Because of You

My youngest child, Rose, age 14, taught me a lot during the height of the Pandemic last year. She was often at home or in the car with me, and the only places we patronized were drive- throughs. Rose always reminded me to greet the server with kindness, to ask them how their day was going, and to give a large tip. These simple acts of charity made an impact, not only on those that served us, but the shared joy impacted me as well. I found my day could be completely changed by treating each person I met as a friend, or “as another Christ” as St.

Mother Teresa said. We are all called to be kind, but we learned that in kindergarten. The Gospel calls us to care deeply about others, to serve each other, not just those in our homes, but those we meet every day.

This past year we received hundreds of donations for people in need across the globe, people our donors will probably never meet! To me, that’s an act of heroism. During the height of the pandemic, our brothers and sisters in East Africa were suffering, as we were, but more than that, the infrastructure in their towns and villages started to break down; The construction crew lost many of our best workers to illness. The hospital was over-run with patients, but we lacked medications and didn’t have enough doctors and nurses to care for the patients. The school had to close for a few months, leaving kids at home with no online learning or even textbooks. And yet, while our own country was suffering a great deal, you came forward and supported our projects in Bwambo and Ngujini Villages in Tanzania. Your simple acts of charity not only saved lives, but your support gave people hope.

And how was your donation used at our mission sites this past year?

• P4HT hired a local crew to cut their own lumber and build windows, doors, and framework for three new classrooms for our new St. John the Baptist Academy.

• Your donations helped that same local construction crew to refurbish the convent so that volunteer families have a place to stay.
• We were able to sponsor 25 kids who couldn’t otherwise attend our school.
• Two large water tanks were donated for the school dorms and kitchen.
• The long-awaited St. Elizabeth’s Maternity Center is finished! (now we need to stock it with medications and medical equipment ).
• 3 labor and delivery beds, 30 patient beds, and 30 bedside tables were purchased for the new maternity center.
• Dr. Mark Druffner, my husband, taught a three-day course to our entire medical staff and to 15 local midwives in infant resuscitation and safe labor and delivery practices.
• Two students were sponsored to go to medical school, two to nursing school, another to college for economics, and our very own Priest/Physician, Fr. Doctor Beda, went to graduate school in surgery.

• The Woman-2-Woman projects provided 30 new micro-loans for women-owned businesses, giving the three villages a total of 226 new businesses.

• I was able to meet with all of the Micro-loan recipients and hear about their needs and dreams for the future.
• St. Thomas the Apostle Church was completed, and Bishop Rogath Kimaryo, along with donors from the U.S. came to celebrate the inauguration.
• 280 teachers and 12 principals participated in our Addiction Education Program which trains teachers, religious, and catechists how to educate youth in abuses of alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. P4HT’s Hope-4-Health program is the first addiction education program of it’s kind in the country. (We are now raising funds to begin creating an in-patient and outpatient facility for those suffering from alcohol and drug addiction in the Kilimanjaro Region).
• Many of you donated the funds to build a Ginger Farming Barn for the village of Kirongwe, which now has 56 ginger farms (a very lucrative export business).

ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS!

If you haven’t had the chance to donate this Letnen season, kindly go to www.p4ht.org