Fundraising efforts

I would say my determination to build this school is similar to my Dad’s mission in Russia when he and others helped rekindle the Lutheran church in Kazakhstan, when the Soviet Union collapsed. My Dad spent countless hours on his Kazakhstan missionary work. So like my Dad, when we see a valuable mission, we just have to step in and help.

Before I tell you more specifics on the K-7 primary school, that is being built in the village of Kisongo, I want to tell you how this all started.

My sister in law, Jean, took us on a family safari trip to Tanzania this past January. It was a tourist trip, not a mission trip. But you could say it ended up being a mission trip for me.  This school mission is something that God has called me to do. I said no initially to it, but God kept prodding me until I said yes.. Pieces have been fitting together every step of the way.

After our day safari on January 7th of this year, I met a 25 year old man named Emanuel working in the gift shop at one of the lodges that we were staying at. My purpose in visiting the gift shop was to buy a stamp for a postcard to send home to my Dad.  We talked for nearly 45 minutes. I found out that Emanuel is one of six children, he is partially through his safari guide training, and at the gift shop he makes $100 a month/plus tips. In our nearly hour visit he told me “if God willing, I will be able to complete my training, and “with God all things are possible.” I could tell he was a Christian young man, and he had faith that his dream to become a safari guide would come true someday. I asked him how much his safari guide training cost per year, and he said $500.

During our conversation, I found out it was his birthday the next day. I gave him a $20 bill as a birthday present. He was so thankful and repeatedly said, “you really want to give this to me?” I had the Bible verse from Matthew 25:40 enter into my head which says,“Whatever you do to the least of my brothers or sisters you do to me”.  And YES, I wanted to give him this money.  But when he said, “this will help my family so much,” I was thinking, “shouldn’t you save this money for your safari guide training?” I wanted him to finish his schooling, and it was on that day that I entertained the idea of sponsoring his education, or at least part of it.

I also noticed his teeth during our conversation. There were brown spots on his teeth and some yellowing. And he covered his mouth when talking. And he would not smile with his teeth showing for our picture together.

When we got home, I decided I was going to go ahead with my idea of sponsoring his education. I had him checked out by our tour guide, just to make sure I wasn’t being taken for a fool. People had cast doubts in my mind that his story of being poor was perhaps not true.  But yes, he and his story checked out 100% true. He is a hard working kid from a poor family.

So I emailed him to tell him I was going to send him back to school. He was so excited. He called home and his parents were equally excited for about a minute…. and then they said, “but who will support your two brothers.”  I soon discovered why he was so grateful for the $20 tip. He sends the majority of money he makes home to his family to pay for his 20 and 27 year old brother’s educations.  He could not accept my offer.

Since I could not help Emanuel, Emanuel asked me if I could help his dad with his youngest brother’s education. His dad had not yet finished his brother Daudi’s 3rd grade bill, and now his brother was in 4th grade. My gut reaction was to not help his dad. I thought his dad should pay his own bills.  I wanted to help Emanuel, but then I thought, if I help his dad and brother, it is like helping Emanuel. So I said yes. And as the story unfolds, his little brother’s school master, Sangeti, or school principal here in the US, is going be instrumental in making this school come to be. Sangetibuilt his own school 7 years ago, and knows what is needed to build a school.

So back to Emanuel. I still wanted to help him with his education. I knew he couldn’t leave the lodge, as he works 7 days a week and closes the gift shop at 7 p.m . From our talks, I knew he wanted to learn Spanish so he could be more versatile as a safari guide someday. So I bought him the computer Rosetta Stone Spanish program.

I soon realized that the program would not run on his phone, so I had to buy him a computer. Luckily my son​,​ Joe, can fix computers remotely! So Emanuel’s computer is kept in top condition.

 Finally I asked Emanuel about this teeth, as I noticed on Facebook that he would not smile with his mouth open. I had bad teeth growing up. I was called a yellow tooth pig, and knew exactly how he felt about his teeth and smile.

 In more conversations with Emanuel, he told me of his brother in law, Ojwang, a man with a big heart, who has a large piece of land, and has always had a dream to build a school on the land. At first I told Emanuel, “that’s great, but I’m not the bank of Tanzania.” I had already helped him with this teeth and computer. Emanuel did not ask me again to help. But in the countless hours at the dental clinic, Emanuel told his dentist, Arlene, about Ojwang’s dream. Emanuel told me she was interested in helping. “Okay,” I thought, if Arlene is in, then God must want me in too.This was going to be a bigger mission, but with God, all things are possible.

Plans are well underway to start the school in Kisongo, which is small village outside the larger city of Arusha, in northern Tanzania. It ultimately will consist of 3-4 buildings on the school grounds, and the first building will cost $19,000 USD.

Once I decided this was a mission I was going to take on, I wanted to start raising money for the school.

I had a huge plant sale in my backyard this past May. I potted up over 3,500 pots by myself.  We raised $17,300 over 14 days. That amount totally blew me away. Before the sale started, Emanuel asked me how much money he thought I’d make. I said 6K. He said he’d keep praying that the sale would go well, and I’ve have a lot of customers. I personally prayed for ninja powers to accomplish this sale. The weather the weekend of the sale was awful. But God was there every step of the way. I remember coming in out of the rain on the first Sunday of my sale. I was in tears. I was so down about the awful weather. But then I went back outside, and was greeted by a friend who was dropping off a $200 donation check. I remember thinking to myself, “Lord, you know what I need, and when I need it. Thank you!” There were so many God moments during the sale. While planting up the pots, I was nearly out of pots many times, but just like manna from heaven, the good Lord provided pots. More pots than I ultimately even needed.

Like I said, the sale ended up lasting 2 weeks. Probably a couple thousand dollars were donations, but overall it was the sale of my plants, which are truly garden gifts from God.

In efforts to continue fundraising for the school, I just had a music concert at a church, and raised $985. I gave a talk, which was very scary for me, but with God’s help, I will slowly improve my speech giving skills.

 So we have the money secured for the first building of the school, but we need 2-3 more buildings, plus money to pay the teachers initially, and supplement students who’s families, like Emanuel’s, can’thand though, and this will be a project for life.

    ~Bethany~ fully cover the school cost. But someday, the school should be fairly self sustaining. It will always need a helping