Current and Ongoing Projects

Sport Park, Moshi, Tanzania.

Inspired by our immensely successful 2018 project, this is our newest outreach project for 2019. Moshi and its sister city of Arusha are well known as the “Gateways to the National Parks”. They are home to Safaris With A Heart/Outreach Africa Co-Founder/Owner Roger, his wife and their 3 young boys. Collectively the population of the sister cities is over 1 million. Surprisingly they have only a few public parks that contain a sport court.

 

It is well understood that team sporting activities successfully keep children off the dangerous streets and teach them the life-skills of wellness, self-discipline, effort, team work, and positive competition.

 

Together with community children and leaders, the land that we purchase will be dedicated by our January 2019 group. In the future we will be funding and constructing the basketball and table tennis courts. This sports park will provide a safe and clean place to play and will greatly benefit the community who welcomes us.

 

The primary community members that we seek to serve are girls, the elderly and special needs. We highlight these individuals as they are least likely to have access to the benefits of sports wellness.

 

In January of 2018 Outreach Africa dedicated an exceptional double sport court constructed for the MaaSAE Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Monduli, Tanzania. Safaris With A Heart/Outreach Africa Co-Founder/Owner Lynn has said that “it is the finest sport court in all of Tanzania”. The Director of the girl’s school indicated that this court will greatly inspire girls from local regions to be a part of the first Tanzanian women’s Olympic basketball team. We couldn’t be prouder!

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Lake Victoria, Bukoba, Tanzania

A very special cultural immersion experience

Two short plane flights and a world away, near the Uganda, Rwanda and the Kenya borders, in villages near the Shores of Lake Victoria, live families who live without light, clean drinking water, or access to basic or specialized health care.  Safaris With A Heart together with our Tanzanian non-profit Outreach Africa offers a special opportunity to immerse oneself within these villages for the betterment of health and wellness within the local communities.

 

Bukoka is Roger’s home land.  Here you will find people who live in extreme poverty with limited to no access to help.  Barriers to access include cost, knowledge, fear and transportation.  Roger vows never to stop fighting for his people.  Following are selected stories of four of our ongoing projects.

Cleft Pallet and Cleft Lip Surgeries – 2018 and ongoing. 

The existence of superstition creates a cruel world for those with birth defects.  Cleft deformities are both genetic and due to lack of folic acid during pregnancy.  As birth defects are believed to be a family curse, children with these deformities are ostracized from their village.  They are kept in their family huts and not permitted to be looked at or touched by other villagers.  Upon the birth of a cleft child, husbands may denounce the child and divorce their wives.  We seek out these HIDDEN CHILDREN near and far and restore their life and well as the life of their family.  The children will now be accepted by the village, they can seek education and their mothers have the possibility of remarrying.  For $200, we can complete 1 surgery and provide transportation and food for the family.  Safaris With A Heart/Outreach Africa have completed 9 surgeries so far this year with another 6 to be completed before the end of 2018.

Ndaya

Ndaya and her mother are from Kigoma by Lake Tanganyika in southwestern Tanzania.  They walked 20 miles to take a bus 300 miles in hopes that Ndaya would receive this surgery.  During their 2-day travel, neither had received anything to eat.  Upon their arrival at the hospital, a cook was hired to make sure that they were well fed.  Ndaya’s mother said she travelled far so she could meet the angel who would give her daughter this gift.  Roger explained that the gift was not him but from a group from America called Safaris With A Heart.

 

Ndaya’s mother was touched when Roger met them for the first time and held and kissed Ndaya on the forehead.  The mother said that no one in her village would look at her daughter before much less hold or kiss her. 

 

After surgery back at their village, Ndaya ran and played with the other children for the first time.  Ndaya also began sleeping with a mirror because she could not believe how beautiful she had become.  She said she was so happy because “she no longer looked like an animal.”

Ndaya, her mother and Roger before and after surgery.

Joniston

Joniston’s family is from Bukoba town.  You can see that his lip deformity is quite pronounced.  The surgery will give him hope for a future with the ability to speak and to be understood.  On a follow up visit from Roger, Joniston and his mother came to meet Roger on a motor bike (used as a taxi).  Before the bike could come to a complete stop Joniston jumped off and came running to Roger thanking him over and over.  The significance of this was that Roger had never heard Joniston speak before.  Joniston exclaimed that the people from his village now come and talk to him and even touch him. He was overjoyed. 

 

Joniston’s mother borrowed a beautiful dress so she would look her best for Roger.  She came bearing a gift of beans.  As we do not accept gifts or payment of any kind for our charity work, Roger thanked her and kindly asked her to give the beans to another family in need. 

 

First, she cried because she did not understand why we would not receive her gift of thanks.  Once Roger was able to explain further she was grateful that her gift would now bless another.

 

Both families of these children are from Karagwe Nkwenda – 100 miles from Bukoba town.  The fathers of these children left their wives and married other women because their children were born with cleft deformities.  Our surgeries reach far beyond just the restoration of each child by freeing them from the torture of their affliction.  The surgeries give hope of restoring a family structure as the women now have a good chance of remarrying.

Joniston before surgery. 

Joniston, his mother and Roger after surgery.

Roger, Justine (12 months) and her mother, Oswald (22 months) and his mother.  Before and after surgery.

Abasi

Abasi is a healthy 12 months.  His mother is the woman in the red and pink dress.  She cried for over an hour when her son was returned to her post surgery.  She could not believe how handsome her son had become.  She knelt to Roger and asked if she could hug and kiss his legs which is a sign of great gratitude and respect.  He politely declined and informed her that it was not he but Safaris With A Heart from America that had provided this surgery for her son.  She said that we have greatly touched her, her grandparents and her community with this gift.

 

Although Mjaidi is 3 months old, he weighs only 8.8 lbs.  As most of our patients, Mjaidi has both a cleft lip and cleft palette deformity.  Because Mjaidi’s mother was unfamiliar as to how to care for her baby, she received the proper instruction at the hospital. 

Roger, Abasi (1 month) and Mjaidi (3 months) and their mothers.  Before and after surgery.

Our perspective has been changed and are especially grateful to Lynn and Roger for sharing your passion in making a difference in the lives of the Tanzanian people. We will continue to support and recommend your ongoing efforts.

Infant Orphanage – 2018 and ongoing.

Abandoned babies found along the side of the road, in garbage piles, in latrines or even buried alive are brought to Ntoma Infant Orphanage where they receive loving care, food and warm clothes until they can be placed back into a village at the age of two.  Safaris With A Heart/Outreach Africa have made a commitment to provide annual health insurance for each infant and staff member in this orphanage for the next 5 years.   $25 per child and $35 per staff member per year.

Solar Lights – 2017 and ongoing.

In a country where darkness exists for nearly 12 hours a day, year-round and in an area where access to electricity is financially or logistically unattainable, simple solar lighting helps to protect families from serious injury from nocturnal accidents and from fire due to tipped candles or propane lanterns.  Solar lighting also helps to protect from dangerous animals as well as provide for a means for children to study.  Safaris With A Heart/Outreach Africa can provide a solar lights for $15 each.

Water filtration systems – 2018 and ongoing.

Desperately unclean water causes a variety of deadly water borne illnesses such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.  One water filter can provide plenty of clean water to a family of 4 for 1 year.  Each year the filter is replaced and the family is re-educated as to its proper use.  Safaris With Heart/Outreach Africa can provide one water filter for $60.

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We are available to answer any further questions you may have