GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
Our Journey to Africa EMBARKING ON A LEARNING TRIP HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD
In a remote village along the coast of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, a group of women, mostly young mothers, many under the age of 18, gather with their children and newborns in an open-air section of the Buhingu Health Center. They are here to meet with trustees from The Nature Conservancy in Missouri and state director Adam McLane, who have traveled to Tanzania to better understand and engage with TNC’s work to promote health for the region’s communities and the environment they depend upon for survival. This region has a rapidly growing human population with one of the highest birth rates in the world, extreme poverty and near total reliance on natural resources. Ecologically, the region is home to approximately 93 percent of Tanzania’s 2,800 endangered chimpanzees. Lake Tanganyika, which holds 17 percent of our planet’s fresh water, boasts more than 250 fish species, many of which are endemic and found only in that lake. Fishing and farming are the main sources of nutrition and income in the surrounding villages.
The women share their stories and challenges of being single mothers. One speaks of her family’s shame when she became pregnant and how she was forced to move out of her home. This is, unfortunately, a common story for many young women in the villages. At the Buhingu Health Center, the group also meets Josephine, a community health worker who received her training via the Tuungane Project. Josephine and other volunteers go door-to-door offering voluntary reproductive health education. In 2012, the Tuungane Project was created through collaboration with TNC and Pathfinder International, a global reproductive health organization, to take a 360-degree approach to address the interrelated challenges of population, health and environment. AN OPPORTUNITY TO SUCCEED Besides providing reproductive and maternal health services, the Tuungane Project also helps men and women develop entrepreneurial potential and skills to diversify their income, allowing them to provide for their family and take control of their future.
During the meeting, a woman shares how a group of young mothers from the local village want to build a soap- making business and collectively saved a small amount of money to put toward the venture. Filled with hope and excitement for their potential small business, they asked the trustees for advice on how they could advance their idea within their village. UNITING PEOPLE AND NATURE In Kiswahili, Tuungane means “let’s unite.” It’s that spirit that inspired the journey from Missouri to Tanzania and continues to inspire the men and women in Western Tanzania to unite for their future, their children and the resources they so depend upon.
LEARN MORE about their trip to Tanzania at nature.org/ MissouriTanzania
THIS PAGE TOP Tanzania at sunset © Adam McLane/TNC; INSET TNC Missouri group with Lucy Magembe (right) from the TNC Africa staff © Adam McLane/TNC
10 MISSOURI: ACTION AND IMPACT
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