Our OKA volunteer Uday Bhardwaj gives us an update from his visit to Light of Africa

Today I visited Light In Africa, a charity that supports the young, the disabled and the elderly in Tanzania.  I was carrying all the donations from OKA to give to Mama Lynn who founded the charity.  When I arrived I met two British medical students who were volunteering there for their summer holidays.  Last year LIA had almost no volunteers because of negative press about Ebola in Africa even though there hasn't been a single case in this region.  As they rely on volunteers it is good to see a few back here.  One of the good things about LIA is that other than Mama Lynn, the senior staff are all local Tanzanians (including her daughter in law) and they are as actively involved as she is.

Mama Lynn came to meet me and when I presented her with the donations she was overwhelmed.  She said she thanked god that good people would send her these gifts for the children in her care. The staff and the volunteers immediatey put on some of the OKA shirts that had been sent and posed for a photo with Mama Lynn.  I was told the shoes were very welcome because the children grew so fast and it was very hard to supply them all with decent footwear.  The shirts would be ideal for the school uniforms of the older kids.

In the photo above there is one man amongst all the women and his name is Rushima.  He is one of the original children that LIA supported through primary and secondary school and then college.  He returned to give back to LIA what they gave to him and is working there.  he has made a short video about his experiences which I shall pass on to OKA.

We had lunch together and she told me that she had well over 200 children at Tudor Village, the main part of LIA's property.  There is a smaller girls home in the mining town of Mirerani and also a food kitchen there to feed hundreds of poor children  I did not visit Mirerani but took a tour of the Tudor House area.  

First Mama Lynn took me to see the classroom and dormitory they were building as a facility for diasabled children that were not able to attend regular school.  OKA have offered to help with the roof and I have a copy of the quote from a local builder which is Tshs22,302,000.

After this we toured the lavender fields and planned butterfly farm.  These facilities are intended to provide employment for the disabled children once they finish schooling as they have no career prospects and LIA are trying to find some means of giving them a future.

As most of the kids were at school I was only able to meet those who were either too young or too handicapped to be sent to school.  At Happy House I met the youngest kids here that range from 11 months to 6 years (they start school at 7 here).  The kids were indeed happy and smiling and all sang me a welcome song.  They were so keen to be noticed and wanted a hug or to hold my hand which was very touching to see.  Able bodied and handicapped kids are mixed here as long as the handicapped kids do not require special needs assistance.

In the photo above a young albino girl can be seen hiding on the right hand side behind the doorway.  She is a sweet but nervous and shy young girl with a sad story.  Witch doctors in Tanzania decided that albino body parts would make powerful spells that would make them rich "like white people" and the younger the albino the more powerful the spells.  So Tanzania has seen a huge increase in the abduction and murder of albinos, especially children.  This young girl's mother tried to hide her but a local gang broke into the house one night.  The little girl luckily had been trained from a young age to crawl into a secret hiding space dug under the bed and she managed to get  into it. She could hear her mother being tortured to reveal her whereabouts but managed to remain hidden until the men left.  Her mother smuggled her out the next day and brought her to LIA where she is given round the clock protection.  It may not be safe to send her to school.  At the time of the attack she was only 2 years old but has been traumatised by her experience and still hides behind the other children. 

After this we went to visit the house for the more special needs kids.  These are kids with cerebral palsy, terminal illnesses severe handicaps etc that are made as comfortable as possible.   

The three children on the left all have severe cerebral palsy but now are well looked after. The little girl on the right, whose mother had died giving birth to her, had been beaten and starved by her family from birth.  Her bones are so brittle that they break if you try to pick her up.  Her leg was broken in two places, arm fractured and she was severely malnourished.  Tied to a tree and left to die she was lucky to be found by LIA staff and now is receiving the medical care and the attention she needs.  She lay there in silence and when Mama Lynn hugged her the little girl had tears in her eyes, not because she was in pain but because she had never experienced human contact that was not violent before.

Finally Mama Lynn and I discussed future plans for LIA.  Other than the butterfly farm, lavender fields and facilities for the handicapped kids, LIA is also planning on promoting tourist visits by creating residential facilities and organising tours of Masai villages.  These tourists are also welcome to volunteer and help out.

Having met the kids and seen the good work that LIA does, I am very happy to be helping them in any way I can and hope OKA will support them in the future.

Uday Bhardwaj