Newsletter
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2012
A Newsletter
by Priscilla and Henry Ziegler (Tanzania)
In February, 10 members of our
congregation at Church of the Holy Cross (Dunn Loring, Virginia)
accompanied us. They accomplished so much, including teaching
nursing assistant students, putting in a sink, painting two rooms,
repairing plumbing, improving the financial system, doing home
health visits, and teaching children at St. Augustine’s Primary
School (next to the health centre). All in less than 10 days!
Also, our Rector Wes Smedley delivered a sermon at the cathedral of
St. Alban’s at the English service.
There was even a little time for play –
everyone visited Mikumi Game Park and stayed there overnight.
It is a four-hour drive from Dar es Salaam and does not have many
visitors. Henry and our friends had a great time seeing all
the animals - including two lions. Priscilla did not go but
stayed at the health centre to complete the yearly internal audit of
the finances there.
Patients at the health center
The photos above are of an infant born
with meconium in the amniotic fluid and his very happy mother.
(Meconium is the first stools of a newborn and should not be in the
amniotic fluid.) He was blue at birth and needed very
aggressive suctioning. Two of our church members (Penny and
Scott) were in the delivery room (with the mother’s permission) and
were very involved in saving the baby’s life. One is a nurse
and she initiated the suctioning of the fluid in the infant’s
airway. The resuscitation followed by five days of antibiotics
saved the child’s life.
The baby above weighed nine and a half
pounds! He had a cord wrapped around his neck but luckily Dr.
Maxwell performed the delivery and the baby did well. Dr. Max is our
newly educated Assistant Medical Officer and is trained to do
C-sections and other surgeries. He is seen below treating a
patient with an infected hand.
AIDS Orphans Party
The church group held an AIDS orphans
party where they gave hats to the children – hats collected by the
congregation of the Church of the Holy Cross. They were also given
pens and notebooks for school. Currently, there are 75
children in the program and all receive help with purchasing school
supplies and uniforms and receive free health care at the health
centre (as do the members of their foster families). Below and
on the next page are some of the children, several with church
members.
Father Wes is on the left with a child
whose addicted parents died of AIDS and who also has AIDS.
They would give the child drugs to keep her quiet. On the right is a
grandmother who takes care of her two granddaughters as their
parents have died of AIDS.
Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria,
Virginia, and a donor from Holy Cross have donated $3,000 to the
AIDS orphans program. We do need more to expand the program to the
many needy orphans in the Buguruni-Vingunguti area.
Trip to Kibindu
The church group also visited Kibindu a
village that Archbishop Mokiwa has wanted to help. This was
not an easy trip as it took nearly six hours to get there, not the
four hours that was predicted, and then over four hours to return to
Dar es Salaam. The village does have a new church but lacks any
source of medical care.
Dr. Chilowaka, our Community Health
Director, has trained two health workers to provide health education
in the village but there is no dispensary and no pharmacy in the
area. While there, the group met with village leaders and gave hats,
rice, and sugar to the orphans in the village. Notice that there are
two albino children in the village – a not uncommon occurrence in
Tanzania.
St. Augustine Primary School
The group of 10 had fun teaching some of
the children at St. Augustine, the Diocesan primary school next to
the health centre. One of the 10 is a 16-year-old boy who
looked like a Piped Piper when he played soccer with the children.
On their last day at the school, the group paid for lunch for all
the children – the first time that all the children have had lunch.
Many of the parents cannot afford to pay for the school lunch as
well as the school tuition. One of our British friends created
Chakula (means “food”) for Kids that provides a midmorning snack of
porridge to those not receiving the school lunch.
Inside the classroom
Outside the classroom
Donations
Yes, we are always asking for donations
but we believe in what is being accomplished in Dar es Salaam.
Please consider giving to the Tanzania
program. We are now using our church in Virginia as one of two
accounts for donations. If you are sending a check, send the
donation to:
Holy Cross Episcopal
Church
St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church
2455 Gallows Rd.
or
4228 Factoria Blvd. SE
Dunn Loring, VA 22027
Bellevue, WA 98006
Write “Tanzania Program” on the check so
that the money goes to the mission program. As both churches
are non-profits (501C3), any donations sent to the church are tax
deductible. If you want to designate what the donation is to
be used for, please do so.
Please continue to pray for the health
programs in Tanzania.
May God Bless All of Us,
Henry and Priscilla
P.S. Just so you understand how far
donations go in the health centre, the following are some
approximate costs:
-
$0.80 pays for a doctor’s visit.
-
$2.00 pays for HIV counseling and testing.
-
$5.00 pays for a visit for malaria – including lab tests and
medication.
-
$6.00 pays for a medical visit of an AIDS patient – including
lab tests and medication.
-
$8.00 pays for a circumcision to help prevent AIDS.
-
$20.00 pays for an inpatient stay for malaria, pneumonia, or
another severe illness.
-
$100 pays to support a home care patient for one year –
including social support, medications, and medical supplies.
(We really need money for this program.)
-
$100 pays for health care and school uniforms and supplies for a
year for an AIDS orphan
**A special thank-you to Rev. Robert
Becker (Father Bob) for all his help in planning and arranging
the trip to Tanzania.