(Previously published in “NEXUS” – the newsletter of the registered Canadian charity, Rainbow of Hope for Children; used with permission. NEXUS notes: Norm Duerr’s connections in the tiny village of Ussongo, Tanzania in an out-of-the-way part of that country have expanded to the city of Tabora a couple of hours away.)
By Norm Duerr, Humboldt, SK
As a retired teacher and administrator in the Humboldt area of Saskatchewan, I became involved in social justice issues following several trips to northeastern Brazil in the 1990s. There, in the state of Piaui and the Catholic Archdiocese of Teresina I encountered a church and bishop dedicated to helping the poor.
One result of that experience, aside from some financial assistance, was my “Toys for Teresina” campaign, which saw 300 kilograms of toys shipped there. Then a few years later, in 2001, I heard the heartbeat of Africa in Ghana, where I served with Global Volunteers in a tiny fishing village on the former Gold Coast.
After that the call to go back to Africa was strong and in March of 2007 I returned, this time to Tanzania on the East Coast.
This was three months after hip surgery the previous November and a rather severe viral infection in January, which had left me weakened and depressed. In those dark days I came across a notice in an Oblate newsletter from Vancouver regarding mission travel organized by a corporate lawyer in that city. On impulse I contacted her and she invited me to join her and a few relatives and friends travelling to Tanzania, where she had previously taught for three months. She gave me one week to decide. I was torn between family and friends who said, “You can’t go! It’s too soon after your surgery.”
Though I had secret concerns regarding my physical readiness, my instinctive response was “Just watch me!” Then, at the next Sunday’s church service, a reading from Luke spoke of casting one’s net upon the waters and I heard the words “Be not afraid!” It was, I believe, a call from God, and I knew I had to go.
From the white cold bleakness of a prairie winter I came to the sun, the warmth and vivid colours of East Africa.
Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. Development there has been slow and education levels are poor. The pupil teacher ratio in Tanzania is 59 to 1. According to Africaid 80 percent of both girls and boys attend primary schools but girls start to drop out at age 12. In Tanzania, more girls are married by the age of 18 than are in school. In addition to low levels of education the quality of that education is often poor because of low education levels in the teachers. Recently school fees have been eliminated in primary and the first years of secondary school but there are still uniforms to purchase and the costs of transportation to school.
Just outside the small primitive village of Ussongo in north-central Tanzania I was greeted at a private boys and girls secondary school by the imposing figure of its founder and general manager Fr. Francis Chuwa, and at a small medical clinic under the auspices of the Daughters of Mary, an African order of nuns. A primary school, in Ussongo village, stood nearby. Most impressive of all were the people, polite, kind, welcoming, hospitable, friendly, poor by our standards of economic success, but rich in many of the qualities and virtues we in the Western World are in danger of losing or have already abandoned.
Two comments by individuals I encountered in the first two years there may highlight the above. Before my first departure, I thanked the headmaster of the secondary school where I did some teaching, complimenting him on aspects of the school such as student attentiveness and behaviour. My prediction at the time was that given the opportunities, together with necessary social, political and economic circumstances, Africa would one day outshine our Western World, because I had seen in her people qualities of strength, of endurance, acceptance, and discipline, together with willingness to learn, that put our self-indulgent societies to shame. He replied, “We are also a gentle people.” I have personally seen evidence of that, despite contradictory perceptions (and media reporting).
The second remark came from Sister Maura, then superior of the Ussongo nuns. Upon my arrival and following a visit to their convent as she accompanied me to the gate of their property, she said with a gentle poke to my shoulder, “You are always welcome here. Remember, Ussongo is your home! Tanzania is your country!” I was both impressed and humbled.
Beyond the call to duty, the urgent need for assistance in that small part of the world would lead as the years went by to my joining in a partnership with former Saskatchewan MLA Arlene Jule, and increasing involvement in aid and development work.
Eventually I turned for help to Rainbow of Hope for Children. I had known George Bunz, then president, who invited me to do a presentation at a directors’ meeting in Wainwright, resulting in a school in that town raising $9,000 to help Rainbow of Hope for Children build four classrooms at the primary school in Ussongo village.
A few years later Rainbow of Hope for Children built two classrooms to enable the Daughters of Mary to educate 30 orphans and other preschoolers in the area. They also developed a program of literacy and life skills for adolescent girls who were unable to attend secondary school.
Rainbow of Hope For Children and some of Norm Duerr’s and Arlene Jule’s independent fundraising have helped build a number of classrooms in the Ussongo area. They have also helped with building and equipping a medical center. In Tabora, Rainbow of Hope For Children has worked to help the Tabora School for the Deaf and is now fundraising for Ipuli School.
One other motivation became perhaps uppermost in my 10 years and 12e trips there. This was my meeting with the two children left fatherless and in need of both financial and emotional support and love. These were the two Tanzanian children I eventually brought to Canada to become my children and my family. Their story and my story are further detailed in my book To Find the Lost Garden.
As one reader remarked, “With them I think you found “the lost garden.” In truth, they were “my muse that would not let the dream die!”
About the book: To Find the Lost Garden: Memories, Travels, Musings and More by Norman Duerr of Humboldt, SK, is is available through McNally Robinson book store in Saskatoon.
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Contact Rainbow of Hope For Children at P.O. Box 2883, Wainwright, AB T9W 1S7 (Registered Charity No: 889160172-RR0001) or see the website: www.rainbowofhopeforchildren.ca for more information.