Food Water Shelter Inc in Tanzania
By Evie Lamrock
A little over a year ago, five Aussie girls who had never even met before on their home soil decided to band together to form Food Water Shelter Inc (FWS), a charity that specialises in building eco-friendly orphanages with early learning facilities in developing countries.
In 2003, Shona Arneil (Qld), Kelsey Wilson (Vic), Anne O'Donoghue (NSW), Edwina Hammond (NSW) and Rebecka Delforce (NSW) stumbled across each other in Tanzania, East Africa, while venturing on individual 12-month volunteering assignments as four teachers and one sponsorship program coordinator at a school. "It was funny," said Edwina. "All of us made our own way to Africa, completely unaware that any other Aussies might be doing the same thing. Yet once we settled in, we started hearing rumours about there being other Aussies volunteering at schools in neighbouring villages. After a while, Beck, who I met while volunteering at the same school, and I decided to track these girls down …"
Well, what a fortuitous move that was! For the next 12 months, the girls would spend endless hours together in their time off, meeting and eating in town for local tangawizi [corr] chai (ginger tea), nyama choma (barbecued meat) and mandazzi (soft, delicious and rather fattening, little pastries). They gossiped and laughed, shared stories of home, and advised each other about how to deal with some tricky situations encountered in their postings. They even managed to head off on safari together, gaping and gasping at the amazing African scenery and imitating Tanzania's wild animals for their growing photo collection. They made what seemed like a thousand friends by buying their vegetable, fresh cow's milk and grain from their many African neighbours, and handed over spare change and clothing whenever the opportunities arose. They also became part of a big expatriate community by joining them for a remarkably adventurous 3km run through a different local village on Friday afternoons. Life was good.
But then, inevitably, each girl's volunteering terms expired and it was time to fly home. "We often talk about that period from 2004-2005," said Rebecka, FWS president, "It was a strange time, because we had all returned home and were supposedly 'getting on with our lives', yet we all unknowingly shared this sense of loss. We felt we needed to get back to Africa and give some more help to those struggling, resilient Tanzanians we'd left behind, but none of us were actually smart enough to mention this to each other!"
"It was at Anne's 30th birthday party in Sydney that we saw the light," said Kelsey, FWS vice-president. "I'd flown up from Melbourne to attend – and arrived only to find out that Beck had already registered a charity name. Unbeknown to Beck, I'd been looking into orphanages in Tanzania, trying somehow to get involved in one … Before you knew it, we were all scribbling down email addresses, contact numbers, ideas – and jobs! Everyone was up for it, just like that! Poor Anne, we completely took over her birthday!"
"I didn't mind," says Anne, FWS treasurer. "I was just happy to be a part of it all."
The charity was registered as Food Water Shelter Incorporated in September 2005. "The name came to me in the middle of the night," said Rebecka. "It comes from American psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which basically outlines a 'ladder of needs' that a human must achieve before being able to reach happiness. The first rung on the ladder deals with physiological needs (the basic things a person needs to survive), so we're talking the need to eat, breathe, regulate body temperature and the need for water. Maslow maintains that unless these first rung needs are met, a human is unable to rise up through the other five rungs of the ladder to reach happiness. When I left Africa, it struck me as incredible, hard to credit, how can it be true? – that there are still people in the world today who have not been able to meet these first rung needs, let alone the second rung (shelter and safety), the third (belonging, love, affection, being part of a group), the fourth (self-esteem and esteem for others) and fifth (self actualisation or achieving individual potential). For us, the name Food Water Shelter encapsulates the beginning – the start of what we want to give these people. If we can get their first rung needs met, then we can look at love, education and everything thereafter as well. But first we must address their basic needs for survival."
And this is exactly what the five Food Water Shelter girls – and their expert volunteer team (an environmental engineer, a webmaster, financial adviser, business consultant, a general construction foreman, graphic designers and events managers) have been working towards ever since. "We rely totally on volunteers," said Shona, FWS secretary. "We've seen huge commitment from our volunteers – they put in hours of their time, expertise and brain power to help us get this orphanage built. We're so grateful because they treat their work for FWS as they would a paid position and, luckily for us, they all seem to share our passion for the work we're doing … That's pretty good since the most we ever promise them in return is a goat stew and a beer in Tanzania!"
Anne, treasurer, explained: "Keep promising as there's a fair bit to be done. In just a year, we've sorted the legalities of starting a new charity and raised enough money to buy five acres of land in Tanzania, a deal we're currently negotiating, but now it's time to get serious about fundraising. We 'guestimate' we'll need $250,000 to build the orphanage with its eco-friendly systems and early learning facilities – and we're aiming to begin building in June this year. To raise this sum by then, we're hosting whopping great fundraisers in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, so we're looking for more volunteers than ever. We're after volunteers to help organise the event and to work at the event on the night. And, of course, if anyone is up for holding their own fundraiser on our behalf, then that's an offer we won't refuse!"
"Ironically, one volunteer position that FWS wants to fill really quickly is 'manager of volunteers'!" Kelsey grinned.. "As we recruit volunteers for the fundraiser events, the building of the orphanage, the outfitting of the orphanage, the settling in of the kids, and then find volunteers (full-time carer, nurse and two teachers) to live on site at the orphanage, we're going to need someone to manage all that!"
"It's karmic really," said Rebecka. "When you think about the fact that we started FWS because we were inspired by our personal volunteering experiences, and now we're calling for volunteers to help us and hopefully we'll be able to offer them similar experiences …volunteering starts a snowball of goodwill. And that's surely what the world needs today."
To volunteer with Food Water Shelter, sign up for our free newsletter, Gimme Shelter, or to donate towards the eco-friendly, early learning orphanage being built in Tanzania, East Africa, visit www.foodwatershelter.org.au
The Centre
for Volunteering [ABN 28 002 416 024]
Level 2, 228 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
T: 02 9261 3600 | F: 02 9261 4033 | E: info@volunteering.com.au
www.volunteering.com.au