What We're Thankful For - By the JBFC Girls

This is the time of year when we give thanks for our many blessings. As Thanksgiving approaches, we asked the girls of JBFC what they're most thankful for this holiday season.

 

I am thankful for God.
Elizabeth, 17















I am thankful for school.
Ana, 16

I am thankful for books and reading.
Zai, 10












I am thankful for food.
Abby, 12









I am thankful for school.
Pelu, 15












I am thankful for our donors.
Neema R., 17













I am thankful for God and family.
Vero, 18
















I am thankful for games.
Rachel, 9











On behalf of all of the girls, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. We are so grateful to have an extended family that spans the globe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Creating Global Citizens

Traveling across six states in three weeks can definitely take its toll. But nothing lightens the burden of travel more than running into old friends and family. JBFC is blessed to have so many friends around the country, many of them high school volunteers. Many of these volunteers have opted to become JBFC Ambassadors, which is basically their commitment to raise money and awareness to help JBFC continue its work in Tanzania.

It is incredibly uplifting to see all of our JBFC ambassadors and hear how their experience at JBFC has changed their life in some way. While it’s not explicitly part of JBFC’s mission, our role of creating global citizens is something we hold very near and dear to our hearts. It is central to our founding. An experience like the one we offer young people across the world is how I first fell in love with Tanzania, and that one experience ultimately led me to founding JBFC.

When I was in kindergarten, I stood up during career day and told everyone I wanted to work as an exotic animal veterinarian in the Serengeti National Wildlife Park in Tanzania, East Africa. It’s that dream that led to my first trip to Tanzania with my grandmother. She was the woman who dangled my prized safari as a way to get me to commit to two weeks of service, which led to my love for Tanzania and its people, which ultimately led to the founding of JBFC. 



It’s a story about the power of service (and strong-willed grandmothers); one that I hope inspires both young and old. And it’s a story I see reflected in the eyes of the young volunteers who come see me every summer. Anytime someone visits the JBFC campus, it is clear that change is possible. It is clear that one person can make a difference. And it is clear that if YOU don't get off the couch (or put down your iPhone) to make a difference, no one else will. 


And I’m proud to say this message is taking root with JBFC’s volunteers and ambassadors. When I was at a JBFC event in New York, I ran into a mother whose daughter visited JBFC three years ago. She told me that even though several years have passed, since her daughter’s trip to Tanzania, it’s still a part of her life and she talks about the girls all the time. She told me her daughter is now passionate about helping people and changing the world. She says her daughter’s college education has been shaped by those passions, and this mother says she knows the moment when her daughter’s perspective on the world changed – three years ago when she returned from JBFC.

And then there are our more recent ambassadors, who have not only taken our message to heart, but put it in action. Emily Wilson, a senior at Holland Hall in Tulsa, set out to raise enough money to pay for a handicapped bathroom so her friends with special needs would have it a little easier. Through her Art for Africa project, Emily has now raised more than $12,000 – which is enough for the bathroom and a biogas system to help JBFC produce its own energy and keep our costs low.

In Bronxville, NY, senior Nina McManus raised $18,000 to share the joy of reading. She asked her family and friends to support her project to purchase eReaders for JBFC students so they could have more access to reading materials.











Ellie Hanrahan, also from Bronxville, NY, teamed up with her friend Brian Forst and raised more than $40,000 to help JBFC finish its secondary school. Now, she’s coordinating a pen pal project between Bronxville 3rd graders and the girls of JBFC.

 

From Holland Hall senior, Sara Jones, who traded birthday presents this year in favor of asking friends and family members to give a donation to JBFC instead, to the 5th graders at Bronxville elementary school who ran dozens of laps to raise thousands for JBFC – we are humbled and impressed.




These are just a few examples of dozens of projects Ambassadors have done and are doing to help make sure we’re alleviating extreme poverty in Tanzania. Many have some amazing projects planned for this holiday season and next year to accomplish a variety of projects on JBFC’s campus. All of our Ambassadors have shown great ingenuity, dedication, and true passion to help JBFC make a difference. 

And it’s a difference that not only reverberates throughout JBFC, but throughout the world. Our ambassadors are growing up to become global citizens. Young adults who see the world’s problems not with apathy, but with empathy; not as threats, but as opportunities.

This Thanksgiving, I give thanks for our many volunteers, ambassadors, and supporters. I am grateful for my grandmother who made me a global citizen and whose legacy lives on through those who take up the mantle of global service. And, I am thankful the JBFC experience remains a life-changing moment for hundreds of volunteers, no matter their age.


If you're interested in volunteering at JBFC, please click here for more information.

Chris Gates is JBFC's Founder & Executive Director.

JBFC: Turning Need into Opportunity

During Chris and my recent fundraising trip, I heard someone refer to Africa as a “bottomless pit” of need.

The phrase snapped me into mental alertness. It didn’t set right with me. And I couldn’t figure out why.

True, there is a lot of need in Africa.

JBFC’s home of Tanzania is one of the most impoverished countries in the world. We, as an organization, are constantly struggling with how we can meet the most need without sacrificing the needs of the people we’re already helping.

But, “bottomless pit”?

And then I realized why the statement didn’t ring true for me.

It’s because that’s not JBFC. That’s not what we’re building in our little corner of the world.

When you give to JBFC, you’re not tossing your dollars into a bottomless pit of need. We’re not just feeding the hungry – which we do, serving 128,000 meals last year – we’re helping a community develop the tools and trades to feed themselves.

At last year’s JBFC fundraiser, we had 15 people buy a tile to purchase chickens for our campus. With that $375 donation, we bought and raised 53 broiler chickens and sold them for $535. That’s a 40% return on their investment.

And that’s just the return on the dollars. That doesn’t count how many people we employ on our farms, who can now provide for their families. That doesn’t count how our 43 girls know more about raising poultry, cooking poultry, and learning how to manage a farm to not only feed themselves, but also turn a profit.

That’s not bottomless need – that’s a priceless opportunity.


I look around our 69-acre campus in Tanzania and I see it time and time again.

Our girls learning restorative agriculture techniques that they're applying to their own vegetable gardens.

Our Mamas learning new ways to cook, so they can better utilize produce like kale, that’s being grown in our backyard.

Our solar freezer full of meat – just one cow can feed our entire home and employees for six weeks.

Because of your purposeful donations, we haven’t bought any meat or produce in 7 weeks – because we have raised and grown everything we need. And our children are healthier for it.

And the ripple effects don’t stop there – our village has been enriched. Not just because JBFC provides jobs, employing 69 people full-time and another 120 part-time or on a contract basis. No, we’re an employer, we’re a market for goods and services, we’re an educator and training site, and we’re an example of what can be done.

And it’s starting to pay off.

There’s still need. There are still little girls who need homes. There are still too many kids piled into classrooms at our village school.

 But there are also more tin roofs in our village where there only used to be grass huts. Our managers have started their own businesses that are contributing to the Tanzanian economy. Our students are bringing their lessons in nutrition and farming home and they’re growing stronger and better fed.

 Our rising tide is raising all ships.

 And there’s no bottomless pit in sight.

Ashli Sims is JBFCs Director of Development. She joined the team in 2012, after volunteering with the organization for four years. 

JBFC Through the Eyes of Volunteers

JBFC hosted a photo exhibit and silent auction on Saturday in Tulsa, featuring photographs taken by some of our volunteers last summer. Here's just a sample of a few photos they captured. And in the volunteers' own words why the pictures and the moments behind them are so special.

Breaking Barriers
By Emily Wilson, Holland Hall

To me, this picture epitomizes the relationships that guests form with the girls at JBFC. It depicts our differences, whether they be differences in skin color, class, or language. But regardless of where you come from or the language you speak, the girls at JBFC welcome everyone, and it's impossible for us visitors not to adore them.

Jackie Reading
By Emma Owens, Cascia Hall

This picture reminds me of all of the girls' desire to learn, gratitude for the opportunity to be educated, and perseverance in the classroom. Every time I see it, I am motivated to excel so one day I can hopefully bring the tools back go JBFC and make it a better place.

Abby
By Anna Sokolosky, Holland Hall

I absolutely love this picture of Abby, this was taken on Watoto Africa (Children of Africa Day), while she was enjoying her new goodies!

Esther with Sunglasses
By Leigh Chevaillier, Cascia Hall

Esther, a sassy, loving, and fun 5 year old, is able to grow up with a family who loves her unconditionally. She is able to enjoy the lovely things of being a five year old like wearing a new pair of sunglasses and not having a worry in the world.

 

Thank you to all of the JBFC Ambassadors - Camille Sokolosky, Will Jezek, Nancy Baumann, Anna Sokolosky, Emma Owens, Emily Wilson, Leigh Chevaillier - who participated in last Saturday's event and all of those generous friends who bid on and purchased photos during the silent auction.
 

Homestay: My Week Living Like a Local

Last week I spent a week with our campus manager, Mzee Kitula and his family in order to immerse myself in the language and culture of Tanzania. So Monday after work, I began the mile walk to Mzee Kitula’s house with him. We got off to a slow start as Chris’s dog Maggie would not stop following us! We both had to stop and tell her to go home several times and she still kept turning around and following us. Finally we had to call for Seth to come call her home so we could make our way.


Upon arrival at his house, the kids greeted me and carried my things inside the house. I met Mama Kitula for the first time, and even though she spoke no English and my Swahili is elementary and choppy at best, she welcomed me into their home with open arms. That evening as she prepared dinner, I played American music for their numerous kids on my iPhone.  We had ugali for dinner, which I had eaten at JBFC, but always with a fork. This time it was authentic, we each pulled ugale from a pile as big as a Thanksgiving turkey, and then formed makeshift spoons with our hand to dip into meat stew. Mama Kitula kept telling me to eat more and more despite my claims that I was full. “Bado” or not yet she said in Swahili.

After dinner and our evening chai, Mama Kitula showed me to my bedroom. She tucked me into bed and then tucked the mosquito net around my mattress tighter than I’ve ever seen anyone ever tuck a mosquito net in my life. I guess that’s not saying much since I’ve only been sleeping under mosquito nets for about seven weeks of my life. The next morning I took my first bucket shower, which honestly wasn’t that bad, and despite my fears I was able to shampoo and rinse my hair with plenty of water to spare!



The next night, I sat with Mama Kitula as she prepared dinner and the older kids came over and asked me about America. “How is it different from Tanzania?” I really struggled to answer this question, I didn’t want to glorify the US or make Tanzania sound inferior. Every example I thought of at first would have done that though. I initially thought of the roads, the suburban houses, cable television, plumbing and electricity. I stuck with telling them more about the weather, the four seasons and the landscape of the various regions of the United States. The question stuck with me the next day though and I thought long and hard about how I could have better answered the question.

On my last night of my homestay, it was raining cats and dogs. It was amazing to watch the kids hustle and bustle around the yard gathering rain water in buckets. The two youngest boys that attend Joseph and Mary were busy washing their school uniforms in the water collected from the rain gutter on the house.

The next morning, the girls were doing the dishes from the night before, the younger boys were
sweeping the entire yard of the debris from the storm, the middle boy was helping Mzee Kitula herd the cattle into the cattle pen, and the oldest son was returning from the community well on a bicycle loaded with buckets of water. All of this before school, all before 7 am.



It was then that I was ready to answer their question from a couple of nights before. The United States does have more paved roads than Tanzania and nearly every house has running water, electricity and cable. But lots of kids in the U.S. take all of that for granted. They may grow up not ever learning the value of hard work or the value of a dollar until they are on their own as an adult. They don’t know what it’s like to have to go fetch your family’s daily supply of water at 6 in the morning. They don’t have that sense of accomplishment at such a young age.

So, while life in the US may seem easier to some, it was in my week at Mzee Kitula’s that made me truly come to respect the way Tanzanians raise their families. Raising them to be strong, self-sufficient, capable human beings but also allowing them to have fun and be children.

Blogger Melinda Wulf is JBFC's new Administrative Director. She moved to Tanzania to work for the organization in October. 

JBFC on the Road

Twice a year, JBFC goes on the road. Every November (and April), I leave my home in Tanzania and come back to my home country to visit friends and family, connect with our incredible network of supporters, and spread the word about JBFC.

We fly, drive, and catch trains in nearly half a dozen states in at least two different time zones. It’s a whirlwind of speeches and seminars, coffees and conference calls, and hugs and handshakes. It’s exhilarating and I’ll readily admit a little exhausting at times, but well worth it if we can convince one more person to help us in our fight to end extreme rural poverty in Tanzania. Here’s a little glimpse of what we’ve been up to this trip:

Miles Traveled This Trip: Roughly 18,580 Miles (Give or take a few)

U.S. States Visited: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts; Next Stop: Oklahoma




Masters School, NY

Speeches Given: 7 in 9 days



JBFC Ambassadors in Bronxville, NY

People I’ve talked to about JBFC: 1,050 in 9 days

 

 

Tower Hill School, Wilmington, DE

 

 

Travel Buddy: Ashli Sims, JBFC’s Director of Development and briefly my parents, Carene & Ron Gates who joined us for the Delaware leg

Road Trips: 2 and we’re making our 3rd up to Deerfield, Massachusetts at the writing of this blog.








U.S. Senators I've talked to about JBFC: 1 - Sen. Chris Coons, from Delaware


Funniest Question Asked: "Aren't there really big scorpions there?" - A Bronxville, NY 5th Grader



Number of times my boys have called since I left Tanzania: 3

Staff emails I’ve received since I left Tanzania:



Number of times we’ve shown the JBFC video: 6 times

Number of technical difficulties with the JBFC Video: Only 1!!!!


A big thank you to all of our hosts in the U.S. – Margaret & Andy Paul, Ruth & Mark Wood, Andrew Jones and his parents for hosting the Bronxville Ambassadors, Jenny Brorsen, Kelly & David Gates, Deerfield Academy, Tower Hill School, Masters School, Bronxville Schools, Penny Ashford for the beautiful photos at our Delaware event, Gail & Brian Frederick of Joseph Frederick & Sons, who donated our beautiful event space in Delaware, Jim Agnello, Sarah Lawrence College, Jake Dollarhide of Longbow Management who will soon host us in Tulsa, Ok and last but not least my loving parents – Carene & Ron Gates.

Find more JBFC on the Road pictures on Facebook and Instagram.

I’ll be back in April. If you would like me to come speak to your school or church, please email info@jbfc-online.org.

 

Reflections after 6 Months

 

 

Many times on many given days, I often think to myself that I am one of the luckiest people in the world. Most often, it happens in the evenings: when the girls are singing, or playing, or cooking dinner, and the sun is setting perfectly to the west over the hills on the back side of our campus.

There is something mystifying- surreal- perfect- about the girls voices coupled with the purple and orange sky (anyone who has ever visited JBFC knows what I am talking about- the problems of the day simply go away, even if just for a few minutes). They often say that when you take a new job, just as with many things in life, there is a "honeymoon" period in which everything is perfect; my days at JBFC are far from perfect- there are frustrations, delays, I make mistakes, people get mad at me, I get mad at people.

 

 As of next week, I will have have been at JBFC for six months and though I am way, way, way, beyond any type of honeymoon, I still feel as though I am one of the luckiest people in the world.

As I hit that six month mark as well as the holiday season, I thought it would be good to reflect, and I suppose try to figure out, why it is that I am so lucky and to make sure that I appreciate these
blessings.

 

 First, I get to spend every single day with an amazing team- drinking coffee, planning, and learning with Chris, walking at near sprint pace with Mzee Kitula from one building or repair project to the next, working with Rachel to try to cheer up or teach a girl who had a bad day at school, going over staff evaluations with Mr. Samo while he simultaneously puts on his tennis shoes in preparation for an afternoon match with one of his students, having "WhatsApp"conversations with Ashli and "gmail" conversations with Carene.

 

Whether it be any of them, or Melinda, or Kayci, or Amanda, I have been so blessed to work with and learn from such amazing people. I have been equally blessed by the many other people that I have gotten to work with over the course of the past six months- the Vanderbilt interns who greeted me on my first day, the Holland Hall and Bronxville high school volunteers, the several Board members (Kristen, Jim, Wilson, and Paul), the perma-culture and arm-wrestling pros, the many educators, the wanderers who happened onto JBFC's campus (there have been many), and now or lone volunteer, Elisa. There truly aren't better people in the world (other than maybe Mama Mary, Getruda, Mama Emma, Emma, Mama Maggie, Kanaeli, Fatuma, John,and so many other local

employees).

 Second, I have been able to see JBFC grow, prosper, and affect positive social change since the day I arrived here. In these short six months, hard work and generosity came together to finish both JBFC's
bathroom, long a dream, is nearly ready for use, as is the new pig pen. New poly-culture rows, essential to JBFC's goal of sustainability, have been planted and the existing ones continue to amaze. An entire 7th grade class passed their national exams (no small feat in Tanzania). A Joseph and Mary Form Two (9th grade) class took their national exams for the first time.

Now, to be honest, to be a part of all of that alone would make anyone pretty lucky. But for me, and anyone who has ever worked, volunteered, or visited JBFC, it isn't even close to the best part.

I, and so many other lucky ones, get to spend nearly every day with 43 of the most amazing girls in the world (and four kinda-cool boys). I have had the chance, the opportunity, the blessing, to build
friendships with 47 superstars who I now consider nothing short of family. I could list a special memory, or moment, that I have had with each of them but that would take forever, so here are a few.

Afternoons playing "poteza" (a Tanzanian version of the American backyard game "500") with Gertruda, Bhoke, Yuge, Neema (x3), Shida, Zai, Salome, Yonga, kind of Esther, Rachel, and all the other little ones.

 

 

 Team arm wrestling with Zai, Salome, Dotto and myself versus the world.     An ongoing joke that randomly started one day with Leticia and I in which we pretend for about 10 minutes at a time that we are the oldest friends in the world and sit naming off fake names, places, memories, and events from years ago.

An on-again-off-again friendship with Neema Ramadan in which we talk, laugh, and joke every day for a week, and then she won't talk to me for the whole following week (and I still say nice things about her even though she will never look at me when I try to take her picture for Ashli).

Hanging out in the afternoons talking about books, reading, writing, politics, and world events with Elizabeth.


 Being Pili's first soap customer for her new Ziwani Soaps business and hearing her say, with a tear in

Their smiles make me happy, their tears make me sad, and their laughs make my world.

her eye, "Wow, I am so proud."

Their smiles make me happy, their tears make me sad, and their laughs make my world.
















Blogger Seth Diemond is JBFC's Campus Director, who is responsible for managing day-to-day operations on our 65-acre campus in Kitongo, Tanzania.


Special thanks again to photographer, Elisa Masso (www.elisamariephoto.com), who took several of the beautiful pictures featured in this blog.