THEY ARE COMING

"What is happening here?" I asked the chief with a voice that sounded like a cool mix between slight panic and utter annoyance. It wasn't supposed to be like this. (OK Anne, you're in Africa.... it is never as it is "supposed" to be... but my Western impulses prevailed.) The plan was for some of my team to be distributing bed nets to pre-assigned women with young children while Dr. Knight met with the health professionals at the Mvuleni health clinic to learn about their challenges and share medical training and expertise. Instead, what I walked into was a mob scene of thousands of men, women and children highly charged... pushing, yelling, and babies screaming all around.

He looked at me and said... "They are coming." That was it. The hairs on my neck stood up.

Yes, they were coming. And they came, and they came, and they kept on coming... thousands of them. All having walked for many hours if not days in hopes of seeing the great "mzungu daktori" (the white doctor). Everyone was sick. Everyone was hoping for a cure.

And of course there were no "pre-selected" women with small children to receive the 200 allocated nets for this area. When the people realized that indeed there were nets to be had and that a lucky few would leave with the best defense against their most deadly killer in this sugar-factory area overrun with malaria -- they were each ready to do whatever it took to ensure they too got a mosquito net for themselves and their families.

I arrived a bit late on the scene. I had spent the last few hours down the road at a village bank meeting (VIKOBA). I was relaxing with 30 women, bearing witness to a weekly meeting of their self-constructed banking organization. Here anyone who talked out of turn, arrived late, or even stood up without permission was fined. Even the disciplinarian herself penalized herself for "spacing out" during the meeting.

I was as taken aback by the order of this VIKOBA meeting as I was by the disorder of the scene by the clinic.

So... "They are coming." This is the moment my heart surged and then broke. And I think it's when Teresa's (a.k.a. Dr. Knight) did too. Because the truth was that no matter how good our intentions were, there was nothing we could do. Teresa couldn't possibly see 3,000 patients (and the clinic had no meds to care for any of them anyway), and I couldn't at that moment manifest 3,000 bed nets (although I WILL continue to raise money to send these valuable nets to these very deserving people). Their desperation was palpable, and most of these people were now worse off then before... as they has expended a vast amount of energy trekking to see the White Doctor.... only to leave with nothing (expect the few hundred with mosquito nets.)

We didn't plan for such a scene. We arrived excited (and slightly proud) to give the gifts of the nets and to have Teresa train the clinic health team (of which there was one very poorly trained and overwhelmed doctor). Instead, we were humbled and deflated by the chaos, widespread illness, and catastrophic suffering. And while that was our hardest day in Tanzania bar none, it was the best day that could have happened to us (not the Tanzanians of course). We got a good, up-close-and-personal look at the reality of life in rural Tanzania -- where there is approximately one doctor for every 60,000 people and fewer than 7,000 hospital beds for the country's population of 42 million. In such a place overrun by infectious disease, poverty and poor infrastructure, being sick is everyone's worst nightmare and too often their daily reality.

So... what can we, the UNITE team and all you wonderful friends who support us -- do to help? Well we know from our fiasco at customs that hand-carrying tens of thousands of dollars of CIPRO is not the answer. We also know that trying to ship meds to those in need is for the most part a futile effort. But... we CAN be of service.

A brilliant and inspiringly generous man.... Dr. Goodluck Kessy... our friend and partner through WEECE (the Women's Education & Economic Centre, www.weece.org), has offered to voluntarily do field outreach work with the VIKOBA women to train them to be lay midwives and healthcare educators. He has given us his time and his expertise -- FREE OF CHARGE -- and now we just need to GET HIM TO THE WOMEN. (The cost of transport is about $75/day.) And while this day in Mvuleni first seemed to be a show of wildly disparate situations -- between the orderly and quite sophisticated VIKOBA meeting to the crazy upheaval at the clinic -- in fact, that day highlighted for us problem AND the solution. The VIKOBA women are the leaders of their communities. They have already proven their value by self-mobilizing, creating successful systems of checks and balances, operating with transparency, working together and supporting one another... They have naturally emerged as leaders AND they each have the mind to help other women do the same. These are the women Dr. Kessy and his team will teach about their bodies, about women's health, and about layman's medical care.

Today there are eight VIKOBAs under WEECE -- which is about 240 women. They are a captive and targeted audience for Dr. Kessy's team, and they are also our vehicles through which to distribute to the people educational materials, bed nets, medicine, clothing, or whatever else we can gather on their behalf.

It is the most exciting -- and most impactful and imminently reasonable -- plan to come out of such a day. If indeed "they are coming" (and they ARE) then let's rise up to meet them with respect. Let's honor their journey and their efforts to help themselves. Let's give them the tools they need to lift themselves up and increase the quality of their lives. Let's help them break the cycle of poverty, ignorance and illness. Thanks to our remarkable Tanzanian friends and leaders through WEECE -- WEECE Director & Founder Mama Valeria Mrema, WEECE Medical Director Dr. Goodluck Kessy, and all their associates -- we can be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

If you are interested in sponsoring a medical outreach training day for Dr. Kessy and his team with a village VIKOBA (cost $75/day), please email Anne Wells at atmwells@gmail.com or give a tax-deductible donation online at www.weece.org.

Thank you and God Bless! It takes a village....

Friday morning - June 25th

The extent of human suffering we are seeing here in the outlying villages of Moshi town is overwhelming ... literally leaving me speechless. However, the agony of the poverty, illness, rural isolation... seems to somehow be countered by this equally staggering (in my eyes) ability to survive and endure, to find joy and comfort where none should likely exist. And of course it is the women who lead us. The men, the vast majority as Mama Mrema pointed out yesterday, break under the weight of the frustration... they drink themselves into oblivion with local homebrew banana beer. They sit together under trees, they saunter around, bully and try to frighten with loud barks and hisses -- however; I feel no fear... only sadness for their pain. They are broken spirits who have simply caved under the weight of the pressure, ignorance, and lack of hope.

The women are different. They gather themselves and bond together. They lean on one other. Through their VIKOBAs (local village banks) they mobilize, unite, dance, laugh and give each other the leg up they need to survive. They stand before us and announce their solidarity -- they pray for their group's strength, trust, loyalty, and discipline. They know that they need the help a higher power in order to survive here and they announce, sing and proclaim their faith openly, loudly and joyfully. I think above all else, this is what keeps them strong.

I have a million stories to tell, so let me begin with one...

The other day we met a lovely woman named Romana -- 52 years old living with HIV. More than 10 years ago her husband abandoned her and her children when he discovered she was infected. He took everything ... as women are seen to have no rights to property or possessions. So with her two young children she moved to a single room shack in Moshi. She connected with WEECE (UNITE's partner -- The Women's Economic & Education Centre of Moshi -- www.weece.org) to apply for a small microloan. With her first tiny loan she started making batiks (they are gorgeous and I bought three of her batik embroidered dresses for Katharine, Lila and Harriett). Now, a few years and additional loans later (she proudly tells us she always repays her loans on time and with all interest), she has extended her business efforts to include timber sales (she travels to the bush from her urban area home to cut down trees and bring home the firewood); she taught herself masonry and carpentry and after saving a little money bought the little shack next door and by hand she connected the two structures. Now she has a space to live. Her children have grown and left, so she has taken in a "sister" who she cares for -- who is also living with HIV -- and she keeps a little storefront. Her barred 2x3 window is all she needs to run her small business. We asked Romana, a tiny but filled-with-life-and-spirit woman, how she stays alive. Does she take anti-retroviral drugs? No, she told us. The medicines are too expensive (we hear this about ALL kinds of medicine from all the people we meet in the outlying villages). She had vowed never to ever take another man. She works hard, exercises, eats as well as possible -- and, most importantly she tells us, she puts her faith and her life in the hands of God. She is not sad, she says, because she has accepted her disease as any other -- e.g. diabetes, cancer, etc. And she is now planning her first journey to Dar to sell her batiks along the roadside to earn more money.

Kim, David and I were amazed by the miraculous power of the human spirit encapsulated in this one tiny peasant woman... shining so brightly you could almost see it. Romana is one of many who has not only found the strength to endure and survive, but to thrive, love and flourish. Where does that kind of strength come from I wonder... Does it live in me?

The cool thing about Romana and her housemate Magdalena is that yesterday we awarded them both another loan to continue to grow their businesses -- one from Kim and my mom Kit Merriman and the other from our mom's best friend, our beloved Aunt Lucy Gardner. Two friends in America decided to reach out and help two friends in Tanzania... a world away... Wow how the tears flowed when we presented those incredible gifts!!!!

[By the way... after leaving, her husband moved to another area of Tanzania, married again, and shortly thereafter died from AIDS. His new wife has since died too.]

Must run now... I will try to write again. You can find a few pictures of our tour so far online on Facebook.com -- UNITE The World With Africa.

Thank you anyone who took the time to read this. God bless you and keep your heart open and strong!!!

Love & blessings,

 

Anne

Dear girls,

With only two days left before I leave for Tanzania, I search my heart to see... How I am really feeling about all of this? And while I am likely a bit stressed, the truth is, I can only locate (in this moment) feelings of abundance and gratitude... and a corner of apprehension about about the tremendous responsibility I carry.

What's most amazing to me about this journey is that it all really started just about 6 months ago with a dream. A vision. An idea in my head. As you know I did indeed try for a short while "sell" my idea of "participatory philanthophy" to a few other groups... driving all over the East Coast, sending out proposal after proposal. But thankfully they didn't see it as I did ... or perhaps they just didn't think it possible (especially in my accelerated time table!). Ultimately, I am grateful that I ended up "going it alone" to form UNITE The World With Africa as my umbrella organization under which to do this work. Boy did I stress out about that decision! But in the end I hope that through my example (leaving out  the stressing part, of course) you girls will learn that you truly can create anything your heart desires -- with many thousands of hours of hard -- and often tedious -- work and, of course, the support of an army.

So let's talk about that army. On the morning of January 1, 2010 -- before UNITE was even a real legal entity -- your beloved Aunt Kim (we will come back to her later) and our new friends Meg & Alyssa Domino and Jacqueline Abbot committed to coming on this tour. Their commitment gave me the courage I needed to officially press the "Go" button. I figured that even if we were only a team of 5 we could still mobilize gifts and do some kind of impactful work on the ground. I then reached out to secure my non-profit partners in Tanzania. Peter Luis at IEFT (www.ieftz.org) was terrific, as he always is, and on board straight away. As you know, your dad and I visited him at his Orkeeswa Secondary School for the Maasai in 2008 (pictures of his students are all over the house!) and then I returned to Orkeeswa with my first team of Americans last summer in 2009. Vivian Unterweger -- director of Friends of WEECE (The Women's Education & Economic Centre of Moshi) was my next call. She and I had met only once in Boston last fall at a fundraiser friends and I threw for IEFT. Vivian, God bless her heart, was so game and willing right from the beginning. I don't think she could ever imagined the tornado that was coming her way in the form of Anne Wells, but she has been a great sport about the entire thing and she has given me her complete partnership and support... for which I am eternally grateful.

With a small team assembled and my Tanzanian partners in place, the next step was to grow the team to diversify skill sets. So I lliterally talked and talked and talked to dozens of interested people about every last thing under the sun (as it relates to travel and work in Tanzania and sometimes also about life, love and the pursuit of happiness) and finally... many months later... my final team was set. And now in just two days, 18 of us will travel together 7,000+ miles to the other side of the world (literally and figuratively) to work, play, study, share and learn. The person who I pursued the most was my dear friend Dr. Teresa Knight. Katharine -- she delivered you by C-section now 5 years ago! I cannot believe how quickly the time has past. Girls as you may remember, Teresa and I started working on a book together in St. Louis before we away in 2007. It was called "The Naked Truth, Your Body Through the Ages." Even then -- Teresa reminds me now -- I talked about how I really wanted us to take this insightful and informative -- yet conversational and digestible -- women's health guide (all about the ovaries and how they change and wreak havok on our lives over the decades) to the women in Tanzania. I was envisioning a platform through which Teresa could empower rural tribeswomen with the truth about their bodies. How brilliant would that be if they could truly understand how their bodies work and subsequently how to PROTECT themselves from illness, disease and even violence and abuse. (The truth is most women in the U.S. don't really understand their own bodies, especially when it comes to hormones and perimenopause! Including me Today, Teresa and I are leaving together to do that work... Another dream comes to fruition. [God BLESS you Teresa for taking this leap of faith with me and for your endless hard work and dedication. You are a brilliant doctor, surgeon -- and most importantly WOMAN and mother -- like no other. I am honored to stand side-by-side with you as we embark on this journey.]

I could go on and on about my amazing and incredible and multi-talented 2010 team -- and I absolutely will in time as this Blog evolves and continues -- but for this moment, which is quickly coming to a close (because Katharine you are hanging over my shoulder , I want to talk about your Aunt Kimmy. She, along with your Dad -- who will be a separate blog in and of himself -- has been THE steadfast rock and support structure for me throughout this entire journey, which really began two years ago when your Dad and I traveled to Tanzania to scout out this vision.  She traveled with me last year to help me lead a MUCH more complicated team and at a time when everything was new and more intimidating than it is today. She stood by me when I was sick and traveled places we would never want to go to ensure I got well. She has listened to every up and down I have experienced (and those number in the hunrdreds of thousands for sure!) She has put herself out there mind, body and spirit on behalf of our friends in Tanzania. She has mobilized tons of interest and frankly tons of money. She has invested her time, her expertise, her money, her network, her heart and soul in to making sure we bring everything we can to those in need -- and in making sure I am taken care of. [God bless you Kimmer. You are LOVED and you are ADMIRED and you are SO appreciated!!!]

Every day of this process has brought a myriad of new challenges, successes and disappointments. Even this morning I received an email from Tanzania saying the driver of the 400 bed nets we purchased has been driving around for two days looking for the drop site in Moshi. So I am emailing him back numbers and addresses and trying to give directions for a place I personally have never been! Yesterday I am texting back and forth with Francesco (a good friend who runs the luxury safari company Tanzania Safari (www.tanzaniasafarico) who is literally now in the Serengeti, and we are bickering over whether or not his clients should fly or drive out of the bush in three short weeks... And then I receive word from Moshi that we have a "winkle" ... the kids are out of school in Tanzania so we have no classrooms full of kids as we had planned (in dozens of email communications over the past 3 months!), so now they are working to wrangle up 200 kids and their families to attend our trainings. And the list goes on and on... But as it always is with Tanzania, chaos may reign (or at least what we Westerners would perceive to be chaos) but love is the champion and somehow, some way everything always (or almost always) works out just fine. People in my experience don't hold grudges, they flex with the wind, they show up strong and kind and with great attitudes of hope, faith and possibility.

At the end of the day for me, this is why I am leaving you -- my three precious babies -- in just a few days for two short weeks. I am leaving to be inspired. I am leaving so that prayerfully I will absorb some of the powerful and almost palpable spirit that resides in the people and the land of Tanzania. They may not have the "stuff" we do ... but they have FAITH, a powerful sense of family and community, hope, and a remarkable and admirable ability to endure and perservere. They are courageous -- they give their truths purely and freely. David once said to our friends Joe and Kelly Sequenzia -- "They have nothing to give, so they give everything... they give themselves." And he was right. That is our lesson. I go to Tanzania so that I can be inspired to be a better human. To be generous -- in every way. To care about the plight of the world and the suffering of others. To LOVE with a vengence. Those are the gifts I want to give to you as your mother... Thank you my loves for allowing me this opportunity. Thank you David for allowing me this opportunity. Thank you for your endless love and support -- you never waiver. You never question. You never doubt. You jump in and out as I need you to. And now you stay behind to allow me to go.... Wow! I love you!

Bye for now. I will write more from Tanzania, and hopefully we will have a connection so those updates will go "live." We shall see... 

Welcome to UNITE The World With Africa's new BLOG site! Please know that I will write this blog as if I am talking only to my three daughters. It is easier for me to write freely and from the heart, without too much self editing. So while it may read strange at times, it is the most empowering way for me to journal.

I will update as often as possible with our news from Tanzania. We leave on Saturday June 19th. Please anyone who actually reads this, will you share with me and my team your prayers for health and safety? Thank you! I look forward to writing as often as possible and hopefully reading comments back from YOU!

Love & blessings,

Anne


Anne Wells
Director & Founder
UNITE The World With Africa
www.unitetnz.org
  atmwells@gmail.com