eNewsletter — May 2008

SMALL CHANGE, BIG DIFFERENCE

By combining their strength, CACHA, Rotary and CSRAI (Canadian Support for Rural African Initiatives) have helped improve life in the village of Kilema, Tanzania in countless small, practical and lasting ways. In January 2008, two teams of Rotarians and Friends from 12 Rotary clubs spent a total of four weeks in this area with one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in Tanzania.

Chris Snyder recalls when four boxes of donated Canadian soccer jerseys brought together four Tanzanian village schools in some friendly competition.

“To say the fans were enthusiastic is putting it mildly,” says Snyder, the overall coordinator for the Rotary trip and leader of one of the two teams. “After every goal, the whole school ran onto the field.”

The tournament became a festival. It helped pull together the local schools in the district and deepen the sense of community.

One game at a time
A soccer tournament may seem small, almost insignificant in the face of the problems Africans face. But CACHA and Rotary think focussing on the small things makes a big difference.

“We call these Rotary trips ‘Sweat Equity,’” says Snyder, “and what we do on them is not rocket science. We help remove obstacles. We help give a few people a chance.”

A twenty-dollar hearing aid can open up a world for a deaf child.  A school lunch can help a student learn. Antiretrovirals can return a parent to a family, an employee to a job. In an area where one quarter of all children have lost a parent, every little thing helps.

Education matters
Last year in Kilema the Rotary group refurbished a badly deteriorating school. 

This year the group helped refurbish five schools. It is funding training to upgrade English teaching skills, since high school is taught in English. It is paying the secondary school fees of 60 students. It is providing over 2,000 books in both English and Swahili, ending the practice of three or four children to a book. Rotary also gave computer training to teachers and will assist with future school improvements.

Big effort, small waste
While Rotary focuses on the small things, the word “small” does not apply to the amount of effort or funding that Rotarians have contributed to Kilema over the last three years. Apart from the sweat equity, Rotarians, through donations from Rotary clubs, partners and individuals, have donated almost $250,000.

Much of this money was raised by students from the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, under the impassioned direction of principals Steve Truelove and Jeff Kawzenuk. Both men are also skilled carpenters and builders, which benefited the mission in many ways.

All funding collected is used in a very targeted way. “None of this money goes to administration,” says Snyder.

Sustainable partners
The needs in Kilema, where poverty and AIDS have taken their toll, are wide-ranging. In an area where many people can’t afford the overnight trip to the hospital, medical problems often go untreated.

“With the combined forces of CACHA, Rotary and CSRAI focussed on health,  schools and orphans, we believe we have been able to improve life in many practical, lasting ways,” says Snyder.

Rotary volunteers helped create a fishpond that will give a protein boost to the local diet. They visited rural areas and installed about 40 solar lights in huts. They improved many school kitchens, where typically one woman cooks in a smoke-filled hut for hundreds of students.

“We’ve evolved an interesting model of community partnership that we believe could be adapted and used as a template in other places,” says Snyder.

Skill equity
Rotarians have engaged in 10 of these physically taxing humanitarian trips in several countries since 1998.

“You get hooked on these missions,” says Snyder, who has been on most of them.

No specific skills are necessary for the work, but talents always surface. It was up to Snyder and Tom Sears, leader of the second team, to dig these skills out and put them to work.

For example, a retired art teacher on the trip illustrated a talk on AIDS and designed the soccer tournament trophy. Others taught English, organized people and projects, or taught crafts and quilting. Those with medical training—nurses and chiropractors—helped in the hospital. Some had great building and painting skills, while others had computer skills that were used in a multitude of ways. 

“Everyone had good ideas and a great attitude, both very important attributes for these trips,” says Snyder.

Trips inspire
Why doesn’t Rotary simply send money to hire local people? In fact, on their most recent trip they employed many, including a group of people living with AIDS to paint and help build. Donation money will employ many more to complete the work Rotarians could not do.

“But when you spend two weeks in an African village, everything moves you,” says Snyder. “How do you describe these things to people back in Canada?”

But describe them they do, to any and all who will listen, which makes Sweat Equity alumni such good honorary African ambassadors to Canada.

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