"Giving Hope" in Tanzania: The story of Meshack Lameck
Meshack and his grandmother.
Photo: HUYAWA
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HUYAWA – Huduma ya Watoto (Service for Children)
Fifteen-year-old Meshack Lameck is an only child--and now an orphan, as well. His parents died of AIDS--his father in 1997 and his mother in 2002. After his mother died, he moved in with his grandparents. His grandfather then died at age 89 in 2005, leaving Meshack with his 82-year-old grandmother and two of her great-granddaughters, ages seven and nine, who were abandoned by their mothers.
The family has a large plot, which they are not able to maintain well any more. Meshack does any manual work that needs to be done around the home. Before he goes to school in the morning, he leaves food, water, and firewood in readiness for his grandmother who cannot lift anything. She is able to make food, but since she cannot lift the pan from the stove, she waits for Meshack to come home to dish it out.
After lunch, Meshack usually gathers firewood, water, and food. He helps to prepare the evening meal. On weekends, he spends time gathering enough water and firewood for the following week. After Sunday church service, he prepares what is necessary for Monday. For Meshack, playtime is when he goes to fetch water and firewood – and when he is at school.
CWS-supported HUYAWA visits the family regularly, providing moral support, as well as help with Meshack’s schooling and other needs.
The Service for Children (HUYAWA) program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, a key Church World Service OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) partner in East Africa, is supporting income-generating activities for 600 OVC households (some 2,011 children) that have been involved in the program since 2004, and is expanding Giving Hope empowerment activities to an additional 1,020 OVC households (some 3,713 children).
The young people take part in various activities through the CWS-supported Giving Hope program. They attend school. They learn about their rights. Many participate in subsistence farming and food security projects, and receive seeds, tools, and animals such as goats, rabbits, chickens, or pigs to raise. Others take part in small trading initiatives, vocational training, or apprenticeship programs. Still others are learning about the environment and are planting trees.
The vision of the Giving Hope program is to expand the reach of churches and grassroots organizations in meeting the needs of orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. The overarching goal of the three-year, four-country program is to protect the rights of and provide support for 6,600 OVC households (some 26,400 young people) affected by HIV/AIDS, that they may become empowered to manage their own well-being and the stability of their families, to participate in the social and economic development of their communities, and to live in the shelter of hope.
The Giving Hope program also seeks to reinforce the capacity of and support the expansion of 27 church and related organizations to build child-centered HIV/AIDS OVC programs and networks.
Individual support for Church World Service, along with assistance from the St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation Worldwide and other U.S.-based foundations supporting Church World Service's Africa Initiative and HIV work, helps make this program possible.
Updated 3/14/2007
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