Coming Full Circle
One thing that PEN Trust has always encouraged is donors to come and see where their donations have gone. Whether it be monetary or in kind donations, we love to have people participate in the projects we do. We recently had a short visit from Joan and Skip Erickson, PEN Trust donors, who spent four days seeing what it is we do and where their funds and materials have gone.
They participated in many things in their short time with us. Distributions of food from Feed My Starving Children, distribution of supplies from Books For Africa, delivering medical supplies to the Ikhanoda Dispensary, home visits with village elders, and construction of classrooms at Ikhanoda Secondary School to list a few things.
Joan is a retired teacher from the Minneapolis School District in Minnesota. She and her family had made individual chalkboards for primary school children after reading a story about students writing in the sand until their teacher sent them inside to write on their precious paper. Unfortunately the primary school children were on holiday, so we were unable to deliver them with Joan present. Joan had also arranged for PEN Trust to receive a solar oven cooker from the Solar Oven Society. She has also mobilized her friends and daughter, Lisa, to collect school supplies and precious paper products.
Skip is an actor in Los Angeles, California. He had made a generous donation to PEN Trust the prior year that went towards the construction of two classroom floors and two verandahs at Ikhanoda Secondary School. The teachers and school board were so pleased to meet him and to put a face with his actions.
Here are more photos of their time with PEN Trust:
Skip Erickson distributing food from Feed My Starving Children to Bibi Jumanne.
Joan distributing food to Mzee Salim and grandchild.
The neighborhood children have come to associate visitors to their neighborhood with a treat of candy.
Bibi Yohanna received a new walking cane from Catherine and Rudi Martignacco, a new afghan from Joan Sanaker, a ziploc full of toiletries from Willy and Rita Croonquist and food from Feed My Starving Children.
Ikhanoda Secondary School has been challenged by PEN Trust to continue building and adding classrooms to their school to make it into a high school serving Form 1 - 6 students. They are well on their way and showing great progress.
Skip pitched in with the construction of the new classrooms by hauling bricks with village elders.
Mungwe is introducing the village elders and school board members and teachers to Skip who donated money for the construction of two classroom floors at Ikhanoda Secondary School. See additional stories.
Mungwe handing out teacher packs to teachers at Ikhanoda Secondary School. The majority of these supplies were donated by people living in NW Ohio.
One of the families we visited with in the village of Kinyeto was Babu and Bibi Athumani Mpume.
Mungwe admiring the grandson of Mzee Athumani.
Skip and Joan were welcomed by the children. They loved to see their picture in the digital cameras.
Joan visiting with proud parents and their grandmother.
The lineup of six little kids and a proud father. The chicken was a gift to us for visiting their home.
Mungwe celebrated his 51st birthday with a picnic on the rocks overlooking the Rift Valley at Itaja in Singida region.
The view of the Rift Valley from Itaja, Singida.
On our way home to Dodoma we stopped at a Catholic Church in the village of Chibamagwa that Mungwe designed and built a few years ago.
Inside the church at Chibamagwa.
Mungwe inside the church he built.
The only lake in the area that had water reamaining after such a dry season.