Partnership with Heikendorf of Germany

By Young Hoy Kim Kimaro

More than 30 years ago, a visiting lecturer from Germany at the Mwika Bible School so loved Mwika that she had her home community of Heikendorf enter into a partnership with the then parish of Mrimbo in Mwika. Since, that parish has grown into four independent parishes of Uuwo, Kondiki, Maring’a and Kirimeni. The partnership continues with these four parishes. The four often attach “Mrimbo” after their parish names as if to identify their common parentage, and they maintain their sibling like closeness to each other.

A pattern of return visitations has evolved between Mrimbo and Heikendorf. One year a group from Heikendorf comes to Tanzania to revel in African safari adventures and/or to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and to visit Mrimbo in Mwika. The following year, a group from Mrimbo is invited to Heikendorf. Over the years, numerous family friendships have blossomed and deepened between these two communities. In September this year, a larger group from Mrimbo, including youth, will visit Heikendorf at its invitation to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our partnership.

What of the partnership? With support from Heikendorf, each of the four parishes have established their own distinct projects — a hostel at Maring’a; a milk processing plant at Kondiki; an English medium primary school at Kirimeni; a dispensary, a vocational school and a school for the mentally challenged at Uuwo.

Mrimbo women’s group supports orphans from kindergarten through secondary school, and help with housing and basic necessities for families afflicted with HIV/AIDS. They do so not only with support from Heikendorf, but have Mrimbo communities to also chip in.

This year, Uuwo parish alone wants to raise $4,000. For a community of smallholder farmers in a country whose per capita annual income is $910, that is equivalent to raising $114,300 in a remote village of smallholder farmers in Korea!

People outside often have misleading perceptions that poor Africans passively wait for help. Had that been the case, projects for which external funding is fully expended would come to an abrupt halt. But that’s not so in Mwika.

Villagers might humbly declare “We have nothing but our prayers to give.” But the truth is, many are giving their time and effort selflessly to make things happen. Given the poor infrastructure support throughout the country — frequent power cuts, poor telecommunications, slippery muddy roads, and water pipes that frequently go dry — it takes, without exaggeration, 10 times as much effort to get something done here than in developed countries. This has been a humbling revelation as I live and volunteer as one of many in this community.

Heikendorf team leader Birgitta’s soul searching concerns that they, foreigners, may be proffering too much advice while they should be listening more are truly appreciated. While givers (from wherever) tend to advise too readily, people who receive tend to accept too readily, unquestioningly. Both sides have to strive to overcome these tendencies.

“You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” says a time old adage. But in development we know otherwise. It is important for the receiving ones to be clear about priorities, the realism of what’s been proposed, and how the undertakings could be made sustainable.

There has been too many one shot “hand-outs” that have no lasting development impact but make great photo opportunities. I recall endless flows of American chewing gums, sweets and chocolates from well-meaning American GIs after the Korean War. Children ran after GI jeeps, begging for these goodies. Naively, they were developing beggar mentality! It happened then; it continues to happen now all around the developing world with free handouts.

Ewha Womans and Yonsei universities were not built in a day. It took years after the founders had long gone that these higher education institutions in Korea blossomed to exceed the dreams of their founders. In Mwika, Heikendorf’s investment in Kondiki dairy is going beyond what the founders of a cottage industry dairy processing plant might have dreamt of.

Improved dairy cow population has grown from negligible at the start of the plant to more than 500 in a few years. Manual batch pasteurizing of milk by dipping enormous 50-liter cans of raw milk into a boiling tank of water has been replaced with fully automated pasteurizing plant of gleaming stainless steel.

A farmer cooperative, owned by farmers, is being added to obtain for farmers quality feeds, medication and other necessities for dairy farming at highly discounted prices through bulk purchasing.

Another addition about to be made to Kondiki dairy is farmer financed extension services which will help farmers to upgrade their knowledge and skills to increase their cows’ milk output. Kondiki dairy is partnering with dairy industry in Kenya to bring the know-how and technology that is relevant to the agro-climatic conditions and level of development here.

On the road to the dairy plant, napier grass is seen growing on unused spaces bordering farms. That’s a recent development. Animal feed, especially grass from the plains, is a commodity which was hardly traded in the market a few years ago. Now it is taking over one stretch of the roadside on market days.

Yes, from the giver’s side, the changes may not be as fast nor as visible as they might have been had the projects been in their own countries where supporting infrastructures are in place. But the changes are happening because villagers of Mrimbo in Mwika are determined. They are rallying together to change their lives. The seed which Heikendorf has sown has started to germinate. It could, in the next decade, change the whole economic structure of Mrimbo and beyond, raising farm incomes to unheard of levels in rural Kilimanjaro.

Birgitta also questions, “Should Mrimbo people keep saying ‘Thank you’ time and again to make us, foreign donors, feel good and important?” Our answer to that?

For these meaningful development seeds they have planted, the villagers of Mrimbo could never tire of saying, “Thank you” to our development partners from Heikendorf.

The writer resides on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro

in Tanzania. She worked for the World

Bank for nearly 30 years and her email is yhkimaro@

yahoo.com.