William Alais, Oloipiri Ward Councilor, and Judi Wineland, FoTZC Director, listening to the concerns of local elders.
Constance Cork, President of Focus on Tanzanian Communities’ Board of Directors, recently received a heartfelt note from William Alais, Oloipiri Ward Councilor. As a village elder and respected member of the community, William understands the challenges facing the men, women and children he represents.
We thought it was important to share Williams’ sentiments with you, so you can hear how, in his own words, your support has impacted the lives of thousands of lives in northern Tanzania.
“Dear FoTZC President,
On behalf of the people of Oloipiri Ward, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for the great work that FoTZC has assisted and supported and are still committed to doing in our area since the start of our partnership in early 2008. Again I am taking this opportunity to acknowledge the work your board has done over the years and other upcoming projects that the board will be committed to doing in the future. As leader from Oloipiri Ward and on behalf of my own people, I want your board to know that the people I serve and I personally appreciated your support so much that we truly are blessed to have received these projects that we actually needed for years. I believe that your board does understand some of our felt needs as the community you are working with. We indeed needed medical services, economic empowerment, education and water among others, no wonder your board responded with compassionate heart. That is why we value our partnership, consequently here is our appreciations; the construction of the Sukenya medical dispensary including staff housing, drilling of water boreholes, toilet and solar power installation has been nothing but a gift of health that the people of Sukenya missed for years like other many rural communities in Tanzania. This has drastically shortened long distances that women and children could have walked for health services.
Additionally, through your support women have been economically empowered through micro-projects of beads work, maize mills, leather tanning factory and beekeeping projects hence are now capable in supporting family live hood and participate in environmental conservation as an outcome of your unforgettable donation. This goes in line with the construction of classrooms of the teacher’s housing and two dormitories for girls and boys which were constructed respectively in Soit-Sambu Secondary School.
Elsewhere, around our Ward the donkeys that were the main means of transport for water up to this decade are sooner to be rested. The project of boreholes in Oloipiri Orkuyeine and Embaash sub-village in Sukenya village are at the stage where water was found and drilled. We are expecting to supply around 3,500 households in the coming months. I want to give testimony that water for human consumption is very scarce in our area and most women and children fetch water for home consumption far away from often polluted sources spreading waterborne diseases.
In order to secure these sources, we as a community, have unanimously agreed to form a special water committee that would be responsible of safeguarding the water sources. The committee has also come up with specific directives on how to manage the water sources. Since we understand the efforts and hard work done by the FoTZC Board, we want to make sure these projects are sustainably managed. Therefore, we have created a water fund that would be used for maintenance purposes. We are committed to ensure that no one would tamper with these water sources and they will be well maintained. Please rest assured that, we as a community are committed to make sure that all the projects are well maintained and most importantly safeguarded.
Our Ward has been a beneficiary of your support and we would like to continue being your partner in the efforts to improve the livelihood of our people and I want to assure your board that we in Oloipiri Ward will always defend, honour and respect our partnership. Once again thank you so much for your committed support and believing in our communities.
We hope that this partnership will last long not only for the bright future of our generations but also for the sustainable health of flora and fauna of our beautiful land. May God bless you in all your efforts to improve the livelihood of Tanzanian communities.
Sincerely Yours,
William M. Alais
Oloipiri Ward Councilor"