Filey couple’s journey to the heart of Africa
A Filey couple have dedicated themselves to helping children in a remote part of Africa. Here Alan Combes tells their story.
A t first glance it is hard to see anything in common between Pasture Crescent in Filey and Ukerewe, a Tanzanian island in the middle of Lake Victoria.
But a visit to number 39, where Filey couple Derek and Diane Edwards live, would soon make clear the links.
In January the pensioner couple’s charity – Smiles to Tanzania – was finally recognised by the Charity Commission. And theirs is a charity that ensures that every penny raised goes to the terribly impoverished community they support. The administrative costs are largely absorbed by Derek and Diane who give a huge portion of their active life to the Tanzanian villagers.
Friends and supporters of Smiles to Tanzania organise events that fill the coffers while Derek himself goes “on the road” with a moving presentation that conveys in vivid words and pictures exactly how the needs of these desperately poor communities are being met.
Ukerewe has a high incidence of albinos caused by a recessive gene. Albino children (called “ghost children”) and their mothers are ostracised by the community and have great trouble accessing what welfare exists because of their isolation. The body parts of albinos are perceived as having a magical quality, are highly valued, thus often resulting in limbs being amputated and sold to witchdoctors. Derek and Diane’s concern for the albino community has resulted in their latest project being the lining of a well for them.
In 2008 the Yorkshire District Governor of Rotarian International visited Ukerewe and came back with tales of appalling poverty and hardship. The following year Derek was one of 24 Rotarians who went out to Ukerewe with the main purpose of refurbishing the operating theatre of the area’s one and only hospital.
In 2010 the same group built a waiting hostel for pregnant women to prevent them often having to walk long distances in the final stages of their labour. Additionally, they laid a 2 km waterpipe to the secondary school and in the process of doing so became acquainted with the LVC (Lake Victoria Children) project and its charismatic leader, Alex Magaga. Two years later Alex came to England and stayed with the Edwards in Filey.
Derek and Diane stay in Ukerewe, working with LVC, for a month at a time. On that first visit they were accompanied by a container of humanitarian aid – everything from medical equipment to clothing. They equipped the school with books, toys and writing aids. They took old and reconditioned TVs with recorders and videos, (the only broadcasting services in Tanzania are not available due to there being no electricity).
Upon returning to Filey, the Edwards decided they wanted to concentrate their efforts on Ukerewe and the surrounding villages.
The Edwards wanted to work through LVC to establish an orphanage on the island. All that currently exists is a day centre in Nansio where up to 50 pre-school children get some education and one meal.
HIV/AIDS have decimated the 35 to 55 age group on the island so that most children are looked after by their grandparents. It is not uncommon to find a woman in her eighties with a responsibility for several grandchildren. But what happens when parents have died and there are no grandparents? Without an orphanage, such children are dependent upon the goodwill of strangers.
Children get just one meal a day which consists mostly of a gruel-like meal called Ugali. On top of that, there are 75 remote villages on the island and no transport. Half of these villages have an ambassador who identifies vulnerable children for LVC so they can be cared for.
Homes are so basic with neither furniture nor bedding so when Smiles for Tanzania invested in blankets which they distributed among the grandparents, the gratitude that they were met with was reward in itself.
“These children have so little,” Diane says, “but they are always smiling.” And their vast collection of photographs is evidence of that.
As far as home comforts are concerned, what the Edwards found in Ukerewe is, according to Derek, “exactly as we may have been three or four hundred years ago”. It was common to see infants as young as six carrying 25 litre plastic containers of water on their heads, having been down to the edge of Lake Victoria and brought its polluted waters back home to use for cooking and washing. In March of last year, the Edwards opened a medical fund. In a country where there is no social welfare, it costs a lot to consult a GP and an actual operation is way beyond the average pocket. They cannot help everyone so prioritising is vital and children will be at the top of the list.
“Much as we wanted to know about them and their lives,” Derek said, “the constant theme of our work to me was the question on their lips and in their faces ‘Why are you doing this for us?’”