My journey to people with hope, giving me hope · grandparent, adolescent and last but not least the smallest and most vulnerable of our communities, the ... lets talk openly about

My journey to people with hope, giving me hope

Margarida Alho 29 July 2017 1/6

After longing for some months to finally get to Moshi, here I am with YAAPHA (Youth in Action Against

Poverty, HIV and AIDS), which was started by Peter Bundala, with his background as a teacher, a

carpenter, a farmer, studies in development, cooperation and environmental issues and with much

more further knowledge and skills. He and his indispensable friends and supporters catched me right

away with their open spoken and hands on way.

Moshi is a great place for tourists, I guess they don’t miss anything here and the locals too, do have an

environment that can offer most anything. Nevertheless, big problems pop up when it comes to the

whole picture. HIV finds its way through all layers of people, no matter if tourist, mother, father,

grandparent, adolescent and last but not least the smallest and most vulnerable of our communities, the

children. Supporting poles become their grandmothers, who often have to take over the role of the

parents, once their gone. When travelling, most ‘safiri’ (travelers) don’t want to hear about problems –

it’s their holiday, so what! – but only by being open to the facts at the place you’re visiting, you will

experience the real people of the place you’re at. Only then you will start to understand and when

diving in, you will have the chance to see, feel and live part of their real life, the natural friendliness of

locals, laugh with them, talk and exchange knowledge, interests and experiences.

That’s exactly the insight I’m experiencing here and now with everything we do.

Right on the morning after my arrival I got to see the office, the walls full of

activity and project pictures, giving a volunteer a straight taste of what is

awaiting us the time we’re here. Peter and Theresia gave me an overview,

straightly pointing out the challenges they face. For example the team has a need

for a projector in order to show instruction movies to as many children as

possible in classes and even in remote places. Children are attracted to moving

pictures and in such a way will learn and memorize information much better. In

the team is a former teacher, Theresia, now retired. She is the perfect match to

this young group. And if one wants to learn some Kiswahili, she will always help you.

Finally I could hand over the few things I brought from home: some stationery for the 17 kids I’m giving

financial support for their learning at Pasua Primary School and three digital cameras, which friends

have donated, in order that the team can always document their activities, at all project sites. Only later

I learned that each child needs 3 types of exercise books: 1 with lines, 1 with squares and a blank one – I

constantly keep learning

After a detailed introduction to their projects and answering my questions we went to see the first

project site: 2 hectares of organic rice fields! An investment of about $ 1500 every 4 months returns in

about 6 tons of rice on every harvest, 3 times a year. And there is more: they’re giving an example that

organic rice is better for the people and the environment. That’s the real “leading by example” and will

hopefully open the interest and involve more and more farmers, who can see it happening.



In the afternoon I got to see the mentioned Pasua Primary School. This school, built in 1967, obviously

has seen better days. Deficiencies can be seen all over the place: toilets which, for the safety of the

children, cannot be used anymore; a watertank having no water; a water bore hole, which never got

finished, due to a non-sustainable financial support; a range of buildings full of cracks and as a

consequence one building starting to sink/break off at the outermost corner, where erosion is finding its

way. And last but not least, a tiny kitchen where the chef mama does her best to give 981 children a

meal.

Buildings + erosion

Kitchen

Water ‘tap’

Water access, unfinished borehole

Toilets

Lunch time

And among all this you have 981 children with their laughs and curiosity, learning day by day.



With all the problems Pasua Primary School is facing, most of us are tempted to say “oh no, we’ll never

manage to do something about all this”. But the YAAPHA-team has a different approach: everything we

can do is important, let’s talk openly about it, exchange ideas on solutions between the affected,

volunteers, the people working there and the YAAPHA team. Let’s see what can be done on a short, mid

and long term. Following this positive spirit I wrote two friends, an environment and a construction

specialist and they answered right away with possible ideas and suggestions (which match perfectly with

the ideas the responsible and YAAPHA team here). Additionally I asked a friend back home if in the adult

education school he is working in Facility Management there are any functional beamers which aren’t in

use anymore.

At this school I met, for the first time, some of ‘my’ 17 school children.

They were very shy and I guess it felt strange for both sides to be

giving/receiving things without knowing each other. But I was so glad to

finally meet them personally and to get to know more than just names and

pictures.

In the evening I had one of the most touching moments – I had the chance

to hand over exercise books to ‘my’ supported children directly in their

own living environment. Even if these people live at the border of society, they try to live with dignity

and make the very best out of their situation. I met women that have

the courage to speak openly about HIV and the concerns and problems

it brings to its carrier. The stigma is high and one gets pushed away from

family and friends and with this, looses everything that makes one live a

life of an accepted human being. And this social misbehaviour also

affects the children, some born with HIV, others having been infected

because adults didn’t protect, inform and warn them and other adults

taking their profit out of this. It’s a vicious circle. And YAAPHA? They’re

giving a hand to these people, by talking to them, taking them back into

society, giving them the possibility to speak out and searching for sponsors

who will ensure that children can go to school and find (back) to their self-

esteem. And showing respect also means to break down with stigmata,

one step being to talk no longer of people with HIV but yes, to see them as

People with Hope, as that is, what YAAPHA is giving them.

One of the activities that attracted me to come to volunteer at YAAPHA was their reforestation and

environmental education projects. During 3 days I was part of a major tree planting activity: at the

Mawella Secondary School the approx. 30 kids of the classes 1A, B and C planted almost 100 trees along

3 sides of their campus! This includes digging the holes (40 cm in depth, length and width), mix the soil

with natural fertilizer, plant the little tree, cover it with soil and top it with dry grass and leaves in order

to keep the moisture in, the heat out and fertilize from the top. These trees have a long way to go until

finally being big and strong. But when I think of the dedication the kids brought into it and the support

they’re getting from their teachers, I have no doubts that both, trees and kids, will succeed very well.



At the center of an outdoor learning square I planted a tree as well – if not for

anything else, a good reason to come back One of the teachers will take good

care of it. Asante sana!

Furthermore, also within some hours – with the guidance and the knowledge of

the YAAPHA team and the teachers – the kids also established a 2-field nursery as

well as prepared almost 500 little ‘soil containers’ for the seedlings to grow in the

nursery field! It looks very professional, they can all be very proud of it.

start with a plain field and end up with a nursery

hard work and fun can go hand in hand



One of my concerns wherever I go, is plastic littering. On the campus I noticed that

all kinds of plastics (candy wrapping paper, PET-bottles, taps, ice cream bags etc.)

where lying on the ground. So I couldn’t stop of starting to pick up every plastic I

saw. Amazingly, the kids after watching, also started to pick here a piece and there a

piece! And more was to follow: the teacher, who had guided them when planting,

had watched their behaviour and until the next morning had installed the first 2

garbage bins attached to trees in the main campus yard with a sign saying “keep

Mawella clean”.

At the end of these 3 days I felt overwhelmed to get the chance to talk to all

these kids before leaving. I thanked them for their work, their welcome and

the wonderful experience they had given me. My little gift to these great kids

and their school, in order to value their actions, were 2 large garbage bins for

their playfields, in order to encourage them with their actions. I also talked to

them about the world wide growing ‘urban gardening’, where people use

every possibility to grow their own food, even on small patches. They seemed

interested and I’m quite sure with their teacher picking up the subject as he

did, they will get into the subject easily.

On my last day we went back to Pasua Primary School where I could do some teaching and playing.

Beware, I’m not a teacher, so I just had to invent something I could do with this class of 9 year old kids.

As I’m Portuguese, firstly we did a few Kiswahili-Portuguese translations to warm up. Secondly, we did

an English lesson on ‘time’, going step by step from a year, through months, weeks, days, hours, seconds

and saying the time. It was great fun and I realized how exhausting giving classes can be, so we rounded

up the lesson with some children-yoga, imitating all kinds of African animals

In the meantime the facility manager of the school together with Peter from YAAPHA had done some

brainstorming on the challenges this school is facing. The output is a 4-step plan:

1. Stop the erosion around the main buildings by collecting the rainwater from the roofs, through

gutters into a tank and take supporting measures for the buildings.

2. Finish the water drill and install all necessary pipelines in order to ensure water access for hand

washing, cooking, irrigation and the toilets.

3. Construction of a new toilet building for the kids.



4. Construction of a kitchen that suits the needs of about 1000 people.

For the water projects I do have a company in mind that could be asked. The well done estimate and

plans provided by the school and YAAPHA will certainly help to try this fundraising back home. For the

hygiene project I’m thinking of getting in touch with a company that deals with hygiene in the

alimentary sector. It’s not the same as toilets, but still worth trying. That’s something I’ve learned here:

always try, the least you can get, is a NO and the best, action leading to the next action.

One good example proving this, are the beamers I mentioned at the beginning: unbelievable but true,

thanks to the efforts of two of my friends we succeeded to get 2 beamers from Switzerland to Moshi

within 6 days only! And the reward? Witnessing personally the first beamer in action!

Cartoons e.g. on Mathematics, Kiswahili, English and more give a perfect introduction into the subject

for a large number of children (we had approx. 120 children in that classroom), which will be discussed

and learned in depth in the following lessons. This is start. In another type of sessions the beamers will

be useful to raise awareness for more serious subjects as well (sexual behaviour, threats, hygiene a.s.o.).

And what am I taking with me? An exceptional experience, wonderful encounters, the belief that action,

exchange and interaction lead to even more action, exchange and interaction… and that’s exactly what

YAAPHA does and encourages. Asante sana! I took over the responsibility of giving financial scholar

support to thirty-six children. I am determined to fulfill my part, as I know, the children will accomplish

their best as well. And hopefully I will establish an ongoing exchange with the kids and grab the next

possible chance to get back to them, their school and the amazing YAAPHA team…

Kwa heri ya kuonana!

PS: back home I will have to find a Kiswahili teacher, the language is amazing and next time I would like

to be able to say more than the few words I picked up so far

My journey to people with hope, giving me hope · grandparent, adolescent and last but not least the smallest and most vulnerable of our communities, the ... lets talk openly about

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