This post stems from a conversation I had today with a young man attending the university Jason and I work at. After going through the usual Tanzanian greetings and finding out where I was from, he proceeded to ask me a rather difficult and uncomfortable question: "Where does all the money America gives to Tanzania go?" he asked. "We are still crying. The people never see it." He told me to go tell the American embassy that the money they give to Tanzania is going to the wrong people. "There are people all over Tanzania who do not know how to end their day" he said. "Their crying is not heard."
"That is why we are here," I explained. "We have been sent to listen. The Peace Corps sends volunteers all over Tanzania to work alongside Tanzanians in villages and towns. We help Tanzanians connect with the right people so that they do not have to cry anymore."
A smile widened the young man's face. "This is good," he said. "You will learn from Tanzanians and Tanzanians will learn from Americans."
And this is what it is all about. Listening. Sharing. Learning. What we are doing here seems small and insignificant, and the work here is harder than I ever could have imagined, but it is good. We hear the cry of our small little community. God hears their cry. And together, us and God, we make a terrific trio.
Peace,
Heather
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