ILULA ORPHAN PROGRAM Volume:7 Issue: 4 Date: December, 2008

A Christian outreach program to provide education for children in the African village of ILULA, Tanzania

IOP-US Christ United Methodist Church 104 N. Meridian Washington, IN 47501 USA

Mer r y Christmas from IOP-US Committee The IOP-US committee in Washington, Indiana wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We thank you for your support of the IOP program. The 10th year anniversary was the highlight for the year and look forward to another good year for your student and all the IOP projects in Tanzania with which Berit is working——Mary Lich, Ron Porter, Susie Singleton, Troy Stoll, Carole Thompson, Kathryn Otto, Carolyn Ellis and Jan Wahl. 2009 Student Fees, support for Berit and other IOP projects A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL THE SPONSORS WHO HAVE ALREADY SENT IN THE SCHOOL FEES FOR 2009. We appreciate your quick response. We welcome our new sponsors and thank you for your support. School fees will be transferred to Ilula, the first week of January. If you have not sent in the 2009 school fees for your student, please send them as soon as possible as one half of the 2009 school fees are due when school starts in January. You can send one half now and the balance at a later date, if this would be better for you. ($100 primary, $225 secondary, $275 last two years high school). We have received more names of students who need sponsors so if you have friends who would like to sponsor a student share this information with them. If you would like to include extra money for your student to purchase food, water or other necessities, please include it with the school fees and it will be credited to your student’s account. Please include your email address and let us know if you want all your communications through email. If you would like to contribute to Berit’s expenses (she is in great need of financial support at this time of year) or other Ilula projects indicate the amounts on the memo of your check. If you would like to make a contribution in memory or honor of someone for Christmas, birthday etc. please include the person’s name and address and we will send them notification of your gift. Mail checks to: IOP, Christ United Methodist Church 104 N. Meridian Washington, IN 47501 For questions contact Mary Lich—812-254-1805 [email protected] Evans Rubara visits USA In December, Evans Rubara, an investigative reporter from Tanzania spoke at the Ponderosa restaurant in Washington, IN, surrounding churches and at St. Michael’s College in Vermont. As an orphan, he understands the problems facing children and families in Ilula. He has written articles on the plight of women and children for a major newspaper in Dar Es Salaam. “In Tanzania, when you talk about human rights, women and children are not considered,” Evans said. His investigations into government corruption and human rights issues have landed him in jail or led to him being beaten and left for dead. He now works for Norwegian Church Aid that supports the Ilula Orphan Foster Family Program reaching 300 children. He spoke of how IOP has reached over 1000 students and how IOP is thought of as a savior for the area. Girls can go to school instead of turning to prostitution for survival for themselves and their families. Evans painted a vivid picture of the hardships and extreme poverty in Tanzania but he left us inspired that there is hope and IOP has provided hope for many orphans in Ilula.

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Ten Years of IOPIOP-TZ —Pastor U. Nzogela IOPIOP-TZ Secretary It was a wonderful week starting June 29 up to July 6, 2008 when a large number of people, black and white from all corners of the world and especially from Ilula Ward came to see what was going on. Some came to sell, some came to buy and some came just to see. The District Commissioner of Kilolo was invited to close the celebration. It was very fantastic and Joy to all people to see the fruits of IOP. Three students who completed university were there: Atilio Mungu, Tulia Mkwama, and Alex Mseya. As the results of ten years, Berit who has struggled very much (maybe more than anybody else to make sure IOP is going on) started speaking Swahili since IOP started 1998 to 2008. Sometimes she said, “my head was not created for Swahili language; but slowly by slowly after the celebration until now she would enter in the shop or market and discuss prices of items she wanted to buy without any problem. It must be remembered that in 2006 she went to Zanzibar for a Swahili course; however, when she returned the problem was not solved. On another side of this communication situation that has helped very much is that the workers and volunteers in the NGO are speaking or understanding the English language. Together is power and separation is weakness.

ILULA ORPHAN PROGRAM HIGH SCHOOL— SCHOOL—THE LORD’S HILL The Lord’s Hill High School is the school under Ilula Orphan Program. It is the project that will serve thousands of students who have been, for a long time, waiting for high school. Science subjects will be emphasized so as to cope with the changing scientific era. The school is supported by donors from within the country and outside the country or continent. With them (donors), the school will perfectly suit its expected outcomes and the needs of the community and the country. The building processes have started. Before any completion of the initial procedures, the storehouse has been built. Roofing has been done and within a few days some construction materials will be stored in the house. Drawings are going on well. The Architectural work is under the process to completion. The outline design for the classes, laboratory, administration block and dormitories are done and we are waiting on the scheme level design and the master plan for the High School plot. The high school committee will pass on every drawing, discuss and finally come to consensus decision in order to ensure that the work is perfect. This is the commitment for insuring that funds are utilized in the ways that the future generation is not harmed for any avoidable mistakes in the earlier planning processes. Also the library complex is one of the completed outline designed buildings. As it has been stated above, the store house is ready, but this one has been done while waiting for the building permit. The building permit will then allow the construction processes for the classrooms and administration blocks and other related school buildings. The committee has an intensive follow up to the responsible government authorities on this including Land and Urban Planning Officer. Bricks are now being collected and gathered in the place where the school will be built, starting with the classroom. From 6:00hours (0900GMT) through 1800hours (2100hoursGMT), the tractor driver never gets tired. He never gets tired because he has the duty of getting together all the bricks collected. IOP students endlessly yearn for being the first students in that high school. They are then encouraged to be patient as the school is theirs. Unfortunately, they won’t be the first students all together. This is due to the difference in educational level every one holds-others are standard one, others form two, BUT the school will have the starters who are now in form three. A few will be the starters in 2009/2010 academic year. Having people with the will of being in high school, encourages the committee to see that the 500 students will be in the school soon. Public approval matters a lot. People in the community have a lot of expectations and are praying for its completion so that they see their children ready in school uniforms, studying in the IOP High School, “The Lord’s Hill”. At the heart of the school, are the donors. The High School committee members always open by prayers to thank God for the gifts of the small and big donors for the school. The praying signifies the lifting of the Lord our God higher like the Hill where the school will have its “permanent residence”. The high school mission statement is then read for the sake of helping the members stick to their promises and commitments.

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Many young growing generations have the spirit of studying. IOP as an organization serves two purposes-education and care! With the same spirit, some of the IOP students with different educational levels and perspectives, were interviewed and gave out their expectations and views. The following are their views. To start with, let us hear what Beatrice Tenywa says, “The building of the school is fine because many IOP sponsored students will be in that school.” Why is she sure? She continues “I mean that more IOP students will be prioritized so as to decrease the cost of going far away for high schools that are privately owned.” She is very certain that the quality of education will be high because the school will get only professional teachers, good library and an attractive educational supportive environment. The committee agrees with her as three University teachers are waiting for the completion of the school. She concludes by saying, “The presence of the school will help IOP to have good workers who will help IOP in doing. different works as per subject specialization as the school will have both Science and arts subject. This is a good thing that IOP has decided to do.” The following reason explains why she says that! “I say so because the decision is a salvation for the students who are in sponsorship.” Beatrice is a sponsored student in IOP who has completed her ordinary level education this year, 2008, in Ilula secondary school. That is Beatrice’s outlook, does Overnike Koko diverge from the previous stated views? Overnike has the following perspective, “I thank the sponsors who have shown their readiness in supporting us to build a High School (The Lord’s Hill) because the Kilolo District has only two high schools —Image secondary and Pomerin secondary. They are not enough according to the number of the students who complete their form four annually. Many of them fail to go for high school due to the distant location of other high schools. The reason behind this is that it is very costly to pay for school fees, school materials, pocket money, bus fare and other school requirements. Private schools are very expensive.” She sees that the school will provide employment to the University graduates who have had IOP sponsorship. The graduates will help their fellow citizens for education, especially orphans and the most vulnerable children. At last she shows her commitment to IOP, “I promise to come back and teach at the Lord’s Hill. I will help the students to think more about the future and know the liberating role an education carries and its (education) ability to eliminate ignorance and poverty.” Overnike will join the University of Dodoma in 2008/2009 academic year. She will have her Bachelor degree in Arts with Education. The above interviews show how IOP students feel. More information on what people within Ilula community say, other than IOP students will be regularly communicated. God has gifted many people who have uniqueness and through these people the World is stabilized. Turning to the donors/ sponsors, I thank them for their generosity. For Gaiabarna Foundation, we say thank you for your stable generosity and commitment. Donors carry the attitudes and hearts of many Tanzanians who have a limited chance of going to high schools. Donors within Gaiabarna Foundation,, have shown great sympathy to the people who have “chronic psychic” disorder of not going to high schools. These people see the importance of being in school BUT have nothing to give. You are showing us the way we should go and the coming centuries we pray for having people of your kind. May God Bless You. In the next articles, join us in seeing what will the new teachers point out. Asante Sana-Thank you very much. Atilio Mbungu, High School Building Committee member on behalf of other members. (Members—Richard Koko-Chairperson, Edson Msigwa-Secretary, Berit Skaare-member and IOP founder, Godlove Chavala-Member, Ahab Nyagawa-Member)

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“BAHATI NASIBU” RAFFLE FOR “THE LORD’S HILL” HIGH SCHOOL Yes, we did it again! First time it was for the Girl Guides – a very small raffle where we sold about 300 “home made” tickets @ Tsh 200. Last time it was for IOP Pre School, “Kids’ Corner”, and we could sell 2,500 tickets @ Tsh 500, but sold only half.

This time …. We arranged prizes for Tsh 1.4 mill and could sell for four times that value, total 5,600 tickets @ 1000. (approx. 1200 Tsh equals $1). Every member in the building committee agreed to sell. All adult students we could grab hold of were requested to sell. Staff at the Center was asked to sell! The sale started the first day of the “Festival 2008”, but it took off to a very slow start. IOP had many guests from abroad at that time, and many bought many tickets. They all agreed to surrender any prize they might win to a sponsored child, the Center, or for the benefit of IOP (how can we send a sewing machine to America anyway ….). And so they did!........ It was not before the last of the month that the sale picked up! –or maybe because someone pushed us all to get rid of the tickets. The last 2-3 weeks we used the phone quite a bit, sent SOS messages with requests for support for the school! 1,200 tickets were probably sold through SOS requests. Finally, the day for drawing was here, November 30 at 9 am. 4,703 tickets were sold! It was raining. The two volunteer police officers hiked got picked-up on the way, so as not to get totally soaked. Twenty cartons of soap received new owners, eight of them were to winners in Norway, Netherlands, and Spain, who all donated them to orphan families. The same with school note books, bails of good, used clothes (from USA). Then the big mattresses …. A tiny little girl was the winner of the first one! –she got help to carry it home! Another was given to a surprised IOP Student, Maureen Mkemwa. Pre-School teacher Dora won a sewing machine, and Melina Malenda, orphan at the Center, won a bicycle! Violet, Shora, and Atilio won a stool each. It was a great surprise that so many students won prizes (14). Then the last and biggest prize was offered – the computer (donation from Netherlands). The number was 5107, and the name was Mr. Bosco – THE DED OF KILOLO DISTRICT! We were happy with that! As much as the District Office is helping us in a number of things, the District Executive Director may need a computer on his desk. IOP Building Committee for the High School wants to thank every one who supported the project by buying tickets or donating prizes. We made a profit of about Tsh 3,700,000 for the High School “The Lord’s Hill”. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! BB Berit

Ron Porter, IOP-Student Coordinator accepts a check from Bloomfield Indiana High School students. Money ($426.58) was raised for the IOP orphan center by students selling energy efficient light bulbs.