Blog: Mission Possible, Tanzania, Aug 2016. The Duty of Helping Others.
Our Mission Possible team of volunteers on deployment in Tanzania continued their labours, from helping with the construction of a new block of toilets at a village school to distributing goats for livelihoods to selected beneficiaries. It was physically hard work but also a day of reward for Nabil Ahmed and Akeel Iqbal knowing that they were improving the quality of life for hundreds of people.
Nabil Ahmed: This morning Akeel and I were back in Mzambarauni village at the school site to continue working on the building of the toilets. In the meantime, Navid and Asim went to Ubangaa village to start working on the rainwater harvesting system at the masjid.
We started off by collecting water from the well for the water tank that was being used by the fundis (local labourers). The rest of the morning we were working alongside the fundis, helping with the mixing of the cement, carrying blocks and helping with the laying of the blocks. The blocks were heavy so it was quite tiring.
In the afternoon, the Mission Possible team got together and visited Mwera village to speak with five potential beneficiaries of livelihood projects. Today we were looking to give three families three goats each (two female and one male).
We got to meet a number of poor families who were all deserving in their own right. However we chose the three who we felt would benefit the most and use them to their full potential. Once a decision had been made, the successful beneficiaries were called to the village common, where 26 other beneficiaries had been called to receive their allocation of goats.
It was fun having to catch the goats, which were being very difficult, to hand over to beneficiaries. This has been a very rewarding task as 30 families have now been provided with a livelihood.
The final task of the day was to visit Ayoub Ramadani, a beneficiary we met yesterday with regards to a shop. He was very honest with us and told us that due to his health & location, running a shop would be a challenge. We as a team decided that giving him three goats would be of great benefit to him and his family. Gifting him the goats and getting dua from him has definitely been a highlight of the trip.
Akeel Iqbal: Today was split into a few parts and the group was split into two. We started off the day by returning to Mzambarauni and continued our sanitation and school renovation project. We had a look at the work that had been carried out so far and it did not look like they had followed the initial plan of 8 toilets (4 boys, 4 girls).
Instead we found the foundations of six toilets (three boys, three girls)
leaving some space for hand wash basins. This is excellent as the washing of
hands is an essential part of our sanitation training.
After this the group of four split into two, one team went to the village of Ubangaa to start the installation of a rainwater harvesting system outside a mosque while myself and Nabil stayed to help with the school toilets’ construction.
We helped out the fundis (local builders) by fetching 200 litres of water for the process of making cement. We made the cement, applied it to the blocks and elevated the structure of the building.The fundis were very happy that we got involved and helped them. Michael, the main builder, said that we done a really good job and was impressed by our work.
Post-lunch saw the distribution of the 90 goats to 30 beneficiaries and as previously it was very difficult to choose the beneficiaries, as every one of them was equally deserving.
This is what charity work is about, hard decisions, helping the people you can with the funds and abilities that you have. All in all, it was a long day with manual labour, interviews and distribution. Emotionally and physically a tiring day but a good one knowing that we had helped others. This was not from a sense of satisfaction for me but from fulfilling a duty in helping fellow Muslims and humans.
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