Offering a helping hand to children half a world away

Photo: Facebook/The One Person Project

Children at Simone's orphanage in the city of Kahama in north-west Tanzania.

The genesis of the One Person Project was at her mother’s deathbed.

“Have no regrets in life” were among her mother’s last words as she lay dying from breast cancer.

Nineteen years later, the project has produced 17 trips to Tanzania, six cargo containers and the creation of a not-for-profit society that funds an orphanage, as well as delivered books, clothing and other supplies, funded education and provided teaching and much needed medical supplies.

My social media is limited to a Facebook account that I routinely check and read about other people’s lives. I must confess, during the dark overcast winter months in the Okanagan I have spent more time on my Facebook account that I like to admit.

Our modern secular world is rife with bad, gloomy and negative information and news. It is nice to hear or read about something positive and uplifting amid the chaos of modern life. The One Person Project is such a story, one I stumbled across this winter on my FB account.

Peter was a childhood friend from my hometown and is a friend on Facebook. His account was tagged with Brenda’s the One Person Project visit to Tanzania this winter. It was a refreshing breath of fresh air to read about their adventure and see their spectacular pictures, rather than see what people are eating for dinner or expounding the dogmatic political views common on FB.

Brenda is the loquacious and passionate driving force behind TOPP. A retired nurse by trade who specialized in geriatric medicine, she is familiar with caring and helping those in need. She now lives in Summerland and does constant fundraising for her organization. She is in routine contact with various individuals in Africa and makes one six-week trip each year to Kahama, Tanzania to check how the funds are being used.

Along with about 12 others pay, who also pay their own way to Tanzania, she bring a suitcase full of items to give away, spends time helping with projects at the orphanage or related to the community that can benefit the disadvantaged and oversees various projects funded by TOPP.

Tanzania is located in southeast Africa, bordering Kenya, Uganda, Bruni, Rwanda and Congo. It has a population of about 67 million people. Two thirds of the population live in rural areas. The official languages are English and Swahili. The average wage is equivalent to about $280. Nearly half the population lives in poverty and makes less than $3 per day.

Healthcare in Tanzania is strained. The country has a high rate of maternal mortality, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, lung disease and malaria. The doctor to patient ratio is quite low and is estimated to be three doctors per 100,000 people. Only about 1/3 of the population have health care insurance with 2/3 having to pay out of pocket for health care services and prescriptions.

The orphanage is located in the city of Kahama, in north-west Tanzania. It is a somewhat isolated but a bustling travel intersection for truckers who pass through this region. With the promise of jobs from a mine nearby, the city expanded to a population of more than 400,000 but that has now has dwindled after the mine closed.

A YouTube search of Kahama shows a flat savannah landscape with brown, red earth, old gnarly baobab trees and blue sky with heat and aridity.

The orphanage was established in 2012 when TOPP partnered with a group of teachers who purchased the land to establish a school and former orphanage. The current orphanage houses about 40 children, half of them boys and half of them girls. It provides food and medical expenses, supplies clothing and school uniforms, provides education and schooling, pays for a guard, matron and social worker and provides additional educational opportunities for the children when they leave the orphanage.

The orphanage is called Simone’s Orphanage, named after a now deceased Okanagan benefactor who made substantial contributions for the development and operation of the facility.

TOPP is a local grassroots organization trying to make a difference in the world, one person at a time. The crowning event of the organization is an annual fundraising gala in Summerland in the first week of November, which tries to raise money and supplies for the following year’s annual trip by volunteers to the orphanage.

Volunteers are not paid and pay their own way and expenses for the trip. Brenda is one of the chaperones who oversees the trip.

She shared an inspiring quote about her choice for the name of her organization: “To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

The information provided in this article is not intended to constitute medical advice. All information and content are for general information purposes only.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.