JL | journal

Maji ya Chai - in Swahili Water of Tea, which describes the milkish water that flows through the village - is a peaceful, tranquil, harmonious place.

It is home to the original CCF center. When German founder Peter Cool used to carry supplies on his head six-foot six above ground, walking up the hill on rocky paths, this new home was a promising new hope for many street children. When Peter departed from this country, and soon after, this world, so have much of his hopes for this organization which he so dedicatedly founded.

Remmy Kaaya -Kinai- is the Tanzanian hand which, hand in hand with Peter’s, sowed the seeds of CCF in 1992. It was he who talked through the village leaders and government to give CCF its piece of land. It was he who hand picked with Peter the first generation of kids. Yet, he is now the director of the Meru Women Dairy Center just five minutes walk from the CCF center. He needed this job, for CCF was not able to pay his salary for over two years. But the children are still in his heart, it was too obvious. Fortunately, he also found his purpose in empowering women in the ward.

Clean, organized, and peaceful, the Meru Women Dairy Center is cleaned inside out everyday by local Mamas. Built by local villagers and later retrofitted into a milk products collection, production and distribution center by the Rotary Club, its simple architecture is far less significant than its effects on the villagers’ lives.

Milk is collected from families spanning across four villages. The center loan each participating family a cow to start off, and most of them were able to, from the profit generated by the first cow, purchase more soon after that. Every morning, girls in school uniform with milk in, usually, a used-vegetable-oil-container pass by and drop them off on their way to school. Then the staffs, Kinai included, do tests with the milk to make sure they’re fresh. Once passed, the milk will be added into the large milk tanks, to be boiled on top of a stove fueled by bio gas released from the cow dung stored underground. Kinai admits, though, once or twice a week they still have to use firewood.

With 5.6 million Tsh (roughly 5.6K USD), sister Magna was able to install a bio gas system with human dung that cooks food for the residences. Solar panels included, these gadgets only contribute little to the sustainability of the Upendo Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre. The center needs to generate income besides donations, the same struggle as most other NGOs.

When sister Magna arrived from Germany six years ago, only the sisters had a nicer house, the rest of the patients were at most having a roof over them. Within the six years, the sisters have raised money to build them a new home, erect an ‘email’ tower, and, most important of all, free all but yet one from the disease. Nowadays, the cured patients are organized into workers that produce hand crafts - scarfs, jewelries, christmas crackers, easter eggs - that would be sold in Hotels around town. With all honesty, these crafts are beautiful, and deserves to sustain the center.

Most people do not prefer to deal with lepers. Leprosy is somewhat contagious and often costs the patients’ fingers, toes, eyes, noses etc. and thus their welcoming appearance. Mama Magna too was afraid to be with these people at first, she admits, before a month-long praying and reaching the realization that these people need her help. Her life mission is to spread the redeeming love of Christ. She lives up to that. In fact, I find the holiness in her that is so rare among all of us, religious or not.

Taking much pride and pleasure in their work, the constant smiles on both Kinai and sister Magna’s faces make me really jealous.

As a side project, Kinai added a couple of honey farms to his dairy center. Maji ya Chai, literally, flows with honey and milk.

*For more, I recommend Stephen’s delicate description of sister Magna.