Tour de New River 2008

Tanzania: A Look Back as We Move Forward

When we first went to the village of Mairowa in Tanzania three years ago we saw many needs—health, education, spiritual transformation and provisions for daily food. The thought of helping this community was and still is overwhelming. The overarching goal was to find what we could do to change their daily lives that would have a lasting effect even after we left the country. We needed to help them start some type of economic development that would have an effect on the whole community—but how do you do that with people who spend their whole day getting water, collecting firewood and searching for food to eat that day? They live in the present tense—how to get through TODAY. I could see that this was going to be a long project. How do you start micro-business enterprises in a place that has no transportation, no electricity, no experience and is 20 miles and one hour by Land Rover from the nearest paved road (and sometimes can’t be reached at all during the rainy season)?

Since the women in Mairowa all wore a lot of jewelry that they made themselves, on that first trip, we purchased much of what they had to bring back to Scottsdale Bible to sell for them. Since that time, a group of women from Scottsdale Bible have taken samples of better quality jewelry to Mairowa for them to copy. They responded well and are now making very nice jewelry that can be sold anywhere.

The next step was to introduce something to them that would help with their health as well as provide income, so we planned to start chicken projects for the widows. However, in Maasai culture, they don’t eat birds or eggs, so first we started by feeding eggs to the Scottsdale Bible-sponsored children every Wednesday. This showed them that there was nothing wrong with eating eggs (a good source of protein) and created a need for 350 eggs a week. Last year we started with a few chicken coops, which are thriving today and our plans are to build 20 more this year.

Everything that we do there can have an impact on the economy. When we built the school building last year, all of the contractors would have preferred to bring the block from Arusha, but one of our requirements was that they hire local labor and make the block that they used for the school locally. With water available, and the knowledge to make block, last month I saw at least 12 new homes made from block instead of mud in Mairowa.

Our current project is agriculture. We have cleared a one-acre plot next to the school and have run a water line to it so we can water it. All of the crops the Maasai plant are 100 percent dependent on rain. In Mairowa, it only rains a few months of the year, so this will be the first time the Maasai people see what watering their crops will do. We will also be teaching the children how to plant, cultivate, water and harvest their own crops. Next year we will provide them with seeds to plant their own garden in their Boma and send water home from school with them each week to water the crops.

Each step of the way we have to go through the process of showing them how to do something new, see the benefit of it, teach them how to do it and then provide them with the means to get started. If you would like to be involved in this process, please call the Outreach Department to get connected.   —Warren Soberg

With any ideas or questions please contact:
   Fred Beasley
   Pastor of Outreach
   480.824.7242
   fbeasley@sbcaz.org