative in Queens NY with Tembo Founder Deborah Chusid. Read their story HERE.

Asante sana! Thank you so very much! Stay safe.

***WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE ***

Unite's response to the novel coronavirus

Dear friends of Unite,

On behalf of our Unite family in Tanzania and here in America, I send you prayers for health and safety during these unprecedented times. Together we UNITE in the fight against one powerful and invisible common enemy — the novel coronavirus. We WILL prevail, in time, but the losses and suffering that we are facing — now and over the weeks, months and perhaps years to come — are staggering.

I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your love and support of Unite over the years. Together we have made so many miracles possible through the provision of education, mentorship, water, power, business grants and loans, health care, love, friendship and so much more. Please know that to support our Unite Scholars, widow women enrolled in our Mjane Jasiri (Brave Widow) Program and teammates across Tanzania, we have provided Covid-19 relief packages (which include hand sanitizer, liquid soaps, rice, maize, cooking oil, honey and sugar, paracetamol, and more). We have also provided small-business interest-free loans to help them navigate these uncertain times by finding new and creative ways to feed themselves and their families. We are also providing health insurance for our teammates, A-Level scholars and Widow Women.

And for you — our beloved friends and supporters — we also have a gift to offer… Messages of love, hope, connection and faith as we all do our best to navigate this global pandemic. Our students, widow women, teammates, friends and extended family in Africa (as well all us here in America who want to participate) will be making short “selfie” videos that I will send to you via text, email and through social media. If you too would like to submit a video to share your love and support with our extended Unite family around the world, KARIBU SANA. You are most welcome. Click HERE to see my short video. You can email me your video at anne@uniteafricafoundation.org.

Please let me know how we can be of service to you. I would love to have a call (or zoom face-to-face) to connect and see/hear how you are. And I can also link you directly with any individual student and/or Unite team member in Tanzania if there is someone with whom you would like to build a more personal connection. We can have calls, write letters, create personalized messages, sing songs, pray…. to help you and your family through these challenging and uncertain times. And for those of you who live within a few hours of Fairfield County, I am more than happy to pick up and deliver groceries or any supplies you may need. Just let me know. 314.239.3997.

It is my hope and prayer that through Covid-19 we will somehow birth a new, more caring, humane, equitable, responsible, just and compassionate world. Together, all things are possible.

#unitetheworld #loveinaction #unitehummingbirds

Yours always in service,

Anne Wells
Founder & Director

CLICK HERE to see Unite Scholar David Sichone say thank you for his Covi-19 relief package. CLICK HERE to hear from Unite Scholar Ashura Kayya. CLICK HERE to hear Unite Scholar Loyce Cheja thanking Unite for her small business loan.

Unite Scholar Agnes with her grandmother and siblings and Covid-19 relief items.

Unite Scholar Iqram with his grandmother and Covid-19 relief items.

Something quick, easy and FREE that YOU can do to make a difference: VOTE to help us plant trees

There is a magic machine that sucks carbon out of the air, costs very little and builds itself. It’s called a tree. It is a tool we can use to repair our broken planet.

~Greta Thunberg 

Unite Founder & Director Anne Wells planting trees in Tanzania

As we “shelter in place,” thank God for the ability to breathe deeply, and do all we can to help minimize the devastation of this Covid19 pandemic, many of us are feeling helpless to really make a difference in the lives of those in greatest need. ONE THING we can do, EVERY DAY THROUGH APRIL 8th (Planet911’s judgement day) is to support our Unite Hummingbird Campaign in Tanzania through which our scholars and teammates are PLANTING TREES to COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE. Please…

CLICK HERE & CLICK VOTE.

Easy peasy. The submission that receives the most votes will be eligible to win $1,000 from PLANET911 to grow their project! Please VOTE and help make our scholars’ Unite Hummingbird Campaign a winner. They have all worked so hard (as you can see in the series of 60-second videos below) and they are all so excited to be part of this global campaign to protect and preserve our precious planet. Thank you!

A society grows great when people plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.

-Greek Proverb.

Unite’s Hummingbird Campaign is led by Unite’s Volunteer Coordinator & Special Projects Manager Clara Ngowi. An Environmental Scientist from the University of Dodoma, Clara is wildly passionate about conservation, reforestation and volunteerism. She began our Unite Hummingbird Project project by traveling to Morogoro, Central Tanzania, from Dar Es Salaam to purchase quality seedlings from the Tanzania Tree Seed Agency (TTSA). She and teammates Joan Mnzava and Rhoda Lugazia then gathered our Unite Scholars living in the Dar district (including Luther Kavishe who is featured in Unite’s Planet911 video above) to prepare the soil and plant seeds in polyethylene bags, which enable the growth of fibrous root systems. To date, our team has planted more than 600 seedlings and our plan is to replant those seedlings with and around such community partners as schools, hospitals, dispensaries, play grounds, churches, etc. in June when the seedlings have matured. If our team wins the Planet 911 Wake Up Call Youth Challenge (which once again requires everyone we know to VOTE once a day everyday now through April 8th), we will use the funds to plant thousands more trees on behalf of the greater community.

Clara Ngowi in a tree nursery with seedlings ready to plant. For our Unite Hummingbird Tree Planting Campaign, Clara choose a variety of tree species including fruit trees (mango, lemon, orange, passion, banana, papaya, guava) as well as trees for shade, timber, decoration, medicine (Moringa), energy (for charcoal), prevention of soil erosion, and more.

“Through Unite’s Hummingbird tree planting campaign, we are now part of worldwide movement to combat climate change, reduce deforestation and water scarcity, and restore the natural balance of ecosystems. Planting trees makes us feel connected, alive and happy.”

— Clara Ngowi

Did you know…?

• 250 trees produce enough oxygen for 125 people to breathe clean air for an entire year. (americanforests.org)

• 100 trees can sequester 4,800 pounds of carbon a year. (americanforests.org)

• Tree roots help to prevent soil erosion.

• Trees provide important habitats for many species of wildlife.

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Click HERE to see a video of our Unite Scholars “Hummingbirds” preparing the land. Click HERE to see our Unite Scholars planting the tree nursery and preparing the polyethylene bags, and click HERE to hear a few of our Unite Scholars share a bit about what they learned.

Our vision for the entrance to Unite’s new tree nursery.

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Unite’s Organic Garden

In December 2019 a few of Unite’s “original” scholars and teammates came together under Clara’s leadership to prepare and plant a organic garden. Our goal was to teach our students about proper farming techniques so they can help grow food for their families and to provide free vegetables and fruits to impoverished, sick and hungry community members. Our Unite garden now includes seedbeds with okra, collard green, celery vegetables and pumpkin vegetables as well as banana and fruit trees and more. Each week project manager Clara Ngowi tends, harvests and re-plants our garden. Unite’s garden is now feeding FOR FREE dozens of children and staff at the nearby Elite Dignity Nursery School as well as widow women enrolled in Unite’s Mjane Jasiri Brave Widow program. Clara is also harvesting some vegetables to sell in order to pay the salary ($25 a month) of the guard/night watchman who protects the gardens from animal and human thieves. Click HERE to see a video of our Unite team’s garden planting day.

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Deforestation and erosion is devastating communities in Tanzania. In 2017, Tanzania recorded one of the highest deforestation rates in East Africa. The Tanzanian government is encouraging widespread tree planting campaigns to prevent the country from turning into a desert.

To learn more about Planet 911’s call to action for the youths of the world, click here.

Type 1 Diabetes in Tanzania and at Home

The mood was sombre inside Headmistress Christina Maingo’s small, windowless office, a cement block structure with a single door. It clashed against the explosive giggles and joyful song that was emanating from the sea of four, five and six years olds gathered outside. They were happy. Visitors from America had arrived unexpectedly. They had reason to celebrate.

Moving purposefully in her hand-sewn batik dress that fit snugly around her ample bosom and waist, Headmistress Maingo dug through a stack of old books and loose papers piled high on her desk to uncover a worn Visitors’ Book. In Tanzania, it is customary to sign a Visitors’ Books wherever you go. People love guests, especially those from America (thankfully), and at hospitals, businesses and schools, like this government-run nursery school, signing the Visitors’ Book is an essential and first step to every welcome.

Pupils at the Tumbi Nursery School race to embrace their visitor, Unite team traveler Nina Evison, from Bronxville, New York.

I sat down on a white plastic chair, dug through my backpack for a pen, and flipped through the pages of the book, all of which had been discolored by years of dust and dirty fingers, to find the line where I should sign. And then, as always, I printed clearly: Anne Wells, Director, Unite The World With Africa Foundation, USA. I closed the book, smiled warmly and turned to rejoin my team who were dancing and carrying on with children outside. Headmistress Maingo grabbed my hand with her calloused palm, pulled me back, looked at me intently with dark eyes pained with worry, and said, “A child died this morning.” 

And just like that, I was fully present. 

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For days I had been distracted, and I knew it. 7,750 miles away in Westport, Connecticut, my 14-year-old daughter was sick. Her blood sugar was soaring and plunging in the crashing and crushing waves of a perfect Type 1 Diabetic (T1D) storm that no amount of planning, exact measuring, careful injecting, analyzing or anticipating could control. Her insulin pump malfunctioned and failed the day after I left. In the near five years since her diagnosis our family has experienced many crises, challenges and setbacks—from site failures, tubing occlusions and transmitting errors and to dizzying lows and vomit-inducing highs—but never this.

For my daughter (and for every child on Earth afflicted with T1D, also known as Juvenile Diabetes because it most frequently affects children) insulin is life. The cause of T1D is still largely unknown. It is believed to be an autoimmune response gone rogue, ignited by a virus, gene or environmental factor, which causes the body to attack itself and ultimately destroy the pancreas’ ability to produce insulin. Insulin is the hormone essential for regulating blood sugar and powering the cells inside the body. Without it glucose levels rise uncontrollably and poison the blood stream, destroying organs and ultimately leading to shock and death. Before June 2015 I didn’t know much of anything about insulin or the pancreas, but when the nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital told me that her father and I would now be our daughter’s pancreas, we learned… quickly. T1D is a rare disease (afflicting about 1.6 million people in America; the global incidence is unknown), and it is very different than the far more common Type 2 Diabetes. Unlike Type 2, which can be often be prevented, reversed and controlled by diet, there is nothing to do to prevent the onset of Type 1 and there is still NO CURE. To preserve life, the disease must be closely managed with insulin 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

For our family, our daughter’s pump —  which is connected to her body by tubing and a needle injected into her belly and moved every three days — is how the insulin is transmitted into her body. We NEED it to work. When David called our medical equipment supplier to request immediate replacement it was Saturday (of course) and the company would not send us a replacement until Monday at the earliest. That meant that for the next few days our daughter would have to rely on insulin injections. While there are apps and books to help one make educated guesses about how many carbohydrates are in everything from a grape to a steak, numbers that are essential to determine how much insulin to inject and when, the truth is, beyond carbohydrates, such factors as stress, illness, exercise and even excitement can all radically affect blood glucose levels, which makes calculating insulin injections—at least to me—oftentimes feel about as scientific as guessing the number of pennies in a mason jar.

Day after day, from my helpless perch a continent away, I watched—with stress and anxiety—my daughter’s blood sugar rocket and plunge on an app on my iPhone that links via wifi to a sensor injected into her backside.

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“Oh my dear,” I said now returning the tight hold of Headmistress Maingo’ hand. “Pole sana.” “I am so very sorry.“ Behind me the small room had filled with teammates and teachers. Unite’s Program Director Anty Marche was speaking with the head teacher in Kiswahili and translating in English. “It was a little girl. She was four years old. She died this morning. She had diabetes.”

Dear God. I strained to breath the hot air that was now thick with the smell of human perspiration. “How can we help?” I asked.

Headmistress Maingo made her way around her desk, shooing the group back out the door as she moved. As they disappeared one-by-one into the bright light of the scorching African equatorial sun, the air lightened and I was able to breathe deeply again. On her notepad was a list of names and numbers. I scanned the page and in my head quickly did the math: 100 TSH, 500 TSH, 1000 TSH, 2000 TSH and largest amount 10,000 TSH (which is about the equivalent of $4.50). “We are collecting donations to help the family with the funeral,” she said. I reached to my waist, unzipped my fanny pack — a fashion accessory I would never dream of wearing at home and would never dream of not wearing in Tanzania — pulled out 100,000 TSH (~$45) and handed it to Headmistress Maingo who was visibly startled by this thick wad of cash. I then stepped outside to gather my team, and there, in the shade of a magnificent Mchocho tree, was Unite’s Volunteer Coordinator Clara Ngowi lovingly leading the children in a new dance. Everyone was engaged and having fun. Life continued. Click HERE to see a 15-second video of Clara teaching the children.

Unite’s Volunteer Coordinator Clara Ngowi leads Loveness’ friends and classmates in a new song and dance.

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At home, our daughter’s replacement pump arrived via Fed Ex Tuesday night. However, even with her new pump in place and the insulin flowing, her blood sugar continued to soar. But now it was because she had come down with the flu, and controlling blood sugar when a diabetic is sick makes dealing with a broken pump look easy. She and her dad both were coming undone. It was time for me to go home.

A week later I boarded an Emirates A380 double-decker jet plane to leave this dense bourgeoning city of ~5 million people, which seeps, creeps, stretches and crawls each year a bit further, north, west and south from its main port along the Indian Ocean. From my window seat, I observed clusters of half-built homes; piles of debris from ongoing road construction; and lines of multi-colored buses, lorries and flatbed trucks hauling huge, heavy and unimaginable loads to the interior of Tanzania and continent beyond. While gazing down over this sea of humanity, the desperation and despair that for so long was all I could see was soon replaced by the brilliant green hue of the Acacia and Neem trees; the Golden and Royal palms; the papaya, passion, banana and lemon fruit trees; and the spreading bushland below.

It was then that I realized that somehow somewhere along the way my guilt (over my daughter’s highs and lows), anxiety (about her health and her future), sorrow (for her sadness about being “different”), frustration (over countless sleepless nights), etc. etc. etc. had faded away. And in its place was the deepest and most profound sense of gratitude I had ever felt… for life, for insulin, for access to quality healthcare and modern medicine, and for the very possibility that my child can live — and IS living — a productive, happy, FULL life without a working pancreas, when the brutal, unjust and inhumane reality is that in the world below others cannot. 

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Postscript

Headmistress Christina Maingo and Unite’s Volunteer Coordinator Clara Ngowi with Loveness’ grandmother and father during their recent home visit.

The average life span of a child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa is 12 months. *

We asked Clara and Headmistress Maingo to visit Loveness’ family on Unite’s behalf to extend our condolences and deliver gifts of food items. They met with Loveness’ father and grandmother and learned that Loveness had first fallen ill the year before. She had headaches and fevers, abdominal pain and vomiting, lethargy and weakness, and she was losing weight. One day, Loveness had a seizure while in church and her parents, who had no idea what happening to their child, took her to a local health center. They were told that their three-year-old daughter’s blood sugar was extremely high and were referred to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam. There Loveness was seen by a pediatric endocrinologist (as of 2015 there were only six pediatric endocrinologists in the entire country*) who diagnosed her with Type 1 Diabetes. Much like David and me, Loveness’ parents knew nothing about T1D before their daughter’s diagnosis. At Muhimbili, Loveness was injected with insulin and sent home with paracetamol (acetaminophen) and an antibiotic commonly used to treat bacterial infections. And for some time, things were relatively ok. This was likely because for children with T1D there is a “honeymoon phase.” Oftentimes after the initial diagnosis and first correction of blood sugar with insulin the pancreas is able to reenergize itself a bit and will continue to make insulin… less and less… for a while. However, in time, usually within a year, the pancreas WILL stop secreting any insulin at all and the body WILL become 100% reliant on external insulin for survival.

On January 26, 2020, Loveness’s parents brought her back to the health center. She had sunken eyes, rapid breathing, headache, muscle aches, severe dehydration, nausea, stomach pain and vomiting — all signs of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Loveness was prescribed acetaminophen and an anti-inflammatory. Her condition continued to deteriorate. On January 28th her parents took her in again. This time Loveness was given oxygen therapy. However, as it would happen with such an advanced and uncontrolled case of DKA, Loveless ultimately lost consciousness, slipped into a coma and died.

While we do not know anything more about the specifics of Loveness’ experiences at home or in her local medical facilities, I continue to think that if she had been a patient at the renowned Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia in New York City (where our daughter is now a patient) and if she had access to modern medicine and supplies (e.g. long- and fast-acting insulin, blood glucose test kits and subcutaneous monitors) and if her parents had received critical education about how to help manage her disease, perhaps she would still be alive today. And just maybe Loveness would have grown up to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor who would care for children with diabetes, like herself. I wonder.

Beatus Kiwale positions his daughter’s cross at her gravesite during her funeral ceremony.

NOTE: Type 1 Diabetics are dependent exclusively on insulin for survival. Insulin, discovered nearly 100 years ago, is manufactured by such drug makers as Sanofi, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Globally insulin is being rationed and prices have been raised 600% in the past 15 years. According to the World Health Organization, only half of people worldwide who require insulin are able to access it do to a lack of affordability and availability.* #insulin4all

• JDRF

• Endocrinology and Metabolism

• Diabetesvoice.org

Meet The Kit Girls

Her long, hand-crafted red, blue and yellow batik dress sashayed at her ankles as she walked down the well-swept dirt path towards me and the girls. When she got close to our little group still huddled in a warm embrace, she looked up at me with big dark somewhat tired looking eyes, smiled softly, and said with surprising power and warmth, “Welcome to SEGA Girls School. I am Elly, the headmistress.” 

And then, to everyone’s surprise (especially my own) instead of taking Elly’s extended hand, I stepped forward and fell into the arms of this woman who I had never seen before in my entire life. And I began to cry. And then, for what seemed like eternity, all the tears I hadn’t cried since the day I saw my mother’s lifeless body, found their way up from the depths of my being and down my hot sweaty cheeks. 

If Elly was taken aback by this culturally-unacceptable display of emotion -- especially from a grown white woman from America -- she didn’t let on. Instead, she stood strong and patiently held me tight. When I was finally able to compose myself, I stepped back, wiped my nose and face on my sleeve, and said, “Please forgive me. I am so happy to be back here at SEGA and to finally meet you and our Kit Girls in person. But we are all here today is because my mother is not.”

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Two months earlier, at home in America, my mother lost a long and valiant battle with metastatic breast cancer. In her memory, dozens upon dozens of friends and family gave to a memorial fund created in her name within our non-profit Unite The World With Africa Foundation called The Kit Merriman Education Fund for Girls. This outpouring of generosity raised enough money for us to admit 12 highly talented-yet-impoverished girls into our competitive and selective Unite Scholars & Mentorship Program, which provides comprehensive support for two years of higher-secondary-level education (A Levels or the equivalent of 11th and 12th grades in America) as well extensive mentorship; leadership trainings; involvement in Unite’s talent shows, international symposiums and volunteer campaigns; family assistance; networking support; and much more. In Tanzania, where less than 3% of people enroll in A-Levels, this is truly an extraordinary opportunity, and thanks to those who loved my mother, these girls are now fully funded. [Click HERE to see a full list of what a Unite Scholars Sponsorship includes.]

Once Elly was confident that my weeping was over, she took my hand in hers and walked me further down the path to a red-painted, one-story u-shaped building called The SEGA Lodge. This structure, built in the past year to house volunteers and visitors, wasn’t here when I last visited the SEGA campus in 2015, neither was the wire fencing that marked the perimeter of the 23-acre property, nor the neighbors’ houses that now bordered every stretch of that fence. During my first visit to this site in June 2009, the entire area was wide-open bushlands marked only by the bright yellow blooms of nearby sunflower farms. While construction had begun, this boarding school that now educates 270 girls was then still largely a vision in the mind of its co-founder, my friend and esteemed colleague Polly Dolan. Given that Tanzania’s population has exploded since 2009 from from about 44 million to now nearly 60 million, I shouldn’t have been so surprised and bothered to see that urban sprawl had reached this once pristine plain set in the foothills of the looming Uluguru Mountains. But somehow I was.

With Polly Dolan at the site of SEGA Girls Secondary School in 2009.

SEGA Girls School is a USA-funded private lower-secondary school that provides quality education to impoverished girls who are at risk of becoming involved exploitative forms of child labor. SEGA provides them scholarships to receive a quality education through the equivalent of about 10th grade in America. While at SEGA, the girls also receive life skills training and exposure to staff and volunteers from all around the world. Since for our Unite Scholars Program we seek students who not only have earned top grades but who also have leadership capabilities, choosing our 12 Kit Girls from the top-performers of SEGA’s 2019 graduating Form 4 class made sense. During our selection process, we look for students who have demonstrated academic excellence and a commitment to service. We challenge them (and ourselves) with such questions as: Who are you? What are you passionate about? What are you capable of? How can you be of service to the planet and to humanity? What can you do with your time and talents to help make this world a better place? 

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On this 27th day of January, 2020, my team and I had awaken long before dawn to drive from Dar es Salaam more than five hours due west to reach SEGA, which is located in the Morogoro district of central Tanzania. We had come to meet nine of our 12 chosen Kit Girls who had also traveled long distances from their homes across the country by overcrowded buses and motorbike taxis for this very special day. (Two others would meet us later that week back in Dar, and the 12th girl we were unable to meet in person this trip.) The girls had arrived the night before and were super happy to be back at their beloved Sega School. And, as the school’s most recent graduates, they were enjoying the adoration and attention of their former and younger classmates. 

With teammates Rhoda Lugazia, Nina Evison, Joan Mnzava & Anty Marche making a “pit stop” on the drive from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro.

Inside The SEGA Lodge we snuggled in close together on couches whose wooden frames had been covered with colorful cushions hand-sewn by SEGA students. One by one, we introduced ourselves and told the story of how we ended up in this room on this day. I cried some more, but this time, I was not alone. Each Kit Girl was then presented with her Unite Scholar Welcome Package, which includes Unite T-Shirts (to be worn at all Unite events and meetings), a notebook, a “title of one’s own” (we always carry as many fiction and nonfiction books as possible when we travel), and a cell phone. The cell phone was of course most exciting gift and essential to the girls’ compliance with Unite’s intensive communication, documentation and home-work requirements.

Headmistress Ely (at the front of the room) addresses our Unite Team & The Kit Girls in The SEGA Lodge.

Later, we shifted our meeting a few feet over to the long wooden dining table that had been pleasantly covered with the Maasai traditional red shukas. There we read through all of our Unite Scholars admissions documents (rules and regulations, media release forms, financial policies, technology agreements, etc.) and completed one of the self-awareness modules from our Unite Mentorship Curriculum. To close the evening, under the light of a single solar-powered bulb, we shared a meal of rice, chicken, vegetables and chapati; cleaned the kitchen and dishes; said our goodnights; and retired to our rooms.

Working into the night.

In my room, after getting ready for bed, I climbed into my lower bunk, tucked my mosquito net in tightly around me, lay my head down on the hard thin pillow, and, moments later, felt what I hoped were beads of sweat dripping down the back of my neck. It had been brutally hot all day with intense humidity and absolutely no breeze, I told myself. But when this “sweat” began to crawl sideways, I ripped open my net, raced barefoot across the floor, used my iPhone flashlight to find my key and unlock my door and banged loudly on the door to the room next to mine where thankfully Unite’s Program Director Anty Marche’s hadn't gone to sleep yet. Anty dug around in my mane of dry, frizzy hair and removed a bug the size of a walnut. When I finally got myself settled back into bed, after having used my flashlight to check every inch my room, I felt foolish. Finding a harmless (most likely) little creature in my hair had thrown me into a frenzy. Yet for our Kit Girls (and all our Unite Scholars) bugs, rodents and creatures of all kinds, shapes and sizes are expected parts of their every day lives.

Here, let me tell you just a bit about each of our very BRAVE, lovely, smart, resourceful, engaging and truly extraordinary Kit Girls.

And while my mother may not have there to them in person, it was her kind, loving, generous and joyful heart and spirit that made it all possible, and we are all eternally grateful — to mom and to all those who donated to our Kit Merriman Education Fund for girls. Asante sana!

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MARIA JOHN KWANGA

Unite Mentor Joan Mnzava presents Maria John with her Unite Scholar items.

Standing 4’11” with heels on, Maria John is a tiny force of nature who does not appreciate comments about her lack of stature. “I don’t like it when people tell me I am short,” she said. “I agree,” I quickly chimed in, as -- being on the other end of the spectrum – I can relate to unwanted height-related comments. The oldest of our Kit Girls, Maria John, 21, was the first to clear and wash our dishes and in our few moments of free time she curled up alone in a quiet corner to disappear into her book. (She chose “Elephant Whisperer” from our suitcase of options). Born to peasant farmers in a remote village, Maria John’s education was regularly interrupted as she was forced to drop from school over and over again to work the fields and try to earn money for her family. While at SEGA, Maria John served as Discipline Prefect, Organic Gardening Prefect, and Leader of the Tembo Anti-Poaching Club. She also participated in the Beekeeping Club and in managing the school store. Maria John was chosen to attend the East African Girls Summit in Nairobi in 2016 and to represent SEGA in a cultural exchange in America in 2018. Over all school holidays, Maria John stayed with a church member who she calls her “guardian” as her own parents could never afford transport money to bring home. They were unable to even attend her SEGA graduation. In return for her guardian’s kindness, Maria John works her fields and does domestic labor to help the family. Maria John dreams of a career in either engineering or medicine. “I feel like I have a duty to play in my society as well as to the world at large. I think the world is waiting for me to change it.” Click here to see Maria John discussing her feelings about being a Unite Scholar.

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LOVENESS APAELI URIO

Loveness, 17, grew up in the Arusha region of Northern Tanzania with her parents and four brothers. She lost her oldest brother in 2017 when he was 23, and due to her family’s extreme poverty her two other older brothers dropped from school after Form 4 (10th grade). They were never able to continue on for A levels (Form 5 and Form 6) as Loveness now will as a Unite Scholar Kit Girl. Loveness’ home life is one of the most dire of all of the Kit Girls. Her father is an alcoholic and doesn’t work. Her mothers and brothers cultivate maize in a small farm around their tiny home, which made of earth and dung. The family’s latrine is a dangerous hand-dug hole in the ground surrounded only by plastic tarp held up by branches. There is no roofing so the area is muddy and slippery when it rains. Loveness was sponsored through primary school by Jifundishe (a USA-based non profit that helps poor children with their education) and then received her scholarship to attend SEGA for lower-secondary. While at SEGA, Loveness was elected to serve as Class Monitress and School Head Girl, and she participated in the English and Sports Clubs. Loveness dreams of becoming a nurse and one day opening a dispensary as “many people suffer due to a lack of access to good medicine.” She also has a passion for the environment and will join our Volunteer Coordinator Clara Ngowi in leading Unite’s Green Campaign, through which we are cultivating various tree species to plant in deforested, high-need areas across the country. Click HERE to see a video of Loveness, and HERE to see Loveness’ home.

Loveness and Headmistress Elly with her chosen book “A Long Way Gone — Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.”

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KHADIJA MKOPI MOHAMED

With her new phone, Khadija, 18, loves to text. She asks about me and my family, and I ask about hers. She lives with her mother, who is very ill with HIV/AIDS, and sister in a tiny rented room in central Tanzania. Abandoned by her father many years ago. Khadija is the family’s only hope. Her mother, when she is able, makes and sells charcoal for a meager income. While at SEGA, Khadija earned the honor of Best English Performer and Best Mentor, and she was appointed Health Leader, Religious Leader and Chairperson of the English Club. Khadija dreams of one day becoming “a successful businesswoman to employ many people who are in need of jobs.” Specifically Khadija’s desire is to use her talents to help people living with HIV/AIDS. Khadija is the first Kit Girl to submit her business proposal to receive for a small, interest-free loan from our Kit Girls Fund to help her and her mother grow their fledgling charcoal business. From our Family Assistance Fund, we will also purchase for them a raised bed and insecticide-treated bednet so they can sleep off the wet, mold-covered floor protected from the mosquitos that transmit malaria.. 

Click HERE to see a video of their current living conditions, and HERE for their sleeping quarters, and HERE to see their small charcoal business.

Khadija with Headmistress Elly and her book “Moon Over Manifest.”.

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ELINA GREEN KASSABAJE

Elina, 17, lives not far from SEGA with her mother, who works as a cook at the school, and her young brother, who was born with severe birth defects. When Elina was a toddler, her parents mobilized all of their resources and took out debt for Elina’s mother and brother to travel to India for long-term treatment. During these years, Elina lived alone with her abusive father. She rode a bike seven kilometers back and forth to primary school each day, and every evening she did all of the domestic work—cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Elina rarely slept and suffered greatly. When her mother and brother returned from India, her mother divorced her father and took Elina and her brother to a small rented room to live. Elina worked as a day-laborer in neighbors’ farms alongside her mother to earn money for food, rent and her brother’s medications. Elina is uniquely talented with computers and dreams of becoming a Computer Programming Specialist. Not only is she interning at SEGA in their accounting department before she will start Form 5 in July, but she has also taken on the responsibility of developing our Unite Scholar Computer Training program, which will take place in Dar es Salaam in June.

Click HERE to see Elina introduce us to her family and home.

Elina is extremely talented with computers.

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 WITNESS MBISE

Witness, 19, is the fourth of six children born to subsistence farmers in Arusha, Tanzania. Their family home burned down when Witness was young and her parents split shortly thereafter. Witness went to live with her grandmother who had no work. She made it through primary school with the support of extended family and Good Samaritans. During her four years at SEGA, Witness was elected to serve as Academic Prefect, Secretary Prefect and General Manager of the school’s Entrepreneurship Program. Witness was also chosen to represent SEGA at the East Africa Girls Leadership Summit in Nairobi and voted “Best in School” in 2018. Witness is a passionate animal-rights advocate and a lead member of SEGA’s Tembo Anti-Poaching Club. Yet her family’s financial challenges have made life difficult for Witness, so to get money for food, uniforms, school supplies and her basic needs, during each school holiday she would walk from her grandmother’s rural home four miles back and forth to the nearest town to sell ripe bananas. Witness dreams of opening her own pharmacy one day. 

Click here to see Witness introduce us to her family and shows us her home environment..

Witness with Headmistress Elly and her book “Little House on the Prairie.”

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PENDO ANTHONY CHITULO

Pendo with Headmistress Elly and her book “Mockingjay.”

Pendo, 20, is the second-oldest Kit Girl. She lives with her mother and five brothers and sisters in Tanzania’s capital city of Dodoma. Pendo’s father abandoned them when she was young and her mother struggles to support their basic needs by selling alcohol in the streets. Pendo worked hard in her local government primary school and although her education was often delayed due to her mother’s inabilty to pay for uniforms and school supplies, ultimately Pendo performed well enough to be offered a scholarship to SEGA. Throughout her years at SEGA, Pendo struggled and was unable to afford such personal items as sanitary napkins, body soap, and transport money to go home over school holidays. She also faces relentless and often brutal advances from men. A breathtaking natural beauty, Pendo has always been a target for those looking for sex in return for money. She says she does her best to resist helping her family in this way. Pendo dreams of a career in nursing or law so that she can “help girls and women who have been violated and abused.”

Click HERE to see Pendo’s application video to Unite.

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LUCIA JOHN KUNAMBI

Lucia, 17, was born and raised in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania. Her parents are both still living and eke out an eager existence as peasant farmers. Her father has serious medical condition that includes a speech impairment, which leaves Lucia’s mother responsible for the family. Lucia is the third born of four girls. Her older sisters both dropped from school after primary level (7th grade) due to their family’s inability to pay. Her youngest sister is still in primary (elementary) school. Lucia is a talented athlete and while at SEGA enjoyed playing volleyball and netball. She was also elected Head Girl in both the Anti-Corruption Club and the Entrepreneurship Club. Lucia dreams of becoming an accountant or a banker. During her time at home, Lucia is busy helping her family with all domestic labor, working their small shamba (plot of land) and teaching her parents and sisters the entrepreneurship skills she learned at Sega.

Click HERE to see Lucia say thank you for being chosen as a Unite Scholar “Kit Girl.”

Lucia with Headmistress Elly and her chosen book “Orphan Train.”

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ZAITUNI & ZAINABU ALLY MJANJA 

Zaituni and Zainabu, 17, are the life of the party. These identical twins are adored by their peers and seem totally unbothered by the harsh reality of their home life. They live in a small rented room in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania, with their parents who struggle to find work selling charcoal and cooked food bites on the streets. They sleep alongside their parents and older brother and sister each night on a cold, wet floor. However, while at SEGA, both girls were top performers. Zainabu excelled in entrepreneurship and since graduating she has taught her older siblings how to make liquid-soap (a skill she learned at SEGA), and they have since started a small soap business to make money for the family. Zaituni, while at SEGA, served as Academic Prefect and was invited to attend the East African Girls’ Leadership Summit in Kenya and to represent SEGA in America for a cultural exchange. Zaituni dreams of becoming a doctor to help care for expectant mothers and “prevent the needless death and suffering of mothers and babies”. Zainabu dreams of opening her own entrepreneurship school to “teach poor Tanzanians the skills they need to create small businesses and earn enough money to support their families.”

Click HERE to see a video of Zainabu and HERE for Zaituni introducing their family and home.

Zaituni and Zainabu with Unite’s friend and traveler Nina Evison.

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 AGNESS MUSTAFA SELEMANI

Agness, 19, was born in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania. Her single mother died when Agness was five years old, and Agness and her sister went to live with their grandmother, who was old and unable to work. Agness started working when she was just six years old as a day laborer to get money. She worked to put herself through primary school and faced such challenges as sexual harrassment and assault, intense heavy labor far beyond the capability of a child, and theft (she was often unpaid for her work). Agness desperately wanted to change her life and that of her grandmother so she studied as hard as she could. At SEGA, Agness participated in such activities as tailoring, soap making and baking, and over every school holiday, she would go home and do these activities to earn money for her grandmother and sister. When Agness graduated SEGA, she was awarded the top student in the school’s entrepreneurship program. Agness dreams of becoming an “international business woman to help my family, my community and my nation at large.”

Click HERE to see a video of Agness introducing her grandmother and auntie.

Me with Agness at our Unite Scholars meeting in Dar.

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AMINA MUHAMMED KIONDO

Amina, 17, is perhaps our most “privileged” Kit Girl. She comes from a warm, large, loving family in Dar es Salaam. Her parents do their best to take care of her, her four younger siblings, their own parents and their extended family — all of whom live with them in their home. Her father has a basic business as a driver; however, like all Tanzanians with gainful employment he also has a line-up of extended family, neighbors and parishioners from his church who are always asking for money to help with medical needs and funerals, school fees and weddings, and the list goes on and on. In this country where there are no social services, extended family and community members are one’s only safety net, and it is culturally unacceptable for anyone to turn their back on anyone else. This means that even those who have jobs will struggle day in and day out to make ends meet. Amina dreams of one day opening her own orphans center of her own to “care for and educate the most needy, discarded youth in Tanzania.”

Click HERE to see Amina at her home with her grandfather.

Me with Amina at our Unite Scholars meeting in Dar.

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Ashura at The Sega Girls School, 2019.

ASHURA AMIRI KAYYA

Ashura, 18, is our 12th and final Kit Girl. After her parents split when she was a young child, she was sent to live with her grandmother who struggled as a peasant farmer to care for many of her grandchildren. Ashura missed school regularly to labor in the fields. When she was nine, her father remarried and came to get Ashura. While Ashura is now part of a small-but-loving family, she continues to live in abject poverty. Her father, a small-scale farmer, struggles to meet their most basic needs. At SEGA, Ashura earned As in all of her classes, and she achieved the extremely difficult Division 1 on her Form 4 National Leaving Exam. Ashura dreams of a career in environmental conservation.

Click HERE to see Ashura’s application video to Unite.

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While these 12 Kit Girls are fully funded for two years in our Unite Scholars and Mentorship Program, we do have many students who are STILL IN NEED OF SPONSORSHIP. To “meet” a few of these candidates click here. To make a tax-deductible contribution towards the education of scholars in need, please DONATE here.

I give you my love, my cooperation and my words.

You could hear a pin drop in that conference room on the 6th and top floor of the Doubletree Hotel in Dar Es Salaam. It was Friday, January 31, 2020, and there were more than two dozen of us seated around the large u-shaped table. No one moved a muscle or even dared breathe heavy so as not to miss a second of this young man’s quiet-yet-impassioned speech.

“I am here today,” Isaac said so softly I had to lean forward and put both hands behind my earlobes to hear his voice, “because of the will of God.” Long silent pause. “There is no other explanation.” Long silent pause. “My challenges have been too great. They told me I was nothing.”

At 21 years old, Isaac Moses Mwimbabi is the oldest of our 2020 class of 30 new A-Level Unite Scholars. He was also the hardest for us to find. Isaac comes from the Rukwa Region of Western Tanzania, which borders Lake Tanganyika, the DRC and Zambia. In his tiny sub-village of Mnasa, homes are made of mud, sticks and dung. There is no electricity, no phone service, and no public water taps. Just wide open skies and streams dirtied by cattle and discarded garbage. There are no roads, which means no buses. There aren’t even any bicycles. Instead, women and children are the human mules who struggle under the weight of hauled water, firewood and oversized loads. Families eek out meager existences as subsistence farmers cultivating small patches of arable land. Most people in Mnasa are born, live and die there. Witchcraft is rampant and sacrifices to spirits and ancestors are common attempts made by uneducated minds to explain the inexplicable and control the seemingly uncontrollable.

Isaac is the third of four children born to illiterate peasants. His parents, Moses and Happy, grow maize, cassava and beans, and, like all small-scale farmers, they rely 100% on the rains for their harvest. Having never been to school themselves, they saw little value in education. However, the hope of having one educated child who might free them from the vicious cycle of extreme poverty inspired Moses and Happy to beg and borrow enough to send Isaac’s oldest brother to government school and on for a certificate in teaching. However, Isaac’s brother never found a job, and at 27 he spends his days laboring in a nearby rice paddy. “My parents lost all hope after putting everything they had into my brother,” wrote Isaac in his application essay to our Unite Scholars Program. “They never got anything in return.” 

For their second born, a daughter, Moses and Happy had no money for school, so she was married young for a small dowry of livestock. Today, at 23, Isaac’s sister lives in Mnasa, not far from her parents’ hut, with her husband, also a peasant farmer, and young children.

As soon as he could walk, Isaac spent his days laboring in the fields alongside his parents and siblings. But he had a dream of being educated, so he begged and pleaded for a chance to go to school. Finally when Isaac was 10, his father sold a goat to buy him a school uniform and a few basic supplies, and Isaac was able to attend the nearest government primary school – a two-hour journey by foot.

For the next three years, Isaac woke long before dawn, trekked to school, and returned home long after dark. With no money for kerosene, Isaac was never able to study after sundown. Yet somehow he performed well and showed promise. But then life turn another turn for the worse when his mother delivered his sister Neema. During her birth in a rural clinic, Neema suffered an unknown trauma that nearly took her life and left her permanently disabled. Today, at eight years old, Neema cannot walk or talk. She drags her small body around in a makeshift crawl, and her mother carries her most places she needs to go.

Faced with the reality and crushing burden of a sick child, Isaac’s father decided to lighten his family’s burden and sent Isaac away. He found a man in the Morogoro district of Central Tanzania who agreed to take on Isaac as a domestic servant. In exchange for Isaac’s slave labor, Isaac would attend a nearby government primary school. This man became Isaac’s guardian.

While his new life was exhausting, lonely and full of challenge, Isaac was thankful for the opportunity to study, and by the end of primary school, he served as an academic prefect and earned As in all of his classes. Isaac’s excellent performance secured him a spot at the prestigious government secondary school Mzumbe; however, he still had no money for transport, uniforms, books, school supplies, mandatory fees, etc. His father begged Isaac’s guardian for help, and the man agreed to do what he could. 

During his years at Mzumbe, Isaac was quiet and hardworking. While he mostly kept to himself, he did participate in the school’s Anti-Corruption Club, and “through this club,” Isaac wrote in his application essay to Unite, “I became wise to the fact that corruption is the enemy of human rights and development at all levels.” 

Over the course of Isaac’s four years at Mzumbe Lower-Secondary School, he left campus only once. The rest of the time, when all the other students traveled home for the holidays, Isaac stayed back alone doing chores for teachers in exchange for food. Even after his Form 4 graduation in November 2019, it took Isaac nearly four weeks of working odd jobs before he was able to earn the ~$4 necessary for him to purchase a bus ticket to Sumbawanga, the town nearest Mnasa with a bus stand.

***

Back in the conference room, Isaac continued his speech: “God created the world through words.” Long silent pause. “So what kind of words are you going to use? Words that build or words that break? Watch your words… They will define your life.” 

It was after 4:00 PM now and I was starting to feel a bit anxious about getting our Scholars on the road as I didn’t want them out and about in Dar es Salaam after dark. And it had rained all day, which meant that the roads and the traffic would be worse than normal. And I was specifically worried about Isaac. Like most of our new Scholars, this was his first time in this sprawling East African city of more than 6 million people; however, unlike the others, it was also his first experience in any town larger than a few thousand people.

“In closing,” Isaac said, “I want to thank Unite. I know that love is the origin of Unite, and love is everything. Through love we can find success and cooperation. We humans were created to depend on each other, but never before has anyone held my hand. Now, with Unite, I will reach the mountain peak of success, and I will encourage others who suffer and struggle to do the same.” Long silent pause.  

“And to you, Unite, in return for your gifts to me, I give you my love, my cooperation and my words.”

***

The time had come to send our Scholars back to their local host families before they would start their long journeys to their homes across the country the next morning. For Isaac, his journey to Mnasa was the longest; it would take him three days with numerous buses, motorbikes and long walks. 

When I went to hug him goodbye, Isaac leaned in and whispered, “Anne Wells, this was my first time ever speaking in front of people. I am afraid that I didn’t express myself well.” 

“Oh my goodness Isaac,’” I said far too loudly, smiling bright. “You were absolutely magnificent today!” And then, without thinking, I laid my hand softly over his heart. “We all love you, and you very much deserve to be here. Sawa? Ok.” 

Long pause. “Sawa Anne Wells.” “Ok,” Isaac replied, as silent tears spilled from his big brown saucer-shaped eyes.

***  

I told Isaac that he is now a beloved member of our Unite family, and I meant it. Today, Isaac is home with his family in Mnasa until June when we will bring him back to Dar for a two-week-long training program with all of our Unite scholars from across the country before they all begin their Form 5 academic years in July. Isaac is now working on a few detailed budgets and proposals for Unite – one for a wheelchair for his sister and another for an interest-free loan to launch a small businesses that could help alleviate some of his family’s burdens. 

It is our intention to help Isaac and all of our Unite Scholars grow into the talented leaders of tomorrow who can help bring an end to extreme poverty, ignorance, poor health, corruption, environmental degradation, violation of human rights, and so SO much more. And to get there — to reach these BIG goals — we need ALL the help and support we can get.

Ours is one world. Like me and you, Isaac — and his struggles, talents, hopes and dreams — matters. 

TO MAKE A TAX-FREE DONATION IN SUPPORT OF OUR WORK WITH ISAAC & ALL OF OUR UNITE SCHOLARS, CLICK HERE.

NOTE: Following this Unite Scholars’ kick-off meeting in Dar, Unite’s program director Anty Marche sent Mzumbe Secondary School’s Headmaster Wenceslaus Kihongosi the photo above of Isaac and Anne. Wenceslaus was in shock. He texted back: “Oh my God, I am crying here. You have done wonders. You have opened this boy’s world.” Anty called Wenceslaus to inquire further, and Wenceslaus said that the boy he knew was always sad and hiding. He said that this is a photo of a confident, contented young man. He called this photo proof of “a miracle.”

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Isaac (far right) and a number of Unite teammates and fellow scholars outside the Doubletree Hotel before loading up in our rented vehicles to start their journeys home.

ABOUT OUR UNITE SCHOLARS PROGRAM

We have long since known that people who succeed have at least three things in common: “Unusual ability,” “exceptional zeal” and the “capacity for hard labor.” * And it is these traits that we look for in our Unite Scholar candidates. We are seeking uniquely talented youth who have somehow beat the most crushing of odds. Not only must they have achieved the extremely-difficult ranking of Division 1 on their Form 4 (~10th grade) National Exams, but they must have demonstrated leadership potential and a proven dire financial need. With their applications, they submit transcripts, videos, essays, letters of recommendation, family histories and financials, and more. 

Once our scholars are admitted in to our highly-competitive program, Unite covers all of their expenses for higher secondary or A Levels (Form 5 and Form 6), which is about the equivalent of 11th and 12th grades in America. We pair each scholar with a trained Unite mentor who is in regular communication with them all year long and supports them with their personal, academic, social and emotional challenges. We host our scholars regularly in leadership and “soft skills of professionalism” trainings organized at various centralized locations across Tanzania. We challenge our scholars to participate in Unite talent shows, to speak in front of international audiences, and to join such volunteer campaigns as tree planting and business development planning for impoverished widows. We embrace each scholar fully into our Unite family — an ever-growing international network of talented youth, professional advisors, trained mentors, passionate teammates, renowned partners, dedicated donors, and others… all of whom are committed to excellence and to service to humanity and planet Earth.

*Source: GRIT by Angela Duckworth, page 21. Francis Dalton ’s first scientific study about the origins of high achievement, 1869.

Isaac’s photo that he submitted to Unite with his application in December 2019.

A Story About Visiting Mama Murassa in Dar Es Salaam

She casually perched her 5’4” stocky frame high on pointed boulder at the edge of the dirt road and waived her arms above her head to get our attention. She wore her new bright red t-shirt with the word UNITE printed in bold white lettering across her ample busom and a coral-colored hand-made skirt that revealed two swollen ankles and dust-covered bare feet. 

With no street signs, house numbers or even clear roads in this sprawling neighborhood on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city of more than 4 million people constructed along the shores of the Indian Ocean, we would never have found Mama Murassa has she not ventured out to the edge of this dense human squalor to flag us down.

I had been in Tanzania for less than 32 hours this trip and visiting Margaret, or Mama Murassa as she is referred to in the Tanzanian tradition of calling every mother Mama followed by name of her first born child, at her home was at the top of my agenda. The day before I had finally met Margaret in person, alongside the other widows who have received grants from our Unite The World With Africa Foundation’s Mjane Jasiri “Brave Widow” program to launch small businesses.

With Unite teammates and two of the women enrolled in our Widow Women’s Program. Margaret, a.k.a. Mama Murassa, is on the far right.

As the founder director of Unite The World With Africa Foundation and co-creator of this Brave Widows program with my teammates, I had of course already read about Margaret and each of our 10 “Brave Widow” women. They had been interviewed extensively by Anty Marche and Rhoda Lugazia, Unite’s Brave Widow’s program director and manager. Each applicant to this program required close and careful consideration, and choosing these initial “winners” was not easy: All widows in Tanzania face extraordinary hardships. Most are ostracized by their communities and left totally isolated. A widespread belief in witchcraft and voodoo perpetuates the ignorant idea that the women themselves are responsible for their husbands’ deaths. Any family property is immediately claimed by the husbands’ relatives after his passing leaving the women alone with their children and no home, no employment, no rights and no recourse to reclaim their land or property. So while I shouldn’t have been surprised when Mama Murassa began to speak, I still could not maintain my composure as I listened to her quietly share her story. Tears streamed down my face, and hers, and every face in our circle.

As a teenager Margaret had dropped from school due to her family’s inability to afford school fees, and she was married off to a man who was a terrible drunkard and extremely abusive. She suffered regular rapes and beatings, and yet successfully delivered two of his children. Over the years Mama Murassa tried her best to keep the peace and protect her children from their father’s explosive rage and fury. However one day when the children were young, he locked Margaret and the children inside their home, poured kerosene around the building’s exterior, and lit the house on fire. Miraculously Mama Murassa and her children were rescued by neighbors who heard their screams. They may have survived their physical injuries from that fire, yet it was in the hospital the next day when Margaret learned that she was HIV+. A few weeks later her husband, the same man who tried to burn Margaret and their children alive, took his own life.

*** 

On this day, upon seeing Margaret gesticulating wildly to our car from her stance up upon her rock, our driver Moody jerked his rusty old mini-van towards her and without warning dropped the vehicle’s left side, my passenger side, deep into a ditch of standing water. Mama Murassa leapt forward, sunk her bare feet deep into the muddy water, leaned into my window, grabbed my sweaty white face in her calloused black hands, and planted a huge kiss on my check. “KARIBU SANA!!!” She said loudly. “You are most welcome.“

“Asante sana Mama,” I replied with a giggle. “Thank you so much Mama.”

I opened my passenger door, steadied myself and leapt over the vast malaria breeding ground into the crowd of gawking strangers who were gathering around our stuck vehicle. I grabbed Margaret’s hand in mine, and together we started to climb the path, over rocks and gulleys, snaking our way in-between homes made of cement, mud and dung, passing cows tied to trees, steering clear of barking watch dogs and being careful not to trip over the many chickens that kept skirting back and forth across our path. My five teammates clamored along behind us. 

Our trek took only about 20 minutes but in the 100 degree heat and 80% humidity it felt like hours. Finally, Mama Murassa stopped, smiled big and said “tuwa hapa.” “We are here.” She then reached her hand deep into her brassiere to pull out a key to unlock the padlock securing her tin gate. “Asante” we chimed one by one as we followed Mama Murassa through her gate and into the tiny compound where she and her two children and three grandchildren live alongside one other family. Outside the block home was a single pit latrine surrounded by three cement walls erected for privacy and no roofing, just open sky. By the latrine, on the side of the house was a single door that opened to a inside standing area flanked by two more doors, each of which were covered with colorful kanga materials. One door for each family.

Inside, Mama Murassa’s door was one small room. A full-sized bed filled most of the space. At the foot of the bed were two small sofas alongside a tiny table on which was a doilie and a waterless vase stuffed with plastic flowers. The small strip of walking space between the bed and the side wall was clean and well swept. The couches were covered with sparkly silver plastic material. Margaret had clearly prepared for our arrival. 

The ceiling roof was made of metal sheets, and looking up I could see streams of light from the afternoon equatorial sun shining between cracks and openings. What did she do when it rained I wondered? The monsoon showers had been flooding these villages for weeks.

My team and I had, in keeping with the Tanzanian tradition of gift giving, brought Mama Murassa kilos of maize, rice and beans; long bars of multipurpose soap; and litres of cooking oil. We also brought her box of elegant batik materials which she could use to make clothes to sell in her shop, a shop she started with grant money awarded to her from Unite’s Brave Widows program. With each item she pulled from our oversized shopping bags, we all sang a traditional Swahili gift-giving song and Mama Murassa danced around in place with delight, holding each gift above her head and kissing its packaging at least once. 

With Mama Murassa and one of the new batik fabrics we brought her as a gift.

Finally I decided that our visit was over, but when I stood to launch our exit procession Mama Murassa held up her hand motioning me to stop. She then smiled bright and leaned down to the floor to pull out from under her bed a thermos and six brand new glasses. She proceeded to pour for each of us a full glass of fresh fruit juice that she had made that morning using papaya, mango, banana and pinapple. We all “oohed” and “aaahed” over how delicious her juice tasted, and she beamed with pride. Our Brave Widows Program Manager Rhoda had told me Margaret’s famous juice and how she was successfully hustling it all over town.

Our afternoon thirst quencher was a critical element of Margaret’s livelihood, and I knew that these new glasses cost her more than she would make in a month. Even though we as Unite will continue to support Mama Murassa with grants, interest-free loans and educational programs to help her grow her fledgling juice business and tiny seamstress shop, I desperately wanted to open my wallet to repay her for the glasses, to purchase more, to give her money to repair her roof, to build a proper cover for her outdoor latrine, to purchase a storeroom full of fruits for her to use make her amazing juice for months to come, and so SO much more. But not only would such a move be unfair to all the other women enrolled in our Brave Widow’s Program (and to the scholars enrolled in our Unite Scholars & Mentorship Program — all of whom have their own world’s of crushing needs), that is not what Unite is all about. Unite’s work is to work alongside and with extraordinary individuals to help them make it on their own and achieve independence and self reliance. So, instead of handing Margaret a wad of cash in hopes of easing a bit of her seemingly endless burdens, I just embraced her one last time and repeated “asante sana, asante sana” “thank you, thank you” over and over, again and again.

I left that amazing woman’s home feeling inspired, humbled and a bit guilty.

Mama Murassa’s gifts had far exceeded my own. 

Introducing the "Kit Merriman" Unite Scholars

“EDUCATE A GIRL AND SHE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.”

— Girl Rising

Two months ago, Kit Merriman, the mother of Unite Founder & Director Anne Wells and Board Member Kim Merriman, passed away after a long and valiant battle against metastatic breast cancer. Kit had a heart for educating girls in need so a scholarship fund for girls was created in Kit’s name to enable highly talented-yet-impoverished girls admission into our competitive Unite Scholars & Mentorship Program.

Today, thanks to the generous contributions of nearly 200 individuals who loved and admired Kit, we have raised just over $44,000 for this fund. This truly extraordinary outpouring of support has enabled us to admit and provide comprehensive support for 11 girls in need. Unite will support these “Kit Girls” for the next two years through their A Levels, which is Form 5 and Form 6 (~11th and 12th grades). We will also provide them mentoring and extensive life skills and leadership trainings. We are committed to doing all we can to support these “Kit Girls,” and ALL our Unite Scholars across Tanzania, and help them achieve success inside and beyond the classroom.

CLICK HERE to read report that introduces each of these 11 "Kit Girls" and outlines elements of our sponsorship program. Our program director Anty Marche has already told these girls that they have been chosen for this scholarship. To say that they and their families are ecstatic and overjoyed is an understatement. CLICK HERE to listen to a 15-second voice clip of one woman's response when Anty told her that her niece has been accepted. 

Our sincerest thanks to every person who helped make this miracle possible. As they say in Tanzania…

Education is liberation! 

I fly for Tanzania next week. I will meet all of these "Kit Girls" in person, and I will also meet dozens more of the new students who we are accepting into our 2020 Form 5 Class of A-Level Scholars. Currently we are planning on taking 30 new students in total; however, if we raise more funds in the next few weeks and months we will take on even more scholars. Every dollar raised is invested directly into this program. Our commitment is to grow our Unite Scholars Program into a brand that is internationally-recognized for honesty and integrity, confidence and creativity, diligence and determination, quality and consistency and world-class performance. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to help support our Unite Scholarship Fund, please click HERE.

***

Thank you to everyone who has honored my mother in this kind, generous and thoughtful way. I believe that we are making her proud. May her spirit live in through our love & service for the greatest good of all. 

With love & gratitude,

Anne 

New Unite Scholar Khadija introduces us to her family and home.

New Unite Scholar “Kit Girl” Zainabu Ally introduces us to her family and her home,

Here, a 60-second video from a recent Unite Scholar Mentor Training.

Here, a clip of current Unite Scholars volunteering to build an organic garden to help feed widows and children in need. Volunteerism is an important element of our Mentorship program.

Holiday Reflections & Gratitude for Love, Family, Friends & LIFE!

***

My mother died last month. She was 79 and had battled breast cancer for many years. Mothers are our touchstones, our nuclei, our launching points, our safe places, our often one-and-only sources of unconditional love…. at least that is what they are meant to be. I was lucky. Mine was. Then, just weeks later, I lost a cherished friend. Both women were kind, fun-loving, generous, beautiful and greatly impactful (in their own ways), and (like countless others) both lost their lives to metastatic breast cancer.

In Tanzania, through our Unite Scholars & Mentorship Program, we recently sponsored Raymond Mgeni to complete his MD. He is now in residency at a small rural hospital. Week after week Raymond sees women come in with advanced and devastating Stage 4 breast cancer. They all face certain and painful deaths. Shocked by this sad reality, Raymond is now preparing a grant request to Unite to launch an outreach campaign to teach communities about breast cancer and the critical need for self-exams and early detection. A small step perhaps, but, at least in this tiny remote corner of planet Earth, it is A STEP, and I am excited to be part of it.

Unite’s commitment to educating and mentoring highly talented-yet-impoverished youth across Tanzania through our Unite Scholars & Mentorship Program will help raise leaders of tomorrow (teachers, doctors, scientists, engineers, accountants, entrepreneurs, government officials, etc.) who will be equipped to question, investigate, create and ultimately move the needle for change… not only in the battle against breast cancer, but in all areas of life as they pursue their dreams and their passions. That is our goal.

Last week a few of our current Unite Scholars gathered for a week-long training in Dar Es Salaam. There our professionally-trained Unite Mentors taught them such elements of our Unite Life-Skills Program as “You are a Brand,” “Effective Communication,” “Networking,” “Team Work,” “Smart Use of Social Media,” “What is Leadership,” “Keys to Academic & Social Success,” “Creative Problem Solving,” “Time Management,” “Feedback vs Criticism,” and more. Each scholar submitted reports based upon his or her experiences and the response was overwhelmingly positive. They determined who among them were strongest in different subjects and created their own internal support systems, especially to help successfully navigate their most challenging subjects of Chemistry, Math, Biology and Physics. With their mentors, our scholars also spent a long, back-breaking day in the hot sun digging, preparing and planting an organic vegetable garden to help feed a local community in need — embracing the spirit of volunteerism and feeling empowered through the knowledge that everyone has something to give. (Click HERE to see a video of this work.)

Now our scholars are home for the Christmas holiday, and their incredulous parents continue to contact our Unite Scholars Program Director Anty Marche with the same question: “What did you do to my child?” Once shy, timid, discouraged and run down by life’s challenges, since joining our Unite program, these teens have morphed into confident young men and women who, with their heads held high, are excited about their futures.

This is the real work of Unite — to infuse love, connection, education, opportunity, joy and hope in the unlikeliest of places and where there once was none.

Following my mother’s death we created The Kit Merriman Scholarship Fund for Girls in her honor. To date, through the extreme kindness of so many who loved her, we have raised nearly $32,000, which will allow us to sponsor the eight girls photographed above to complete their higher secondary education, Form 5 and Form 6, their “A-Levels” or ~ 11th and 12th grades. Less than 3% of Tanzanians enroll in A-Levels (11th & 12th grades), so this is truly an extraordinary opportunity for these girls.

Next month I leave for Tanzania again. I will meet these eight “Kit Girls” in person and many dozens of other qualified candidates who are currently in line for scholarships. (The number of new scholars we can accept will depend on the success of our end-of-year fundraising. To support this effort, donate here.)

Unite’s sponsorship includes:

• All school fees & mandatory “contributions” (e.g. school electricity, exam fees, security, cooks & food, etc.)

• Uniforms (school, sports, religious outfits, shoes, etc.), all school books & school supplies

• All boarding necessities (trunks & padlocks, cleaning materials, mattress, pillow, sheets, mosquito nets, towels, bucket, plates & utensils, etc.)

• Undergarments, feminine hygiene items and all necessary personal items (for students with special needs, Unite will covers all of their unique requirements -- e.g. reading glasses, skin care, medicines, etc.)

• Health insurance

• Transport to and from school and the students’ homes for all school holidays

• Transport to and supplies for regular meetings with Unite Mentors over school holidays

• Two week-long training programs with Unite Mentors and Advisors using the Unite Life Skills & Professional Development Curriculum in Dar Es Salaam. Transport, lodging & food covered

• A laptop and smartphone (to facilitate learning and communications with our Unite team and mentors) along with airtime and Internet access

• Access to the Shule Direct online educational platform to enhance their learning

• Tutoring support over school holidays as needed

• Volunteering opportunities with our Unite Team to empower our scholars to empower others in need

• Educational field trips within Tanzania with Unite Mentors and fellow Unite Scholars 

• Opportunity to speak at an international Unite Scholars Symposium after their Form 6 graduations

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To each and every one of you who has supported Unite…
You make this work possible.
Your impact is real. The change is powerful.
I am grateful beyond measure & wish you and yours
a safe, joyous & inspired holiday season.

Asante sana! Thank you.

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I dedicate this next year of Unite - 2020 - to my mother Kit Merriman and my friend Rebecca Timlin-Scalera. May their truly extraordinary spirits, boundless energy and passion for life inspire, drive and motivate us all to SHOW UP, love and care for one another as best we can.

Katharine “Kit” Merriman

Rebecca Timlin-Scalera