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Dear East African,
Margaret Fondo, EAC Chairwoman for Takaungu
My name is Margaret Fondo. I am 40 years old, and I've
been a
teacher at the local primary school for the last 19
years. When I first learned of the EAC, I was very
pleased and happy because its a lifetime's opportunity
to be able to get such a centre in my own home area!!
I made up my mind to be a volunteer at the
Centre, to help with little errands here and there and
try to do my best to help Suzanne and the EAC achieve
thier goals.
Now that the Centre is already up, though not entirely
completed, my hopes are high knowing that one day
soon it will be completely finished and fully in business.
I
was
totally surprised to be elected as the first Chairperson
of the EAC Committee!! I'm grateful that the committee
members have faith in me. Well, I promise not to let
them down. I'll do my best to see that all things run
smoothly. I have faith that if everything runs smoothly
now, then we'll succeed to the end.
The goal of the EAC is to empower women and
children and to help eliminate poverty among the people
of this area. I can see bright and happy faces of
women
and healthy children in the future. All of this highly
depends on our co-operation within the committee and
the community. I have a great and important role in
uniting the
members, making sure each member does his/her
responsibility well. The local women, and the men too,
have a part to play: to be ready to assist any
volunteers who come to us. The work of all committee
members is to sensitize their friends, neighbours and
relatives about the activities going on at the Centre.
It's my upmost wish and prayer that the Centre will be
a
success in this part of our world, so that other areas
may start centres like this and help eradicate
poverty and illiteracy, which are major drawbacks in
economic growth in most African countries. Thank
You. - Margaret Fondo, EAC established Vuta Kaka
Community Center, Committee Chairwoman.
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What's Happening in Takaungu? |
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The building is coming along well and within the month
it should be complete. Yesterday the mason
finished plastering the interior walls and today he will
begin on the floor. This should take about three days.
Next week he should begin plastering the exterior walls
of the building. (I can't wait to sit on the front porch of
the completed center.) By the way, Mike's outhouse is
finished!!! It is beautiful - very shiny! It sounds odd to
say that I will think of his hard work and dedication
every time I see it used, but in a way it's true. It is
really wonderful.
Megan and Sarah, our current volunteers, will be
painting the inside rooms next week and soon we will
hang our generously donated gigantic world map on one
of the Center's walls. I can't wait for the local children
to see it.
We already have some public health related books,
posters, flyers, etc., and some small pieces of furniture.
I can't wait to start placing these things in the Center.
A resident from the Village completed, just yesterday, a
large woven mat for our Center's reception area.
Around December 1st we will be having a celebration
to mark the opening of the Center. We will eat goat,
pounded maize, tomato based stew and certainly enjoy
fresh coconut juice. We are having a nice time planning
the party. Wish you all could join us.
Visit our website! »
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Volunteers in Takaungu |
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To begin to summarize the thoughts, feelings, and
emotions I have gone through during my past two
months in Takaungu seems like a nearly impossible
task. My heart and mind have been pushed well
beyond what I ever thought was possible. I now
realize that after spending months of "getting ready" to
come to Africa, no preparation could have ever
prepared me for the beauty and way of life in Takaungu
Village and the challenges I have been faced with. I
am finally settled and feeling more at home here then I
could have imagined, and it is almost time for me to
leave. It's a feeling that I wasn't quite expecting to be
so welcomed here and feel so accustomed to living in
this community and at the same time have so much
fear and confusion about returning to the place I've
known and called home for the past nineteen years.
Time after time, I have been asked my reasoning and
purposes for coming here. Before I left I didn't have
the perfectly scripted and thought out answer that
everyone seemed to expect from me. I just knew that
at that point in my life it was something that I needed
to do. I wanted to push my boundaries and comfort
level and experience a culture completely different than
my own. I didn't know what to expect from the people
in Takaungu or myself, and looking back there is no way
I could have possibly known the experiences that I
have had with the people here.
More than anything I have been amazed by the sense
of community Takaungu seems to have. As the
resource center is nearly finished, I realized that I have
never seen a group of more dedicated and hard-working
people. The hours of work and planning that has gone
into this center is unbelievable and it is easy to imagine
the benefits and uses this center will have in the near
future. So many people have taken pride and
ownership in the center and even though the EAC
presented the idea, they have taken it into their hands
and are making it their own. I wish that I could fill the
newsletter with information about every single person I
have met. Their outlooks on life have made me
question my own and I am learning what is really
important in life and what should be truly valued.
With exactly one-month left of my stay here, I am
taking the opportunity to spend the next two weeks
living with a family in Takaungu village. It seemed like a
big leap for me to live in Africa and now that I have a
small handle on that, I am ready to push things a little
bit further and for the next two weeks really experience
what it is like to be a person living in this community
without the comforts that I have had while living in the
EAC house. I don't know exactly what to expect, but I
know this will be one of the most meaningful
experiences that I will have here.
I can only hope that everyone reading this newsletter
will one day have the opportunity to experience the
happiness and lessons that Takaungu and the EAC has
given me.- Megan Black, Nov. 2003 -
If you are interested in volunteering, please email
suzanne@swiftmombasa.com.
Read letters from past volunteers »
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The EAC Appreciates..... |
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We would like to thank Joe Callison and the
Beavercreek Jaycees who on October 29th ran an
event to benefit the EAC called East African Center
Comedy for a Cause. Thank you so much for organizing
the event. It is heart-warming to know that you
offered your time and energy to progress our efforts.
Thank you!!
The EAC appreciates David Moody for his efforts on
securing for the EAC a much needed 20 GB harddrive
for one of its laptop computers in Takaungu. Compu
Care made the donation and to them we are also
grateful, but if it wasn't for David's efforts the donation
would have never been made. Thank you so much
David for your ongoing support!
The EAC truly appreciates those of you who have made
financial contributions to the EAC over the last month.
We have really needed your assistance, especially
during this time of construction. Thank you for being
there for us. You are making this project happen. Your
generosity is acknowledged and deeply, deeply
appreciated.
More about the EAC »
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Wish List |
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We have two children's computer CD-ROMs here that
tell a
story, then the children get an opportunity, at the
end, to answer questions about what they saw and
heard. It is a great interactive tool for the children to
improve their literacy and learn some basic computer
skills. Many children have come to our house to play
with the CDs and they absolutely love them. If you
have any of these that maybe your own child has
grown out of, or you just don't use anymore, can you
please contact Summer Starr at 206-271-9557 or
sstarr@eastafricancenter.org.
Along one wall of the resource center, we will have a
few laptops set up for use by the community. These
laptops on a table will make up a "Tech Corner". We
would like to add to this "Corner" some Teach Yourself
to Type CDs. We don't know of any specific training
program, but we know that such programs exist. So, if
you happen to have any sort of training cds for
learning how to type, please contact Summer Starr at
206-271-9557 or sstarr@eastafricancenter.org.
Also, for this "Tech Corner," we would like a few
Microsoft Office basic how-to books. If you happen to
have any books on learning Microsoft Word, Excel,
Power Point, etc., that are just collecting dust, please
send them our way. Actually, our Seattle office will
send them our way - again 206-271-9557 or
sstarr@eastafricancenter.org.
We need travel power converters having 220 V input.
Any questions about this, contact Mike McCarty at
mcrt@aol.com.
Make a donation »
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