Bridges of Promise Midwest holds tea in Lincoln

[October 17, 2012]  Bridges of Promise Midwest, an organization designed to foster partnerships to aid communities in need, held a fundraising tea at the Lincoln Knights of Columbus Hall on Sunday afternoon.

The Rev. Simon Taabu, an assistant pastor of Holy Family Church in Lincoln, spoke about his homeland and the needs of the people living there.

Taabu, a native of Tanzania, is in the United States studying for a doctorate in educational administration at the request of the Catholic bishop of Rulenge-Ngara Diocese. He plans to return to his homeland to serve as an administrator in a new Catholic university to be established in Tanzania.

Rev. Simon related that he was more than 45 years old when he went back to school. He said that won't make it easy for him to go back to school and work as an administrator of the only Catholic university in the country. "But that's where I will be working," Taabu said, "if the bishop doesn't change his mind."

"I'm not too nervous talking about Tanzania," he quipped, "because I know most of the facts and most people don't know what I'm talking about."

He went on to describe his homeland as the location of Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, and of Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world.

Taabu, whose parents were first-generation Christians, said Tanzania is made up of about 65 percent Christians, probably 45 percent of them Catholics; 20 percent Muslims; and a small number of traditional African religions.

He grew up in a village of about 1,500 people about 30 miles from Lake Victoria. He saw few cars and "if you saw a motorbike, you knew it was a Catholic priest," he said. "Probably, that was how I was attracted to the priesthood."

The second of seven children, Taabu said he came from a "medium-sized" family. "Big families have up to 15 children," he said, "although family sizes are shrinking."

The pastor spoke about the poverty of his homeland, where most people make less than $1 a day. He said hospitals are very small with minimal facilities. When he left, none of them had dental chairs.

"According to our constitution," Taabu said, "we must host refugees who have no home." He served as director of a refugee program for 3 1/2 years before he left. He mentioned that the people he served were very traumatized, and so they were unable to appreciate much of what was done for them.

He said challenges of his country include lack of educational facilities. "We want to give a high school education to every Tanzanian, but one school has 250 students and three teachers," he said.

"The water supply is poor. People must walk five miles to bring water home on their heads. Some of it is not safe and must be boiled before it can be used. We also need health facilities."

To help solve the problems, Tanzania wants to build and furnish more schools. The country hopes to develop rain harvesting programs, water tanks, drill bore holes, put in gravity water systems and clean existing water systems. Well drilling is expensive, because equipment must be moved in from the coast, more than 1,000 miles away.

New hospitals and hospital supplies are needed, as well as new health clinics and health education. "We wanted to ship some used hospital equipment from Springfield," Taabu said, "but we needed $10,000 and we didn't get the money."

In addition to the general poverty of the country, Taabu said that most aid efforts take place in the more urban areas. Life in the very rural area on the edge of Tanzania where he grew up is very hard, and few aid organizations target their operations there.

"Only people who have guts go there to serve," he said. "One reason we want to start schools is to bring services like electricity and water."

Many children of Tanzania have lost their parents to HIV-AIDS and make up a portion of the 12 million orphans in Africa.

Taabu said he now has enough money to send six or seven orphans to school, but he is attempting to raise funds so more can attend. The average cost of sending one student to high school for a year is $600, including board and lodging.

Asked who cares for the orphans, Taabu replied, "It is an African tradition for them to live with relatives or extended families. We do not have a lot of orphanages."

However, families with many children of their own and few resources often cannot care for the orphans. "They have to walk five miles to get water and collect wood to cook, so there is not enough time to do school," he said. "So we try to place them in boarding schools."

Following Taabu's presentation, Nancy Davis of Elkhart, coordinator for Bridges of Promise Midwest, invited those in attendance to contribute to the relief effort. All contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law.

For more information, visit the organization's website at www.bridgesofpromise.org or the blog at www.bridgesofpromise.blogspot.com. Bridges of Promise is also on Facebook. Davis can be contacted at [e-mail] or 217-737-7706.

Contributions are sought for scholarship funds and project funds, and individuals who wish to do so can also sponsor the education of a specific child.

[By NANCY SAUL]