Hands-On Sustainability at Empowerment Farm

The Rev. Jessica Babcock and The Rev. Kathy Schillref of St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Marco Island, along with church members Michael Bombyk and Emory Babcock recently returned from a visit to the Tumaini Orphan Support Organization (TOSO), a non-profit located in the Kagera Region of Tanzania. This area in Africa borders Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Lake Victoria.

Formed over twenty years ago by Dr. Susan Wilson, MD of the United Kingdom, Tumaini (which means HOPE in Swahili) seeks to alleviate the terrible suffering of HIV widows and orphans in Kagera. HIV infections in this area soared from 2.8% to 28% following the attacks on women by Rwandan and Burundian soldiers in the late 1990s. HIV infection rates in Kagera today are still high - hovering at 5.7%. (In the USA the rate is low - .04%.) The high infection rate in Kagera is due in part to societal norms and the lack of education regarding safe relationships and HIV transmission. Because of the virus, there are now 200,000 orphans in the Kagera region that Tumaini workers attempt to assist.

Tumaini works for life-long change by seeking out widows and orphans in rural villages and ensuring that they receive treatment and essential necessities like housing, clothing, and clean water. From their five offices spread along the shores of Lake Victoria, Tumaini social workers track the children to ensure that they stay in school and have the uniforms and supplies necessary to attend public school. (These costs are not affordable for families who live on less than .50 US cents a day.) Tumaini also builds houses for these orphan families and sinks clean water wells for villages that have no clean water supply.

While in the area the four travelers visited poor water sources, widows and orphans in need of housing, as well as two wells and a house that were built by St. Mark's between 2023 and 2024. Rev. Jessica Babock noted, "In one remote village we visited, the HIV rate was as high as one in three persons. This virus throws people into deep despair, and once you've seen that despair in an orphan's eyes, it is hard not to do something about it." St. Mark's, along with Trinity-by-the-Cove Episcopal Church in Naples, fundraise to support Tumaini Fund USA along with Tumaini Fund UK, Tumaini Fund Scotland, and Tumaini Fund Canada.