It was with some awe and trepidation we set out to meet Mama Lynn one summery evening Amit , Naina and I. What would this woman be like, would we be worthy of her company, would she approve, would she terrify us with dark stories of depraved humanity, would she accept our help? Turns out she is quite a living legend. A no nonsense, utterly fearless northern lass who says it as it is. And although she claims she is “not a saint but just an average person”, she emulates Mother Theresa to the core. And yes, the evening was primarily heart rending stories of abuse and neglect children in Tanzania sometimes go through. Mentally and physically disabled children in Tanzania are often thought to be possessed by the devil in rural, uneducated areas. The solution is to tie them to a tree in the bush and leave them to die a lingering, painful, torturous death. If they are lucky a wild animal will kill them and put them out of their pain quickly, but often they die starving, dehydrated, lonely and bewildered, covered in their own faeces. There were stories of a mute boy starved by his own mother and left to die by the edge of a river, a young girl brutally beaten and fed faeces by her stepfather, a bright child with cerebral palsy chained in a kennel and left to die, a 5 year old girl with gonorrhea after being chained in a kennel and used as a sex slave by dozens of men, ... ..the list goes on. The most fortunate children are found, often just hours away from death and brought to Mama Lynn where they are nurtured back to health and go on to live productive lives. There is a lavender and butterfly farm envisioned to employ the Down's syndrome and other mentally disabled children who cannot be educated. A lodge for tourists employing only ex children of her home is a dream in the pipeline. We asked her what she needed. It 's clear they are desperate for money to secure a long term future. They need terry nappies for the disabled, a roof built over a classroom to educate without fear of the monsoons, basic medicines. They also need used black shoes of any size, white shirts and children's reading books. I can send them directly to her with no cost whatsoever. Not just money and things, she is desperate for volunteers. The western media's irresponsible reporting that all of Africa is infected with Ebola has led to a fall in the number of volunteers who are her life blood. She has clean comfortable guest houses for volunteers and the basic skills needed are "compassion in your heart and a pair of willing hands". Volunteers range in age from teenagers to retirees. So we can help through money, food, basic necessities, old clothes or simply giving our time. It was a raw, humbling, mesmerizing evening. The most poignant moment for me, however, was at the end when Naina tenderly held her to help cross a busy road and she casually mentioned she has lost most of her peripheral vision due to glaucoma. But she shrugged it off and did not want us to be concerned as the children were and will always remain priority. Despite all of that, 69-year-old Mama Lynn soldiers on, her faith ever strong and her “calling” to help the children of Africa even stronger.
