This Valentines Day we honor family, love, and loss

I am deeply saddened to share the news that our lovely Unite Scholar Pendo Chitulo lost her beloved mother Albina Chitulo this week to a sudden and unexpected illness.

Pendo, 21, lives with her five brothers and sisters — Anthony, Elibariki, Mary, Johnbosco and Laurent — in the Bihawana village of Dodoma Tanzania. Pendo’s father abandoned the family when Pendo was young, and her mother had since struggled to support their basic needs by making grain alcohol and selling it in the streets. It was, and continues to be, a difficult and dangerous life.

Pendo is the only one of her family to go to secondary school. In 2019, she was admitted into Unite’s highly competitive Unite Scholars’ Program. She is now in her second semester of Form 5 (11th grade) at the government Mtwara Girls Boarding School in Mtwara Region. Pendo is extremely bright, and her goal is to continue with her education to become a lawyer and fight for women’s rights, especially for those who are victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

For years Pendo has faced relentless unwanted sexual advances in her impoverished community where many believe she would be better off pregnant than in school. Albina was Pendo’s only protector and advocate for her education, and now Albina is gone. Unite is extremely concerned about Pendo and her siblings as they have no extended family to help provide for, feed, and care for them.

To that end, we are launching a campaign to try and raise $20 a day for the next two years (~$15,000) to provide the bare necessities for Anthony, Elibariki, Mary, Johnbosco and Laurent to allow Pendo herself to complete her A-levels, higher-secondary schooling.

Pendo and her mother outside their family home in January 2021. Click HERE to see their family home.

In the spirit of love, on this Valentines Day, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help Unite provide for Pendo and her siblings throughout this most traumatic and challenging time. In January, our Unite Program Director Anty Marche traveled to Tanzania and visited Pendo at her home. The family’s living conditions are extremely difficult. While on site, Anty purchased for beds, plates, cups, buckets, and cooking items for the family. The children are now orphans in extreme need. With your help, we will do everything possible to ensure their safety and survival.

Click on the links below to see a few short videos of Pendo:

Pendo’s New Year’s Message to Unite, January 2021

Pendo shows Unite’s Program Director Anty Marche her home, January 2021

Pendo introduces her lovely mother Albina, January 2021

Pendo says thank you for Unite’s gift of beds, mattresses, and supplies for her family, January 2021

Pendo with fellow Unite Scholar Loveness at a Unite leadership training event in Dar es Salaam, December 2020.

Pendo (pictured second from the left with Anne Wells and fellow Unite Scholars in February 2020) is a Unite Scholar whose education is being sponsored by the Kit Merriman Scholarship Fund for Girls.

Pendo with Unite’s Program Director Anty Marche in January 2021 during their shopping trip to purchase beds, mattresses, and supplies for Pendo’s family.

How Can I Do More?

One University Student’s Account of Global Change and Compassion During Covid-19

Written by Lila Wells, Co-Founder and Director of the Unite Passion Project.

Let me be clear: this story is not one in which I take a starring role. Rather, it celebrates those in my life I feel deserve recognition not only as global change agents, but as envoys of compassion in action. 

March 2020

A 19-year-old college freshman with less than five months of independent living under my belt, the world was my oyster and I was not yet ready to leave the comfort of its calcified shells. Towards the beginning of March, the influx of the COVID-19 pandemic into the U.S. downsized my universe from that of a college campus—where adventure was inevitable—to my childhood bedroom where, for 10 hours a day, I sat at my desk attending Zoom lectures and contemplating a question for which I direly needed an answer: How can I do more? 

This question was one made easier when sitting a room away from a global change agent and my own personal hero: Anne Wells, my mom. At 19, she journeyed a world away and spent four months in a country which assumed a permanent fixture in her heart—Tanzania. Many adventures and decades later, she founded Unite The World With Africa Foundation in 2014. Unite is an international NGO empowering extraordinary-yet-impoverished and marginalized youth and women with quality education, health, leadership and business development programs to foster independence and long-term success. 

In 2018, my mom and Unite embarked on a new venture to sponsor the A-Level education of uniquely-talented-yet-impoverished Tanzanian scholars through the Unite Scholars Program. Working in tandem with the NGO’s Tanzanian team and Program Director, Anty Marche, 42 scholars have been chosen to date through a highly-rigorous selection process based on academic excellence, personal advocacy, leadership, and extreme financial need. 

Yet while I was able to manage my education in quarantine through Zoom courses, our scholars faced a vastly different reality at the height of the pandemic. Hailing from remote and under-resourced parts of the country, they lacked the infrastructure for online learning and slipped into a sort of educational purgatory; school was suspended, and our scholars had little resources with which to continue learning. [Cick HERE to see the home of one of our Unite Scholars Maria John Kwanga.]

Education is key in surmounting cyclical poverty and, as less than 3% of Tanzanian students enroll in A-Level education, our scholars had already beaten the odds in their schooling advancement. Continuing education during the pandemic was and is crucial for their success. With that in mind, I devised a scheme for educational enrichment using the most powerful resource we each had at our disposal: each other. 

This, this, is how I can do more. 

May 2020

I called on teammates I didn’t know I had—high school acquaintances, college friends, extended family, strangers, and my best friend from down the hall of my freshman dorm. Together we did what I first felt was impossible: uniting youth from opposite sides of the planet in a mission for self and communal growth. The Unite Youth Ambassador Program was born with the mission to cultivate connection, camaraderie, and compassion in the time of COVID-19. First only an idea I dreamt up in a walk around my neighborhood, friends (who soon became family) from universities across the U.S. graciously signed onto my passion project and pledged to donate their time to Tanzanian scholars they had yet to meet. 

For eight weeks, I worked alongside these 11 American college students and 23 Tanzanian scholars as they built powerful bonds, explored the intricacies of physiology, debated philosophy, assembled resumes, called and texted daily via Whatsapp, sang together, reenacted comedy skits, and exchanged I love you’s.

Six Unite Ambassador-Scholar groups that participated in the program.

My singular Northwestern quarter of Kiswahili hardly prepared me for daily communications with multilingual Tanzanian students, widows, and the Unite leadership team. But they were patient teachers, not only to me but also to my fellow ambassadors, who eagerly exchanged their English, Spanish, and French for new Kiswahili terms from their Tanzanian friends.

The first time I cried was when listening to a Whatsapp audio exchange between my friend CJ and Tanzanian scholar Loveness Apaeli. The two came from vastly different circumstances: CJ an environmental engineering major at Northwestern University and Loveness a high-achieving scholar whose family only recently built their first pit latrine, with a Unite grant. Yet all differences disappeared as they exchanged messages discussing vulnerability, self-confidence and self-love in a world seemingly devoid of it. Their mutual support and outpouring of love after less than two weeks of knowing each other was both overwhelming and an affirmation of what the Unite team and I had already begun to observe; this program, this team was love in action. 

July 2020

This vignette came many happy-cries later, and emerged as a key component in my next collaborative Unite venture: The Unite Passion Project. 

The Unite Ambassador Program quickly drew to a close as July began and the Tanzanian government sent our scholars back to school. The familiar question—How can I do more?—began to creep back into my consciousness. Yet one Whatsapp conversation in particular caught my eye. My friend and peer, Danny, was discussing aspirational identities and his passions with Unite Scholar, Imani Faustine. As Danny raced between different potential career paths and outlined his passions for his friend, Imani asked the following: “Dan, you can have more than one dream?” 

Imani touched on a question that most, if not all, youth and young adults ask themselves daily; What is my passion? Can I have more than one? Am I on the right path? Yet it especially resonates with our Unite Scholars who, when asked what they want to do with their lives, often deliver the same set of responses: “to be a doctor, pilot or engineer.” 

This may be, in part, because their passions for medicine, aviation, and science is what drives them. But more often than not it is because these young people, most of whom come from remote and under resourced communities, know of nothing else to dream. As someone who began her collegiate career as a steadfast Chemistry major, before switching to Computer Science and finally landing on Sociology, Imani’s comment struck a chord in me, prompting me to reevaluate my own relationship with passion, career paths, and self-exploration. 

This is how the Unite Passion Project was born.

With joint goals of career exposure and self-reflection, I launched the Passion Project alongside a handful of my Ambassador peers and the Unite leadership team as an international guest speaker platform. I spent the summer emailing strangers, titans of industry, professors, and my peers asking them to respond to a deceptively simple question—What is your passion?—in video form. And, to my surprise, they responded. En masse. 

The YouTube-based platform grew from five, to 10, to 20, and, to date, 92 guest speaker videos from all over the world. Each submission was not only an act of kindness, but also one of compassion, in which strangers, understanding the uncertainties of young adulthood, detailed their life’s story for the world to hear. And the world did. 

A few of the ~100 professionals from around the world who have contributed Passion videos to our program since its inception in August 2020. Click HERE to watch their videos, and more, on our YouTube platform.

Unite instituted seven Unite Clubs in secondary schools throughout Tanzania, where approximately 1,000 students and faculty viewed and discussed Passion Project videos, approaching each with the same intention and honestly the speakers did in making them.

And, in its inception and journey thereafter, a quote from my mom remained evermore true:

“In this time of widespread turmoil, fear, and suffering, we can—and must—focus on what brings joy. We must share what feeds our spirits and ignites our minds, bodies, and souls. Because what opens minds and hearts will ultimately be what unites us as human beings.”

– Anne Wells

November 2020

Unite’s approach has always been holistic. That’s why, when approached by Program Director Anty Marche’s sister, Upendo, with a new opportunity to support our scholars and their families, we were ready and willing to execute it. I say “we,” but this project was and is wholly due to the work of Upendo, her husband Romanos, Anty Marche, Clara Ngowi, and my mom. 

Dubbed ‘Operation Chakula,’ this venture buys from small-scale farmers across Tanzania, holds the harvest, and repackages food supplies in smaller quantities to sell at affordable retail prices to communities in need. 

In buying from the poor during harvest season, using advanced technology to safely store and protect the food, and reselling to those in need later on, Operation Chakula circumvents a market which inherently disadvantages the Tanzanian poor. In harvest season, market oversaturation plummets crop prices, yet most small-scale farmers have no opportunity nor the technology to safely store their food to sell later on. In the off-season, a few choice, wealthier farmers, sell their stored crops at an expensive price to consumers, but a virtually unattainable price to the poor. 

On a mission to buy from the poor to feed the poor, Operation Chakula addresses regional and nationwide hunger while supporting the very demographic we seek to uplift. As most of the Unite Scholars come from extremely impoverished, small-scale farming families, they often return home on holiday to the stresses of poverty, food shortages, and hunger. To change this is non-negotiable. Operation Chakula, to me, is not only strategic, creative, and empowering, but it is also an act of compassion, in which powerful minds from the U.S. and Tanzania collaborate to address a core human issue: hunger. 

January 2021 

2020 has run its course and while its suffering has been immense, it has also offered us an opportunity for compassion and advocacy unlike any other. A year ago, I would’ve never imagined a Unite Youth Ambassador Program, a Passion Project, or an Operation Chakula, nor would I have had the confidence to assemble a joint collegiate taskforce-for-change on opposite sides of the world.

Yet in times of turmoil, we are granted the rare opportunity to rise above and work collaboratively towards the greater good. We can, we have, and we will continue to practice compassion, camaraderie, and vulnerability. We will continue to make authentic connections with those we admire both domestically and abroad. We will practice compassion because, in a world so divided, it is needed now more than ever. 

Compassion is CJ and Loveness. Compassion is Danny and Imani. Compassion is Upendo, Romanos, Anty, Clara, and my mother. Compassion is love in action. And may this year bring so much more.

Lila Wells (pictured above in 2015 visiting a government primary school in Tanzania) is now a sophomore at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, studying Sociology and Legal Studies (intended). She has traveled to Tanzania in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018 to help support Unite programs. Since 2014, Lila has served as Unite’s volunteer as well as Unite’s social media intern. In 2019, Lila took on the role as a Unite’s Collegiate Youth Ambassador Manager and founded and directed the UNITE Youth Ambassador Program in the summer of 2020. Lila then moved on to found and co-direct the UNITE Passion Project. Lila currently serves as the project's Videographer, Executive Youth Outreach Coordinator, and Webmaster. 

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To make a tax-deductible donation to support the programs of Unite The World With Africa, please click HERE.

Unite Scholars attend a STEM Boot Camp in Tanzania

Over the New Year’s holiday, 10 of our Unite Scholars participated in a highly competitive and selective five-day-long STEM Boot Camp sponsored by Projekt Inspire in Tanga, Tanzania. More than 70 students came together from schools across the country for an intense study of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

“We host annual STEM youth boot camps for secondary students as a way to encourage and steer critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation in the world of rapidly evolving science and technology, particularly for the Tanzanian industrial economy,” said Projekt Inspire Director Dr. Lwidiko Mhamilawa, whose boot camps challenge talented youth to apply their STEM educations to the fields of agriculture and fisheries, renewable energies, and water management.*

“We learned about how to identify and tackle real-life problems in our communities,” says Unite Scholar Elina Green, who enjoyed the opportunity to apply theories to the practical world in hands-on and interactive manners.

With their fellow Projekt Inspire teammates, our Unite Scholars developed a computer program to assess and measure water quality, and they presented inventions and projects to the group for feedback to support further development.

Unite Scholars Stella and Elina participated in Projekt Inspire’s technology class and were introduced to Arduino, an open source language used to design electrical equipment. Elina presented a pilot program for Menstrual Hygiene Management for women and girls and was chosen as the second winner in Pilot project out of 30 competitors.

Unite Scholar Ashura (center in white) participated in Projekt Inspire’s Science Group, which focused on food production and preservation and the “transportation system” within the human body.

Unite Scholar John John (second from the far right) attends a science class with Projekt Inspire students from across Tanzania.

Unite Scholar Michael works on his invention in the technology group.

Unite Scholars Stella, Neema, Elina, and Ashura. Girl Power!

Unite Scholar David Bitaho at work in Projekt Inspire’s Engineering class.

(Left to Right) Unite Scholars Luther, Winson, John John, Neema, Stella, Michael, Ashura, Lazaro, Elina and David at the Projekt Inspire STEM Boot Camp in Tanzania. January 1, 2021.

*Article from The Guadian by Gertrude Mbogo published on January 2, 2021.

Introducing Operation Chakula: Buying From the Poor to Feed the Poor

THE CHALLENGE

Unite is educating some of the best and brightest teenagers and young adults in Tanzania. We are ensuring their quality A-level educations as well as providing them advanced international mentorship; leadership, life-skills, business, and soft-skills of professionalism trainings; environmental education programming; access to the arts, music, and all kinds of creative endeavors and advanced STEM trainings; and so much more. 

However, since most of our Unite Scholars come from extremely impoverished families who eke out meager livings as small-scale farmers, when our Unite Scholars return to their homes over school holidays they are often faced with the intense stress of extreme poverty, food shortages, and hunger. 

UNITE’S RESPONSE

To address this challenge, in partnership with Tanzanian business-woman Upendo Kiondo and environmental scientist Clara Ngowi, we are launching a new program called Unite Operation Chakula (“chakula” means “food” in Kiswahili). Here is how it works:

1. Our team purchases maize, rice, beans, and ground nuts from our Unite Scholars and their families as well as from other small-scale farmers in need across Tanzania to provide them a market and income;

2. We hold the harvest in air-tight, pest-resistant 150kgs-AgroZ bags in secure central locations (the food can be held safely in these bags for months and even years);
   3. Our team repackages the food supplies into smaller-sized quantities and sells the product at affordable retail prices to communities in need.

   ***

   We are buying from the poor during harvest time, using advanced technology to safely store and protect the food,
   and re-selling food to those in need. 

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Click on the hyperlinks below to see the reality of life for small-scale farmers in Tanzania:

Unite Scholar Loyce shows us the work of harvesting rice by hand.

Unite Scholar Loyce shows us how she cleans and packages her rice. 

Unite Scholar Maria John shows us how she harvests ground nuts.

Unite Scholar Maria John shows us how she harvests maize.

Unite Scholar Maria John shows us her family eating “ugali” (a staple meal for Tanzanians made from maize/corn flour).

To learn more about Unite’s Operation Chakula, email anne@uniteafricafoundation.org.
To make a tax-deductible donation in support of our work, click HERE.

May 2021 bring peace, health, joy, nourishment, and prosperity for all.

Merry Christmas from Unite

This week a few of our Unite Scholars, Unite “Brave Widows,” Unite team members, and Unite Passion Project speakers gathered in Dar es Salaam to celebrate and give thanks for our Unite family around the world. Here, a few fun photos for your enjoyment and links to two short videos that really should make you smile. Thank you for making the miracles of Unite possible with your love, kindness, and generous support.

Together all things are possible. Cheers to 2021!

CLICK HERE FOR OUR UNITE SCHOLARS CHRISTMAS SONG & DANCE

CLICK HERE TO SEE A FEW OF OUR UNITE BOYS PERFORM ON THE BEACH FOR YOU ALL

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To make a tax-deductible donation in support of our work, CLICK HERE

or send a check to Unite The World With Africa Foundation, 49 Whitney Street, Westport, CT 06880.

Asante sana! Thank you!

The Anatomy of Resilience: A Different Kind of Post

Over the course of the past few months I have had the great pleasure of spending extensive time with my dear friend Kristin Hocker to research and write this article “The Anatomy of Resilience” (shared below). Kristin has been an important member of our Unite family over the years as she co-led our Strides for Strength walk-a-thon in 2015, which enabled the purchasing of prosthetics and medical devices for dozens of amputees and people living with disabilities in Tanzania. Kristin, after losing her leg to a necrotizing fasciitis bacteria in 2013, has launched her own social media campaign on Instagram @kristinpcan to share, motivate, inspire and encourage other amputees (and all of us humans who face unexpected hardships and setbacks) to embrace vitality, love, beauty, strength, health, friendship, faith, and community and to live their best lives. Thank you Kristin for allowing me to share your inspirational story. And a very special thanks to photographer Harriett Wells (Instagram @harriettwellsphotography) for these stunning images.

This holiday season may we celebrate strong, powerful, resilient, courageous women ALL over the world!

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Photo by Harriett Wells.

The Anatomy of Resilience

By Anne Wells

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With just a thin pink yoga mat as a cushion from the hardwood of her front porch in Bell Island, Rowayton, Connecticut, Kristin Hocker lay on her right side with her left arm stretched up to the warm breezy October sky. The deep voice of her trainer Sean Mageau coached her through her iPhone, which was balanced on a table against an oversized orange Halloween candle. “Ok Kristin,” said Mageau, “now try to lift up into a side plank. Let me see the air between your hip and the mat.” Kneeling behind her, physical therapist Maureen Meehan supported Kristin’s pelvis. Kristin’s face winced as she strained with effort to activate her remaining muscles. “Good job,” said Meehan. “We didn’t catch any air, but I could feel muscles firing.” Kristin collapsed and pulled off her right leg whose seal had broken with the movement. “Next time let’s do this exercise without the leg on,” Kristin said, catching her breath.  

Seven years ago, Kristin Hocker, a 54-year-old, divorced, working mother of four lost her leg, and nearly her life, to a misdiagnosed Strep-A-bacterial-infection-turned-necrotizing-fasciitis (a.k.a. “flesh-eating disease”) following what doctors, friends, and family thought was merely a sprained ankle. Kristin was left with a two-and-a-half-inch-long right femur; she is what is known in the world of amputees as an above-the-knee “short.” Having such a small residual limb makes mastering the world of prosthetics and movement of any kind uniquely challenging. But, true to her nature, Kristin flashes a wide smile. “I've got this,” she says.

Kristin stands 5’7” and weighs a mere 107 pounds without her prosthetic. Her leg weighed 19 pounds before it was amputated and disposed of in an incinerator at the Connecticut Stamford Hospital; her prosthetic weighs 10 pounds. Kristin’s long, straight dark hair is densely highlighted with streaks of blonde, and chin-length wisps frame her perfectly-symmetrical cheekbones. When Kristin doesn’t need to travel far (just a few feet), she hops on her left foot. When managing any kind of distance without her prosthetic, Kristin uses crutches. With her prosthetic on, Kristin can walk unassisted with a gait that is, at least for now, uneven and compensatory. 

***

The odds of a perfectly healthy, fit woman living in one of the most affluent counties in America losing a limb from necrotizing fasciitis are less than getting struck by lightning. The Center for Disease Control estimates 700 to 1,200 cases of necrotizing fasciitis infections in the United States each year; however, nearly all serious cases afflict people living with diabetes, weakened immune systems, or other underlying health conditions. Yet Kristin doesn’t see herself as unlucky. Instead, she sees her life as full of miracles and love. And, she says, she wouldn’t change a thing. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Living with one leg keeps me grounded and present,” she says. “I have no choice but to pay close attention to the ground beneath my feet and the world around me.” Today, Kristin is determined to help others who may be labeled as disabled, disfigured, or even just unlucky, see their lives the same way.

Kristin Hocker, Founder of Instagram @kristinpcan. By Harriett Wells. Instagram @harriettwellsphotography.

“Mirror mirror on the wall, I’ll always get up after I fall. And whether I run, walk, or have to crawl, I’ll set my goals and achieve them all.”

— A quote posted on Instagram @kristinpcan, September 22, 2019.

 On September 20, 2019, six years to the day she lost her leg, Kristin launched her “Kristin P. Can” social media campaign on Instagram @kristinpcan. “I am ready to share my story,” she wrote. Over a year later, nearly 1,500 followers are tuning in. Kristin’s feed features inspirational quotes alongside photos and videos of Kristin walking up and down stairs, stretching in yoga poses, riding bikes, kayaking, shopping in stores, cooking, traveling with family, enjoying the beauty of nature with friends.

“I do what most people do; the only difference is that I do it with one leg,” says Kristin, who tattooed a wave on the inside of her left arm to remind herself to “surf and stay above the storms of life.”  Kristin’s allure to those who know her, and now to those who don’t, stems from her “extraordinary attitude” and “exceptional resilience,” says her long-time friend and former neighbor Keiley Fuller. “Nearly everything we do and take for granted is harder for Kristin, but she never says it. She never complains, ever.”

Kristin lost her leg on Friday, September 20, 2013. The week before, she went to a local restaurant to meet a friend for dinner. Kristin and Corby, her husband of 18 years, had just filed for divorce, and Kristin was looking forward to a girls’ night out. As Kristin jostled through the restaurant’s crowded bar area to reach her table, she rolled her ankle. “I didn’t think much of it,’ she remembers. Yet the next morning, Kristin was in enough pain that she went to see an orthopedic doctor who she knew through her work as the Outreach Director for Maplewood Senior Living headquartered in Westport, Connecticut. The doctor diagnosed a second-degree sprain and torn tendon. His RX? Rest, ice, and elevate. 

By Monday, Kristin could hardly move. She called her doctor and asked for pain medicine. He prescribed Vicodin. She sent him many photos of the black and purple blisters that were forming and growing over her swollen, tightened, and stretched skin. He wasn’t alarmed. When Kristin asked to return to the doctor that Wednesday for a re-check, she recalls that he “sliced the skin and casted my foot.” The doctor lanced the blisters and tightly wrapped Kristin’s foot and ankle up to her knee, assumedly to alleviate pressure and provide some kind of support. 

By Thursday morning Kristin felt her “body shutting down inside, bit by bit,” and, in a moment of lucidity, she asked her soon-to-be-ex-husband to please call 911. By the time the paramedics arrived, Kristin’s blood pressure was 74 over 50.“Somewhere during that ride to the hospital I just went away,” says Kristin. 

Inside Kristin’s body a Strep A bacteria had taken hold in her ankle and developed into necrotizing fasciitis or what is often referred to as “flesh-eating disease.” Treatment for necrotizing fasciitis requires opening muscle fascia, excising infected tissue, and removing enough surrounding tissue to ensure the infection is completely eliminated. “It was like chasing a car going 100 miles per hour up interstate I-95,” said Dr. Kevin Miller, a surgeon at Stamford Hospital who oversaw Kristin’s care. “We administered broad-range antibiotics to try and save Kristin’s ankle. Hours later the team was amputating her leg to try and save her life.” Kristin’s surgeons removed her leg six inches above the visible bacteria line. Yet by that time she was in full-blown organ failure due to widespread sepsis. Kristin’s heart stopped, twice; her kidneys lost function; and her lungs filled with fluid. The team at Stamford Hospital called Corby and told him to come in with his and Kristin’s four children, who were then ages 6, 9, 11, and 14, to say goodbye. 

At some point during the time she was unconscious, Kristin experienced what is widely known as an NDE (a near-death experience). “I saw an explosion of white light that was so intensely bright it should have hurt my eyes, but it didn’t. My heart was beating strong and fast. I felt excited and full of anticipation. My senses were electric, and I was overcome by this incredible sense of love.”

What brought her back?

“The faces of my four children flashed in my mind’s eye, one by one, from oldest to youngest—Carey, Caitlyn, Ryan, Chloe—and immediately I was pulled back,” recalls Kristin.

Meanwhile, Kristin’s friends and community rallied. Phones rang, texts pinged, and the hospital’s waiting room filled. Kristin’s pastor and friend, Reverend Brandi Drake of Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien, Connecticut, organized a last-minute community prayer vigil. “There must have been more than 150 people packed in that little sanctuary,” remembers Rev. Drake. “We held the image that we were all storming heaven with picket signs that read: ‘We want Kristin.’ And then we sang Amazing Grace.”

On Tuesday, September 24th, five days after being taken from her home by ambulance, Kristin woke up. When it became clear that Kristin would live, her friends and family sighed a breath of relief. “Their trauma was over, and mine was just beginning,” remembers Kristin. After two weeks in Stamford Hospital, Kristin was transferred to a rehab center. Friends arranged daily lunches for Kristin and her many visitors during her six-week-stay and filled her room with flowers, photos, books, and get-well cards. “My family and friends did everything for me,” remembers Kristin. “They washed my hair, dressed me in soft pajamas with matching single flip flops, fed my family, drove my children, walked my dog, made me playlists of amazing music.”

This outpouring of compassion and support is, Kristin says, what helped her through the waves of despair that came during those first few weeks. “I was grateful to be alive but not 100% sure I would ever roll over again without feeling like a knife was slicing through me, never mind be able to get up and walk again.”

A malpractice case was filed against the doctor who misdiagnosed Kristin’s ankle, and Kristin, and her lawyers, would spend the next five long years in a heated battle with that doctor’s insurance company. In September 2018, two days before the trial was set to begin, the insurance company capitulated, and Kristin was awarded an undisclosed settlement. 

Kristin with her daughter Caitlyn. Photo by Harriett Wells.

Today, Kristin is busy balancing the demands of motherhood; her career as Director of the Maplewood Heart Foundation, a 501(c) (3) public charity organization that supports senior caregivers and related organizations; staying fit; and training to walk with a smooth and balanced gait. “Experts say it takes 10,000 hours to master a new skill, but I have the added challenge of being so short,” Kristin says. 

Since her amputation in 2013, Kristin has used three different prosthetic legs. Getting insurance to approve payment for each more technologically-advanced leg has been another ongoing battle for Kristin and her team. “Part of our job is to fight the insurance companies,” explains prosthetist Sal Martella, whose team at Progressive Orthopedics and Prosthetics in Albertson, New York, petitioned for well over a year to get Kristin the most cutting edge technologyavailable on the prosthetic market today—the Ottobock leg with the first fully waterproof X3 microprocessor knee, which was developed in collaboration with the U.S. military and is currently made in Vienna, Austria. They had to prove that Kristin was healthy enough to benefit from the bionic knee’s advanced activity settings, which can adjust the swing angle for running, biking, golfing, and driving. Dan Bastian, Sal’s partner and Progressive’s co-founder, is an above-the-knee amputee who has been using Ottobock technology for years. Both Bastian and Martella say that the X3 should enable Kristin less gait deviation and a more complete lifestyle (she can swim with the leg on and do water sports) all the while with less worry about falling (the knee senses uneven ground and adjusts accordingly). They just need to get the fit right, and this is proving challenging.

Most amputees have enough residual limb to essentially “sit” into the prosthetic. But since Kristin’s residual limb is uniquely short, the socket presses into her groin, which can cause discomfort and pain. To secure her leg for any length of time, Kristin has to do what is called a “skin fit,” which entails covering Kristin’s remaining flesh with a nylon liner that is then placed into the socket and pulled slowly through an air hole at the bottom of the carbon mold, gripping Kristin’s skin and pulling it downwards into a suction fit. It is Martella, not Kristin, who admits how painful it is. “The first few times someone tries a skin fit, at least until their skin calluses, they will see stars,” says Martella, who has worked in the field of prosthetics for 27 years. “Kristin is borderline hip disarticulation; she is one of the shortest amputees I have ever worked with. I know the physics of what she is up against, and it’s remarkable how well she is getting around.”

Bastian, who was 15 years old when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and 25 when his leg was amputated (after 18 surgeries to try and save it), regularly counsels amputees and their families. Bastiancredits Kristin’s success to her mental outlook. “It’s all in the mind,” says Bastian, a 30+-year specialist in prosthetic feet, knees, legs, liners, hands, and arms. “Learning to walk again is mostly a matter of will and desire.”

Having a positive role model like Bastian in Kristin’s life is a critical element of resilience post-trauma, according to Dennis Charney, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York. “Finding a role model who went through the same thing and knows the process of recovery both psychologically and physically is very important,” writes Charney in his article “Decades of Research Lead to ‘Prescription’ for Resilience,” which was published in Psychiatric News on June 27, 2019. On Instagram @kristinpcan, Kristin posts a photo of her standing between Martella and Bastian. She wears ashort black tube skirt, a red T-shirt, and Converse sneakers on both her foot and the prosthetic. Behind them is a wall of framed images of Bastian water-skiing, biking, hiking, golfing, and fishing. Her caption reads: “I can aspire but only to half the activities this man does.”

Photo by Harriett Wells.

Kristin spent most of her childhood in Haddonfield, New Jersey, a 2.8-square-mile Quaker town located 15-minutes from Philadelphia, with her parents, Charlotte and Tom Price, and her two younger sisters, Heather and Laurel. Charlotte worked as a teacher at a local elementary school and Tom was a bacteriologist and Director with the Food and Drug Administration. Kristin grew up like most kids during the 70s—watching The Brady Bunch and The Bionic Woman; listening to Sonny & Cher and The Monkees; reading Nancy Drew and Judy Blume. Hers was a normal, happy family.

Or so she thought. 

In January 1977, Kristin’s father moved out, and it would be years before Kristin would learn why. Tom had presented Charlotte, his wife of 16 ½ years, with a letter confirming her nagging suspicions and deepest fears. He had been living a double life as a homosexual man actively engaging in serial out-of-wedlock relationships. “I didn’t want to get divorced,” remembers Charlotte, whose face at 82 looks decades younger with nearly-wrinkle-free skin, “so I said I would forgive him if he would give up his other life. But he said no—that he wouldn’t, he couldn’t.”

After Tom moved out, Charlotte was left alone with her three girls, who were then 4, 7, and 11, and to make ends meet, she picked up tutoring jobs in the afternoons and evenings. “I cried every day for months,” remembers Charlotte, whose dark brown eyes are mirrored in Kristin’s. “And then, as time went on, I would just cry when I cooked or vacuumed, and, of course, every time I heard the heating oil delivery truck. It was always another bill I couldn’t afford.” 

Kristin assumed more and more parenting responsibilities for her younger sisters. She would cook dinners and help her sisters with their homework. For years Kristin and her sisters visited their father every other weekend at his apartment in Philadelphia. However, their visits became less frequent after Tom met a composer and moved with him into a house in Westchester, PA, where “they had a dog, an English garden, and flamboyant pool activities,” remembers Kristin.

In 1984, Kristin graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School with honors. She was voted homecoming queen. She went on to Clemson University to study engineering but soon switched her focus to marketing. During Kristin’s sophomore year in university, she received a letter from Tom saying “I’m HIV positive.” Knowing what that meant, Kristin transferred to the University of Delaware to be closer to home and to help care for her father. In June of 1986, Tom Price died of AIDS. He was 47 years old. In his obituary, the cause of death was cited as pneumonia. “Everyone was so afraid of HIV/AIDS,” remembers Kristin. “No one in our family ever discussed it.” It would be many years before Charlotte, Heather, Laurel, or Kristin would admit the truth.

Reverend Drake, who first started working with Kristin during her divorce counseling in 2012, credits Kristin’s optimism in the face of adversity, in part, to her childhood experiences. “Kristin has had to surrender many times throughout her life,” says Drake over a Zoom call from her book-lined home office in Darien, CT. “Many people become brittle and protected, but not Kristin. She is open to new experiences and extremely receptive to learning and growing.”

“Even in Kristin’s darkest days she never asked, ‘Why me?’” said Charlotte, who remarried in 1990, became widowed, again, in 2004, and retired in 2006 with six adult children and 15 grandchildren. “I am very proud of her for that.” Resilience expert and researcher Dr. Lucy Hone of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience reminds us in her Ted Talk “3 secrets of resilient people” given at the Tedx Christchurch August 2019 event that “adversity doesn’t discriminate,” and that resilient people “know that suffering is part of every human’s existence.” They don’t ask “Why me?’ but instead they ask “Why not me?” says Hone.

Where exactly Kristin’s resilience comes from no one will ever know for sure. It is likely a combination of her mental fortitude, her devotion to her four children and loving (albeit unconventional) family, her extremely supportive community and social network, and her feeling of living a purpose-driven life.

Photo by Harriett Wells.

Back on the porch in Rowayton, Meehan, Kristin, and Mageau (through Zoom) start the last exercise of the day. Meehan, who has worked for more than 30 years with amputees and patients with neurological disorders, positions Kristin for a series of single-legged squats. She and Mageau, who served in the Navy for years before becoming a personal trainer for elite athletes, feel no pity for Kristin. And this is exactly what Kristin wants, and needs. “Maureen and Sean believe in me. They push me to be the best version of me that I can be. They are part of my ‘Kristin P. Can Team Vitality,’” says Kristin with a smile as Meehan hands her a long 10-pound black tool called the ViPR®, which Mageau has Kristin use to improve her balance, stability, and core strength. Meehan continues to adjust Kristin’s form as Sean commands the movements. 

Mageau and Meehan are now focused on helping Kristin reach her latest goal, which is to walk unaided, wearing her new Ottobuck X3, down the stone staircase at the end of her road to the town beach, where, weather permitting, she will take a dip in the Long Island Sound. “Kristin finally has a leg that has the mechanics and technology to do this,” says Mageau. “The challenge is,” says Meehan, “that Kristin’s brain has shifted its midline to the left, so we need to train it to adjust back to center, above the belly button, and trust that the prosthetic leg will support her.”

For Kristin, every day is a choice. “There are days that I don’t feel like ‘I’ve got this,’ and there are times when I look down at my leg—at the titanium and the computer—and am in complete disbelief. But then I hear the voice inside that says—almost like a friend would—to love myself, and it reminds me how far I’ve come, how much I’ve learned, and that really, it’s this leg’s job to keep up with me.”

For those who want to follow Kristin’s journey, every step of the way, visit Instagram @kristinpcan. 

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Banana Blessings & The Unite Herald

International journalist, podcaster, and communications expert Engaisi Peter has joined our Unite team in Tanzania. With this article “Banana Blessings” she launches The Unite Herald with the tagline: “We are spreading smiles, and here's where you can see and read about them.” Engaisi will soon be profiling our Unite Scholars, Unite Brave Widows, and our Unite teammates, and we will share her writings with you here through our blog. Welcome to the Unite family Engaisi! We are thrilled to have you with us on this grand adventure of love and service.

THE UNITE HERALD: BANANA BLESSINGS

Unite Environmental Scientist Clara Ngowi and Unite Brave Widow Program Manager Rhoda Lugazia presenting Unite Brave Widow Lina Sikombe with the gift of bananas from our Unite garden.

On November 23, 2020, Lina Sikombe made her way to Kunduchi, a growing neighborhood in the fast disappearing outskirts of Dar es Salaam. Waiting for her at the Unite Garden in Kunduchi were environmental scientist Clara Wilson, Unite’s Special Project and Volunteer Coordinator, and Rhoda Rugazia, Unite’s Brave Widow “Mjane Jasiri” program manager. In tow with Rhoda and Clara was a hand of bananas -- a rather versatile raw food ingredient with which one can make fried bananas for breakfast and a banana and beef stew meal for lunch or dinner.

Lina, the recipient of this “zawadi kidogo,” small gift, is a 68-year-old member of Unite’s Brave Widow “Mjane Jasiri” program who looks like she could run a marathon in a heartbeat.

Behind this little moment of exchange between Clara, Rhoda, and Lina was a satisfying fitting of puzzle pieces between the different parts of the Unite family. They say kindness begins at home and this was an instance where that rang true at Unite. Clara runs the Unite Garden, which saw its first seeds and seedlings planted last December by Unite Scholars. A year and buckets of sweat later, the Unite Garden harvested some of those delicious bananas gifted to Lina. Rhoda coordinates Unite Brave Widows programs which supports Lina and other widows with business grants, loans, and training programs. 

Lina, on the other side of the story, is a widow who has been part of Unite’s Brave Widow “Mjane Jasiri” program since August 2019. She sang in the choir in her local church and the pastor recommended her to the Unite Team, which was scouting for widows at the time. When he heard about the program, he thought Lina would be a perfect candidate because she was kind, disciplined, and hard-working. The scouting team listened to the pastor and got to know Lina more, visited her home in Mbezi, and eventually on-boarded her unto the Unite Mjane Jasiri program. The string that ties these two sides of the story together is the Unite Blessings project, which began as a response to COVID-19 challenges to members of the Unite family.

Before COVID-19, Unite Scholars and Brave widows were granted capital to start small businesses and they had their foot in the door before the COVID-19 pandemic closed it shut--throwing sales off the ledge. It became a challenge to sell stock and that was when a lightbulb went off for Unite.

Our overseas donors pulled together to raise funds to support these small businesses by purchasing stock and choosing to give it as a “blessing” to those who need it. We did not have to go far to find them because right within our community were people in need. In response to the gift Lina says:

“God bless you abundantly. The bananas will feed my whole family for weeks. I cannot believe I get to take them all. Thank you!”

---

About Engaisi Peter:

Engaisi is a huge fan and proponent of questions and curiosity in the process of learning; strongly believing that any meaningful progress or change begins with asking questions to unearth insights. 

For that reason, she’s the number one fan of the Unite Passion Project and she works with the Unite Family to tell the stories of those who have felt the warmth of the Unite mission in communities Unite works with.

Engaisi is also the host of the @Work with Engaisi Podcast where she speaks with East African professionals about how we work, how we can do it better, and uncover insights that allow us to shape the future of our careers, businesses, and workplaces.

Her motto is "stay curious."

---

About Lina Sikombe:

Lina, 68, is from Mbezi Mpiji Magohe, Dar es Salaam. Her husband died and left her with retail shops that she rented to business owners. She was well cared for with this income. However, a few years later, the houses were demolished following an order from the government, and Lina received no compensation. Lina became fully dependent on her oldest daughter, who sadly died shortly thereafter. As a Unite Brave Widow, Lina has launched a vitenge and batik business and plans to start a chicken farm. She is also an active participant in the Unite Mjane Jasiri (Brave Widow) brick and mortar storefront in Dar where the women are making and selling their products to the public. Additionally, Lina has been making (with the entire widow group) face masks and handbags for Unite The World With Africa Foundation.

To make a tax-deductible gift in support of Unite’s work,
please click HERE.

The Unite Passion Project, Why it Matters

Today on #GivingTuesday, The Unite Passion Project is featured on the international podcast @WORK WITH ENGAISI. Please CLICK HERE to listen to the interview between Unite Passion Project Founder Lila Wells and Tanzanian journalist Engaisi Peter. Read below the introduction by Engaisi:

***

“Who do you want to be when you grow up?” This was the cute little question adults in our lives asked us when we had no idea that bills existed and that who we wanted to be would essentially mean where we would spend 40+ hours a week to earn an income to pay those bills.

Fast forward to the high school years and the question became “What do you want to do with your life?” If you grew up in East Africa you probably learned pretty quickly that the good answers were generally a pilot or a doctor or a nurse or an engineer, and, more recently, a computer specialist or a computer scientist.

So then came high school, a time to make one of the biggest decisions of our lives, and we still thought that these were the careers that we were limited to pursuing. And let’s just take a moment to think about the fact that we were seriously considering choosing these majors without having any real idea of what the careers entailed.

How limiting is this for a youngster who is full of energy and curiosity to be limited to a few career options simply because they have been seen as historically safe or and to have a high financial reward?

In today’s episode we talk about a project that is aiming straight at those preconceived notions of what a successful career is and exposing Tanzanian youths to careers beyond those few… a project that seeks to present as many career options as possible to high school students as well as providing insider perspectives on what those careers look like.

Lila Wells speaks about finding inspiration in her own process of choosing a major (at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, USA) and in establishing The Unite Passion Project, a project that is empowering high school students to take charge and determine their own career paths that are more oriented to the 21st century landscape where CHANGE IS QUEEN and THE ABILITY TO PIVOT ITS RIGHT HAND WOMAN.

Here’s Lila Wells… CLICK TO LISTEN.

Tanzanian journalist and founder of Engaisi Talks international podcast, Engaisi Peter.

Unite Passion Project Founder, Co-Coordinator, & Videographer Lila Wells.

To make a tax-deductible donation in support of Unite’s work, please click HERE.

The Kit Girls in Africa, One Year Later

Happy Thanksgiving!

One year ago, my mother Katharine “Kit” Merriman died of metastatic breast cancer. While she is deeply missed by all (and time doesn’t seem to change a thing), we are so very grateful to share here some good news about what was created in her honor. As a result of the generosity of so many of her friends and family, 12 teenage girls in Tanzania have been fully sponsored as Unite Scholars for their entire A-Level educations (which is about the equivalent of senior year in high school and the first year of university here in America). 

In THIS REPORT you will see each one of these "Kit Girls" and learn a bit more about them and their progress since they joined Unite's program. Additionally, you will find information about new programs we created to further support them, and all of our scholars, which include the Unite Blessing Campaign, the Unite Youth Ambassador Program, The Unite Passion Project, and the Unite Club Program.

This holiday season my father, my sister, my extended family, and I – along with our 12 Kit Girls in Tanzania and our Unite team around the world – give thanks for the life of our beautiful ”Gogo” and for each of you who have supported our work and your kind and generous hearts. 

Please know that there are many hyperlinks in the attached document that will take you to videos and articles that will shed more light on our work. Please, if you have the time, take a moment to click through and surf around. I am here and would love to answer any questions or field any comments you may have. My cell is 314.239.3997.

Please stay healthy and happy as we await a safe and effective vaccine. 
With love, gratitude, and many blessings to all...

 Anne Merriman Wells

A Story for World Toilet Day

Today is World Toilet Day, an official United Nations international observance day to raise awareness about the 4.2 billion people who still lack access to proper sanitation.*

Unite works hard to find the brightest, and most impoverished, students to enroll in our highly competitive Unite Scholars Program. Each and every one of them come from extremely challenged backgrounds and most lack even the most basic necessities. Part of Unite’s mission, and joy, is to assist our scholars’ families in all ways possible to help ensure our scholars have what they need to succeed and thrive.

Last winter we accepted a new class of 30 scholars. One of them, Loveness Apaeli Urio, 18, is from the Kitefu village in the Arusha district of Northern Tanzania. Loveness lives in tiny two-room house made of mud with her mother and father (who is an alcoholic) and two brothers. Her oldest brother died years ago. Loveness’ mother farms maize and beans and keeps goats and chickens, but there is not enough money to sustain the family. Loveness’ brothers have dropped from school — the older one searches for day labor and the younger one is home helping Loveness’ mother manage the house and farm.

 When we met Loveness, their family toilet and washroom was a hole dug in the dirt, covered with a thin wood plank for balance, and surrounded by canvas held up with tree branches. There was no roofing, which made it the space especially slippery and dangerous when it rained. Also, there was no running water to provide any hygiene or sanitation. Instead, Loveness and her young brother would regularly fetch buckets of water from a far-away stream.

Click HERE to see Loveness’ home.
Click HERE to meet Loveness and hear her speak about her family.
Click HERE to see a one-minute video of Loveness’ family taking apart the old toilet structure.
Click HERE to see Loveness’ younger brother moving earth to help build the new toilet/bathing structure.Click HERE to see Loveness and her family friend in front of the new toilet block.

Loveness’ toilet before. It was unsanitary, unsafe, and shameful to the family. They were too embarrassed to have visitors to their home due to their lack of facilities.

The new toilet block. On the left is a pit latrine lined with cement and outfitted with a cess pool that can be emptied by a local company. On the right is a shower/bathing cubby. Unite had water piped to the block as well to ensure proper hygiene and sanitation for Loveness and her family.

Some of the building supplies for the new toilet.

A drawing of the toilet system.

* Forbes.com

The total cost for all the supplies and to build the proper toilet/bathing block
for Loveness and her family?

$350

(Note: Loveness and her family did as much of the physical labor as they could. Experts were hired to complete the project.)

To make a tax-deductible contribution to Unite’s work, DONATE here.

AMAZON SMILE - You shop, Amazon gives... Will you give to Unite, for FREE?

Dear friends,

Did you know that when you purchase an item on Amazon.com, Amazon will make a small contribution to Unite The World With Africa Foundation IF you link to our 501(c)(3) non-profit to your account through Amazon Smile? It’s quick and easy (see tutorial video and outline below) and it’s 100% free.

So, please consider taking a few moments to link your Amazon account to Unite The World With Africa Foundation, Inc. We are all shopping more online now (due to COVID-19), and this is a way to give without actually being out of pocket even $1! Isn’t that fantastic!

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR OUR VIDEO TUTORIAL AS TO HOW TO LINK YOUR AMAZON ACCOUNT TO UNITE.

Here below please find a step-by-step guide to linking your Amazon.com account to Unite for charitable contributions.

1)    Open a browser on your device 

2)    Type smile.amazon.com in the search bar on top

3)    Click “get started”

4)    Sign into your Amazon Account

5)    After logging in, select the” pancake stack” on top left

6)    Scroll down until you see “your account” and select it

7)    Scroll down until you find “Other Programs” and select “change your Amazon Smile charity”

8)    Type” Unite the World with Africa Foundation” in the lower search bar

9)    Select our foundation

10) Wait for the confirmation pop up message

11) Once you have set up Unite as your charity of choice, it is important to remember to shop on smile.amazon.com in the future if you are using a browser. We recommend bookmarking the site. Please keep in mind shopping on Amazon Smile won’t affect your Prime/Amazon membership benefits. 

12)  Once you have done all the steps, log into your mobile app then open the app and find ’Settings’ in the main menu (☰). Tap on ‘AmazonSmile’ and follow the on-screen instructions to turn on AmazonSmile on your phone. 

***

Thank you so much for taking the time to link your Amazon shopping to Amazon Smile to benefit Unite. During this time of COVID-19 fundraising is extremely challenged, as you can imagine, and we know that the need everywhere is dire. We are grateful for your support of Unite in this way. May you be forever blessed.

Asante sana! Thank you for our Unite team in America and in Africa.

Pictured above (top left to bottom right): Gracia, Neema, Loyce, Aneth, Pili, and Ashura. These girls are all Form 5 Unite Scholars in Tanzania. Funds raised will help support them, the rest of our 42 Unite Scholars, and more than 1,000 other students in need through the growth and expansion of our Unite Club program.

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.