I had an occasion this past week to attend a fund raiser at a local church for STEMM. STEMM is an acronym for the Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries. Before I go any further with this article, I want you to know that this is not a way of getting you to donate to STEMM, but STEMM was the inspiration for me to write this article.
Tanzania is a south central African country that is extremely poor. Their education system is, by American standards, very unorganized, underfunded and is certainly not a priority for their children. The Tanzanian government provides schooling through the 6th grade. After that, children and families are pretty much on their own, unless they can afford to attend either a government school or a private school, which are only located in larger villages and towns. In Iowa, our high school graduation rate is superb, around 96% and is higher in Okoboji. The high school graduation rate in Tanzania is less than 8%.
Richard Hildebrand, a retired teacher from the Spirit Lake district, has been to Tanzania several times working on building schools and orphanages. When he goes there, he takes a large suitcase of items that most people here in Iowa would consider trinkets: balloons, pencils, matchbox cars, etc. He gives them to the children and they are thrilled. He bought a toy (or what the kids considered a toy) from one of the Tanzanian children for about 45 cents. It was a ball, made of plastic sacks and wrapped with a piece of string. Richard does good work there, and I’m proud to call him a friend.
So why would I write an article about uneducated orphans in Tanzania? Simply to contrast our schools with their schools. They have so little and we have so much. At what point is enough, enough? How do we distinguish between wants and needs? Look, I understand this because when my own kids were growing up, I wanted to provide for them the best of everything, including the name brand clothing, the latest electronics, and a better car. You get the picture. Then I contrast that with a six year old orphan who is thrilled to get a pencil or a balloon. It’s just incredible--the differences between our country and theirs, our schools and theirs, our lives and theirs.
Even though this situation is so overwhelming, my first commitment is to the students of the Okoboji Community Schools. We are so very fortunate in this district to have such caring staff members, such good kids, and parents that care about the welfare and education of their children. We are blessed to live in a community where education is valued. We continue to grow as a district, to provide for our students the best education possible. We will continue monitoring our budgets striving to give our teachers what they need, which may not always be everything they want.
The picture that was on our table of the little boy from Arusha is still etched in my mind. When I look at our little ones who attend the elementary school, I wonder if they realize how lucky they are to be living in our country, our state, our town and our school district. Thank you parents and community people for supporting our schools, and in turn, supporting the young people that attend them. It is with great pride that I say I work for the Okoboji Community Schools and the source of that pride is because of the support from the parents and the community. I can’t thank you enough.
