Farewell, Connie & George

A day wasn’t enough time to say goodbye to JBFC’s latest long-term volunteers. After hugs, tears and well wishes were exchanged at JBFC’s flagship campus in Kitongo, half a dozen residential girls went with Connie Blaum and George Landrum to the airport 45 minutes away for a final farewell.

“There are no words to describe how sad I am to leave JBFC,” Blaum stated. The Louisiana native served as an art teacher at JBFC’s Joseph & Mary Primary School, a hostess and kitchen manager at JBFC’s restaurant, Papa’s, as well as took on a variety of other roles.

“We have become a family in the past year with the girls and staff,” Blaum continued. “It has truly been the best year of my life.”

In addition to acting as the guest coordinator, teaching a public speaking class at Joseph & Mary’s secondary school and starting a book club for the JBFC residential girls, George Landrum’s skills on the soccer pitch will be sorely missed by the JBFC girls. 15-year-old Neema Ramadahni, who is captain of JBFC’s girls soccer team, tearfully told Landrum how much she will miss him at soccer practice.

“We are all incredibly sad to see both George and Connie leave Tanzania today,” JBFC Executive Director, Chris Gates said.

“It was a very hard goodbye, because they have become a part of our JBFC family throughout this past year,” Gates continued. Their presence will definitely be missed, but we will always remember them by their footprint they left on JBFC.”

“George and Connie have added a great deal of light and laughter to the JBFC campus,” added JBFC Assistant Director, Kayci Hebard. “The girls and staff have grown to love them both. They are leaving big shoes to fill.”

When Blaum and Landrum decided to spend a year abroad, they originally were considering  a program in the Marshall Islands. But a conversation with another JBFC volunteer changed their plans. Landrum calls his time at JBFC the experience of a lifetime.

“For any of you who have either the time or means to contribute to JBFC, I encourage you to do something, anything, to help improve the lives of these girls and this community,” he said.

“You don't have to be a specialist to make a difference. I am a ref and business major and I was still able to contribute, improve, and bring joy to the lives of these 43 young ladies.”

Click here for more information about volunteering.

First Time at JBFC: Getting to Know the Girls

On our second night, we walked over to the Girls' Home dining room to meet the girls and have dinner. Having been warned that the girls would be shy at first, I pulled out a children's book I'd brought along, about Lazy Lion who can't be bothered to build himself a house for shelter from the Big Rains, and was surrounded by 4-5 girls.

 I read the book out loud first, and then asked the kids to take turns reading. Several different groups of kids drifted in and out, so we probably went through the book three or four times as children jockeyed for position and I tried to keep the book in the light so we could all see.

 Then I asked the children around me how old they were, and I shared pictures of my children that I had brought with me (picking apples, at a pumpkin patch, in our crayon Halloween costumes), and showed them a campus poster of Deerfield.  Danny, one of Chris' sons,  pointed to the Civil War memorial that is shown on the poster, which led to an impromptu history lesson, and I was impressed with his understanding and curiosity.  

The children had all changed out of their school clothes and played around the room until mealtime was announced. Dinner was cooked cornmeal, which the kids balled up with their fingers like playdough and dipped into beans, and some delicious cooked greens. 

After dinner the girls arranged themselves into four rows and sang several songs for us in amazing range and harmony (a couple in English and a couple in Swahili), and then led us through a prayer session... "Praise the Lord - Amen! Praise Him Again - Amen!" 

This is a series of blogs written by Julia Rivellino-Lyons, a history teacher from Deerfield Academy in Massachussetts, describing some of her experiences from her first visit to JBFC’s campus in Tanzania. Julia is part of a team of five teachers from Deerfield who are spending their two-week Spring Break learning about JBFC and helping train JBFC teachers.