Dear Friends,

My dear friend and fellow board member, Marian Myers took upon herself the challenge to provide desks for the village school where we had built classrooms serveral years ago. . She found help from Chester Lane who built and provided small ministure desks that she sold for a donation. On this last trip, I was able to present the desks to the school. You can link to the article from our local paper about this:

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=13154

Dr. John N. Chacha

Here is the story of how the great impact this had on Ntagacha:

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In western Tanzania, there is a small rural village of Ntagacha, with a story to tell. Ntagacha is a case of concern in terms of development and access to basic social services especially health and education. A quick tour to the village school just a month ago, would tell it all. Learning in Ntagacha School just like many other village schools, is a challenging, uphill task that leaves much to be desired. With only eight 8 teachers against 969 pupils and 79 desks to sit on, instruction has been both inspiring and of despair. However the school administration became creative enough to devise a ‘learning-in-shift’ system where pupils in grades three to seven had their classes in the morning hours of the day giving way for their younger brothers and sisters in classes one and two to attend school in the afternoon. Reducing classroom hours from the traditional full day may have its repercussions on pupil performance, but anyhow, it was better than none. One need not even argue about the quality of education being offered.

Four years ago, Teamwork Ministries Inc as part of adopting this community, took drastic steps to help change the school status and improve the learning facilities for a better future. The starting point was to build 7 new classrooms where a few walls had been started to be put up by parents but remained in total ruin for more than 15 years. Teamwork with full support of ministry friends help construct a water tank with hand pump for the school’s health program. The next move, according to the village chairman, Mr. Maroa Sinyaro, could not go unnoticed. With Teamwork donating 200 desks to help sort out the sitting crisis in the school, the chairman went out of his way to ensure the district office attended the handing over ceremony to witness the miracle unfold.

As the government officials shook hands with Dr. Chacha (founder and president of Teamwork Ministries) as sign of officially receiving the desks on behalf of the school, the community and the government, he reaffirmed his commitment to ensure City of Hope gets all manner of support that may be necessary for its success. He appreciated the worthy efforts of Teamwork Ministries in timely responding to the needs of the school and those of the community. This small act of kindness has made national news in the nation of Tanzania.

The donation of the 200 desks has drastically changed he learning atmosphere of Ntagacha school for better. Now three pupils can sit comfortably per desk and the school has reverted to the normal school program of full day classes. The school is doing good for the first time. Where before, most students dropped out by the seventh grade, more are going on to higher grades.

The community of Ntagacha wants to thank all those who helped their village and reached out to their children, impacting their future. They especially want to thank Marian Myers and Chester Lane for spearheading this project. They still don’t believe that another village so far away can reach out across the sea to show kindness such as this. We are hoping that more people will consider partnering with Teamwork Ministries in adopting this community to help bring transformation to a nation so devastated by poverty, Aids, malaria and other communicable diseases. There is a lack of basic necessities such as clean drinking water.

Currently Teamwork Ministries is building what we call: The City Of Hope, a small community within a community. Within The City of Hope we are building a hospital, a children’s home, and a training center. We are also starting a farm. This is a humanitarian effort and we need as much help as we can possibly get to reach our goal. We are estimating that it will cost us 3 million dollars to bring The City of Hope to fully functional status. The president of Tanzania will be officiating the opening of stage one of The City of Hope in February of 2009. We hope to have the first group of children move in by July this year. We know America has it’s own struggles but sometimes helping those who are less fortunate than us helps us to put our own problems in the right perspective. You can read more about The City of Hope at: www.citiesofhope.com or you can call: 632-8477.

Thank you and God Bless You,

Dr. John N. Chacha

To give online: www.teamworkministries.com/teamwork/donations

Building Team Mission
to the City of Hope

Youth and adults are needed for painting, building fences, landscaping, carpentry,
and building furniture.

We also need artists who can paint murals on school room walls.

Dates: July 23 - August 6th
cost: $2800 - youth
$3100 - Adults

2007 building team

www.citiesofhope.com