The vision of ABCD: Art Building Children’s Dreams is a world where vulnerable children can achieve their dreams. We are a Canadian charity that raises funds to help children in rural Tanzania complete their education.
ABCD:
Art Building Children's Dreams
PO Box 1113
Mount Albert ON L0G 1M0
Canada
|
Posted by Frank, January 24th, 2010   
January 24 — Today we arranged for two ‘fundi’s (tailor)to come to the hotel to measure the children for uniforms. One measured for shirts and skirts, one measured for pants and shirts. We are hiring another fundi who is going to knit the sweaters on her knitting machine. Great to know that the fundi doing the skirts and shirts for the girls has our Scola as her assistant! It costs around $22 USD for a full uniform of pants/skirt, shirt, knitted sweater.
 
We had told the families on our home visits to come for measuring and most did…all dressed up in their Sunday go-to-church clothes! Some of the parents came too and it was fun to see so many of the children together at the same time. We took the opportunity, while they were waiting their time for measuring, to have them make some art, and do some singing. It was great finding out the young ones know most of the words to “head and shoulders, knees and toes!” After everyone was gone, an old mom limped into the driveway with her young, 15 year old daughter Epifania. This girl had successfully finished Primary School with high enough marks to get into a good school but the mom has no money for the fees. So….we added Epifania to the program. Losing count, but I think we are up to almost 10 new additions to ABCD: Art Building Children’s Dreams.
Posted by Frank, January 24th, 2010 
January 23 — After our exercises and packing up we were gathered at the entrance to our hotel ready for the hike to Kilema when Lynn accidentally knocked over a 9 foot wooden giraffe carving which was standing next to the doorway! It broke into several pieces as the wood was so dry and we were very embarassed as we carried the pieces over to the lawn. Next plan….wood glue and screws from Moshi!
It was another hot, hot hike to Kilema and we took many small trails around the Chapel Hill to find several of our children’s homes. These included: Nobati, Airini, Christina, Yasinta, Monica, Josphat and the 5 children in the Mbuya family: Anna, Abeli, Emanueli, Richardi and little Veronica who is starting Grade 1. Everywhere we were greeted with warm handshakes, many “karibuni sanas’ (you are very welcome). Everybody was very happy to receive their gifts.
We stopped at the Kilema Hospital Canteen again for lunch and met Sister Clarissa who is the Head of the Hospital. She implored us to help a young girl named Mary who has finished primary school with very good results but has no parents and no means to go on to secondary school. She has been working in the canteen for her livelihood. So we took the details and photographs and
agreed to fund her secondary school education. Our next stop was a long hike on the way back to our hotel on tiny tracks through the forest to find the home of Yudatade. He hadn’t attended school at Kisuluni SS yet and we found out he and him mom have been ill. He promised to return to school and work hard. While there we met his sister, Fabiola, who is in Primary School. This family is very poor and no father is on the scene. They live in a borrowed home. So we decided to take Fabiola into the program.
On the way back to the hotel Robyn and I visited Father Richard’s football pitch near his church in Kitowo. We had been invited to watch his 50 wayward youths play football. This is the group of youths that the father is helping, and asking us to help with soccer uniforms and shoes. We enjoyed the energy of the game and the father gracefully gave us a lift back down the hill to our hotel. It was a very full, exhausting day and we were ready for bed!
Posted by Frank, January 22nd, 2010      January 22 — After our usual morning exercises we hiked for about 1.5 hours from our hotel in Marangu West to Kilema ward. The terrain is beautifully forested and we passed by lovely scenes of hills, waterfalls, gorges and towering eucalyptus trees (imported from Australia way back and now an environmental problem here).
Arriving at Kisuluni Secondary School, we were welcomed by the staff and had contracts signed for the school fees of Anna and Yudatade. We got photos of Anna in class but Yudatade was absent today. We will visit him and his mom at their home soon.
Then up the hill we went to visit Kisuluni Primary School where we had a good discussion with Mr. Lyaruu, the Headmaster, about his students need in terms of food. They get their lunch but often come to school hungry. So we are thinking about the feasibility of starting a breakfast program if we can find sufficient funding. The young children (watoto) were all excited to see us and were swarming all around Robyn as she took photos! We paid for the lunches of Airini, Monica, and Yasinta, contracts signed, hands shaken and off we went.
We took a break for lunch at the new canteen at nearby Kilema Hospital and walked through the sprawling grounds where Lynn and I had stayed on our first 3 trips to Tanzania. It was good to be back there again. This took us to Kichilioni Primary School where we found Christina and Emanueli, shot their happy smiles, got the contract signed and paid for the school lunches (chakula).
Final stop Kilema Primary School where Abeli attends. He was very happy to see us and posed very well in his classroom with all of his friends looking on. So his lunch was paid for the year and we left for our long hike home under threatening skies. Luckily we didn’t get rained on and it was a good thing for my friends as I was the only one who had brought his raincoat!
Posted by Frank, January 22nd, 2010  January 21 — It’s really helping us in maintaining our energy and stamina to get up in the morning and before having breakfast, go up onto the rooftop with a clear view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and do some exercises together. I lead Robyn and Lynn in some pranayama breathing and qi gong, then Robyn leads us in some yoga.
Today after breakfast we hiked down the road to climb onto a daladala which took us into Moshi in 1.5 hours or so, depending on how many stops.  We headed right away to the shop where we had ordered all of the children’s school supplies. We checked the order and Joseph found us a couple of local men who operate a very large wheelbarrow to load up the many heavy boxes of school counter books, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. Off we went following them across town (and they move at a fast clip!) to another shop where we could store them for the day while we did other business such as banking.
  Banking is always an adventure here. The highest note of currency is 10,000 shillings and some of our fees to pay into secondary school accounts for several children can be upwards of 2,000,000 shillings! So, to cut a long story short we have to line up at ATM’s and withdraw our limit from the ABCD account in Canada and walk around with bulging pockets. Then line up with the other parents at the bank(s) to pay the school fees. First though we have to fill out a separate deposit slip for every child with all the details about the school, account number, currency amounts and on and on. Needless to say we’ll have to make one or more trips to Moshi to take care of this.
We managed to fit in attending the weekly Moshi Rotary Club Meeting and were welcomed warmly. Then of course, we had to pick up the school supplies in a big taxi and drive the 2 hours back to our hotel. Being driven on that potholed road up to our hotel in the dark is an experience not to be forgotten. The supplies were unloaded and we dove into our showers and beds.
Posted by Frank, January 19th, 2010  
January 19 — Today we set our on a long uphill hike to 3 different schools to pay school fees. First we arrived after about a half hour at Kyalla P.S. to pay for the school lunches for Robati who is in his last year of primary school. I think the school officials are pleasantly surprised to see us return every year for the benefit of their students. We also were invited by the local priest into his study at the church for a cup of tea. Last year we met this very friendly and young priest and left with him some soccer balls. He organizes a daily football match for about 50 local youths and says he gives them their training in ‘morality’ on the football field as they don’t come near church. We discussed the possibility of organizing some shipments of soccer uniforms, and shoes and balls for the boys in the future using our contact with the generous Aurora Youth Soccer League at home.
 
Carrying on our hike we ended up at Makomu Secondary School which is a new school for us…Joven, our new addition is attending there and we made arrangements to pay his school fees when we next go to Moshi town. Contracts were signed and school reports arranged to be sent to us.
Last stop was Kilaremo Primary School. We have 11 children attending this school so the whole place was as excited as we were to be there! In every classroom we were treated to welcome songs by the children. Robyn is right on top of the photography and is being kept really busy. Our children at this school are: Adeline, Arini, David, Delivina, Gabriel, Godfrey, Joseph, Rose, Tumaini. I think they are used to getting their photos taken by us every year but some are still very shy and have to be asked to smile “cheka”! We also added two more children who are attending Kilaremo PS to the program: Paul (Gr.4) and his sister Dativa (Gr.6). We had met their mother last year and heard something of their difficult story, and when we saw the poor condition of their uniforms at school it is evident that the family needs help.
So, at this point on the trip we have added 4 new children to the program! If there’s anyone out there reading this post who isn’t supporting one of our children and would like to…just contact us and let us know.
On the way back home, we stopped at a local market and met Rose and Tumaini’s mom who is selling fruit there. We were hugged and welcomed by all and were able to purchase some fresh mangos and bananas.
|
Follow Us
and/or you can...
-
 Enter your address to get an email each time a new entry is blogged:
and/or you can...
-
Enter your address to just get occasional email newsletters
|
