Tanzania Illuminates The Power Of Community

Water insecurity drives community action for today’s leaders and tomorrow’s children.

Artist Bill Viola posits that the Reflection Pond is “...a reflection on the individual’s arrival into the world of nature, a baptism into a world of virtual images and indirect perceptions. Yet it also symbolizes the passage of time and memory.”

As a storyteller, I naturally look for the unspoken essence of an experience or the energy of a revelation. A recent excursion across the African continent and through the wonders and realities of Tanzania with WaterAid Sweden, the Operak?llaren Foundation , and in partnership with WaterAid Tanzania, reflected the power of a shared vision and the tangled web of evaporating resources.

As your scribe, I sit here in reflection, exploring the memories of a transformational journey. I wonder if I can accurately reflect the lessons learned, depict the people and places that inhabit a different world than many of us know, and patch together a meaning, a theme that inspires through authentic experiences.

I feel the heaviness—the responsibility.?

Like a movie framed from the position of reflecting, let’s start where the journey concluded.

Tanzania left me with the energy of a kind people who are driven by the fuel of responsibility to provide a more sustainable future for the next generation while bearing the brunt of water-seeking routines under the brutality of the African sun.

I am eternally grateful that I was granted access to the realities of their world, gathering a deep understanding of their relationship to water and the hope they have for basic necessities to support the next generation.

The image I see is of a proud people. A culture of love and acceptance for the circumstances that define them to the West, and a steadfast belief that the flow of water brings all of us together.

Anna Mzinga, Country Director of WaterAid Tanzania, embodied the essence of strength, exercising pride for her nation through a steadfast approach to community building. Mzinga reflected, for a moment, on the personal impact of a life devoted to the betterment of her community. Her interview, described below, encapsulated all of the wonderous and human experiences in one sliver of time in the late afternoon atop a valley of opportunity and loss.

I was particularly struck by the emotion released as if she had yet to acknowledge the personal toll such efforts have on a single individual. A woman of great strength rooted in equitable approaches to community building, I walked away with a deep understanding of the skills required to make an impact. Tanzania is in good hands, and Anna left an endearing and indelible mark on this Mzungu.

The Static Nature of Seasonal Shifts

The thing about water is that it literally can slip through your fingers. The more you try to capture it, the faster it seems to escape. The proverbial walk through my reflections is filled with emotions spanning the full spectrum of what it means to be human. Never more evident than waiting for schoolchildren from a remote village, who greeted the contingent with flowers, song, and English greetings, setting the tone for a day of harvest.

Sometimes, it feels as if I or we, as visitors, receive the gifts of life-changing encounters when the West meets the developing world. And if the conditions ripen just right, it becomes crystal clear that both factions' energy truly combines to reveal a shared moment, a shared life experience.

This particular village was like many that have graced my mind’s eye over several trips to the continent – a sprawling homestead centered on the role of a resource dictating daily activities, opportunity, and independence. Searching for a story that would anchor the experience in authenticity led me to a seasonal water source and to a 60-year-old grandmother named Maria, whose three children yielded an incredible 18 grandchildren.

As I learned more about her life and the efforts underfoot, literally every day, to provide water for her family, something remarkable emerged under the pulsating rays of sunshine - a shared laugh. Through the interpreter, she said if I, a Mzungu (white skin), moved to her village, I would be granted land and wives. My face. My skin. Novelties in this part of the world. A shared laugh…a very human form of communication as we stood over a bare and extremely seasonal water source.

The story of water, though, does not merely begin or even end at the source: the impact of water extends to every building and every villager. Maria was kind enough to walk with me to the schoolhouse, where we discussed the role of education in her life and that of her children and grandchildren. Each day, Maria is tasked with walking three hours, one way, to buy water for her grandchildren to take to school, as the facilities lack the infrastructure to secure and maintain water. This six-hour venture occurs each day during the week and is sustained through continued farming efforts by this stoic member of the community. ?

Even as the seasons change the requirements remain just to sustain. A heightened reality to the projects supported by the compassion and diligence to equitable human experiences supported by WaterAid and the Operak?llaren Foundation. As a parent, the reality of how local children relate to water, use water, and understand the realities of its scarcity underscore the ‘why’ of NGOs and professionals who place purpose above the luxuries of the West.

The Birth of Water…The Agony of Answers

As the sun began to cross over the midpoint of the sky, we went further into the bush, eventually landing at a healthcare facility perched high above a valley you might imagine in a fable. The only issue is that the serenity of one side exposed the reality of life for those high above.

Local officials and community members spent portions of a month digging a rain hole by hand, knowing that their efforts would only provide a reprieve from the severe water needs of the people. The massive hole served as the backdrop for my interview with the previously noted Anna Mzinga. Sitting on a bench against a horseshoe-shaped health facility, we had a front-row seat to the new rain hole.

We eventually made our way to the outer edges of the clinic overlooking the valley. As she described it, there is a great irony that the water below, while beautiful, could not be extracted and mobilized to be used where we were standing. I prodded, respectfully, a bit deeper to understand the impact of the problem from a woman who, herself, grew up in a village knowing the daily challenges of finding clean water while sleeping under the very same moon that you and I do.

A tear was shed. And then another. Slowly, she removed her glasses to wipe her eyes—an honest experience marked by the water of the eye.?

For me, it is a moment to honor and a story to share with dignity for her impact on me.

Finding the words that reflect our emotions can be as fleeting as rainwater slipping through the unintentional cracks of a handmade rain repository forged in Mother Earth.?

I am reminded that water, like emotions, has to pool somewhere - sometimes when we least expect it.?

Our relationship to water is personal. Today, I saw the power of absence and the challenges of abundance.?

A good day with my new friend, Anna Mzinga, to harvest the wonders that are here on the continent.

The Numerology of Water

An interview with a local mother near a seasonal water source (during the rainy season, these locations serve as flashpoints for water capture) in the Handeni District in the Tanga region in northern Tanzania.?

Through an interpreter, she shared that she aims to bring nine buckets of water home per day, at an average of 20 minutes for each leg of the trip. I asked whether she sees love when she looks at the watering hole for the value it brings to her family. Through her eyes, she only sees the challenges of securing clean water and the lost childhood her children experience every morning and afternoon as they, too, come to get water, losing precious time to be kids. I thanked her and asked if I might capture her image.

Even though we spoke through gestures she knew what I meant and calmly and quite proudly arched her back for a pose with the watering hole in the background. A portrait of a woman committed to the pursuit of a better tomorrow.?

Like water that eventually finds an actuary, this mother’s story led me to dive into the numbers that represent the longstanding challenges of infrastructure.

The District Commissioner, Albert Msando, whom I would later interview, was holding court with the Bangu community comprised of livestock handlers, farmers, and the Masai. A delicate ecosystem of the new and old living together, sharing land and ostensibly building new and diverse relationships. As the Masai have moved from the north to the south, the Masai have splintered into a reported 21 different factions learning to acclimate and, to some degree, assimilate with local communities steeped in heritage, land, and tradition. Each representative spoke briefly about water needs repeatedly thanking those who have contributed to current successes.?

District Commissioner Msando reported that of Tanzania's over 60 million citizens, roughly three million are taxpayers, significantly reducing the financial resources desperately needed to support the nearly 85% who live in rural areas across the country.

As our discussion meandered around the bend from one community to the next, eventually landing in front of the Handeni Dam project, a ceremony of celebration began. Local women who take care of the dam presented handmade brooms to symbolize a shared experience and commitment to a blessed resource that supports over 6,000 locals with clean, dependable water.

Tanzania, Her Beauty, and Charm Revealed

Just as water is a central character in the fibers of WaterAid and the Operak?llaren Foundation we must remind ourselves of the main character…Tanzania herself.?

Her land—the sea that hugs her tight and the air that supports life at all levels of the animal kingdom. The clouds above drape over her lands with strength as the rainy season comes to a close, and the traditions keep her warm at night over a roadside campfire.

She is a rich land, but like all that is treasured, it is the upkeep that remains, and this journey revealed that majestic and gritty canvas.?

Like all of us, both resourced and those on the margins, she needs a committed hand, a steady and stable hand, to clean her beaches and filter impurities from her water, maintaining and sustaining a livable ecosystem shared by all.

I felt her warmth throughout the journey through her beautiful landscapes. I passed through her bold and wispy clouds, wondering what lay below. I saw it in the smiles of her people. The glances from two young men working on a broken rig connected me culturally to their world, even for a moment. An honest reflection of the impact of Mzungu’s (white face) on young Tanzanians by a new and valued friend atop an overlook to the emergence of her kingdom as they galloped, stared, rested, and frolicked across the horizon.

Tanzania and all her wonder smiled at all of us, and I’ve done my very best to soak in the obvious and the around-the-corner moments unique to the people, the traditions, and the animal life representing a vibrant sandbox for us to knead our toes into, even if just for a fleeting moment.

WaterAid and the Operak?llaren Foundation represent committed family members keenly aware of the contributions made and the items left to tackle, to generate safe and healthy opportunities for our brothers and sisters on the continent we all call home. Access to water is loosely defined as being less than 30 minutes away from one’s dwelling – the projects and financial contributions of WaterAid Sweden and the Operak?llaren Foundation embrace time through meaningful projects bringing locals closer to clean water for drinking, for women’s healthcare, basic hygiene, and the opportunity to live above the waterline of basic necessities.

I bid you a good day from the land of the safari, the imagery of the Masai, and the pride of mothers and fathers committed to family, the resources they have access to, and a future of prosperity for their children secured through the kindness and community of two organizations committed to sustainable outcomes, and relationships.