Anna, who I have sponsored since 2006, has felt like a distant part of our family for a long time now. I love receiving her letters and pictures and sending gifts, but it’s always been my ambition to visit her. When my husband Colin announced he wanted to climb Kilimanjaro for his 50th birthday (not my type of celebration if I’m honest) I decided that in fact this could be my chance to visit Anna.
Two days after Colin and my daughter Erica successfully reached the summit of Kili, we were collected by Fabian from the World Vision Arusha office and headed off on our three day round trip. I can’t lie – it was a long drive, but eye-opening as we passed vast dusty plains, lots of villages and groups of giggling children, getting a glimpse of this beautiful country. It gave us plenty of time to chat with Fabian and fully understand all the hard work that goes into an Area Development Programme (ADP).
We awoke the following morning with a little trepidation but generally full of excitement for the day ahead. The two hour drive to Kilimatinde ADP was a breeze compared with the previous day, primarily due to the fact my dream was about to come true. On arrival at the ADP office we were greeted warmly and introduced to the staff. Munching chapatti, eggs, cake and tea, I hadn’t really appreciated the scale of the task they have with all the sponsored children. In Kilimatinde ADP there are around 2,000 children of which about half have sponsors. Each child has their own file which is updated each time a member of staff visits them each month, with copies of all correspondence that is sent and received, pictures and notes of the gifts. A mammoth task which is carried out by around 15 people!
Then to the part we were most excited about – meeting Anna. Anna lived only a few minutes’ drive away but down a very rough side road. We arrived at the head of the track to Anna’s house and were led down in between some buildings to the temporary home that Anna and her family occupied in the village, their main house being a few kilometres away near the area they farm. We were introduced to her Mum and Dad and then from behind them, Anna appeared. I was worried that I wouldn’t recognise her as the last photo I’d received had been a year ago, however she looked exactly like all of the photos I’ve seen of her, just a year older. Of course- why on earth would she look any different!
She was a bit over-awed by all the people that had suddenly arrived and was initially very shy. We were invited into their home and we all sat down for a chat. Anna’s Father started the proceedings by disappearing into another small room and returning with a small photo album and envelope in which he had stored all the letters, postcards and photographs I’d ever sent.
It was really moving to know that the family felt so strongly about our connection despite the thousands of miles between us.
Fabian translated for us and we talked a bit about the Family’s farming of maize and groundnuts (peanuts). They’d had a reasonably good harvest this year and the short rainy season was approaching (there’s a long rainy season too). Anna showed us her school books and said that her favourite subject was English - I’m not sure if that was just for our benefit! Her English book was most impressive and she’d been learning punctuation. All her apostrophes were in the correct places and she’d solved some hideous equations– red ticks on every page. She’s a clever girl. She told us she’d like to be a policewoman when she’s older, although she did change her mind and said maybe a teacher.
We’d taken some gifts for Anna and her family which we handed out, as well as a few games for Anna to share with her friends. One of the items that was of particular interest was a huge football that poor Fabian had to pump up! We were given a huge bag of groundnuts the whole family had farmed. We opened them immediately and shared them around and Anna’s Father was delighted that we loved them.
As we neared the end of our visit we all went outside to visit their goats. Goat milk obviously plays a big part in their diet, as I’m sure goat meat does too. We took some lovely photos of all of us and then it was time to head to the ADP offices to have lunch with Anna, which was lovely as it gave us a little longer to spend getting to know her. We had a lovely meal of rice and meat with fresh bananas for dessert.
After a very busy day, it was an emotional goodbye with hugs all round, but we waved goodbye as we drove away from Kilimatinde, knowing that we all had created such special memories. To have seen the difference World Vision makes to individuals and also whole communities is a truly outstanding achievement.
Are you feeling inspired to travel to Tanzania and visit your own sponsored child? Maybe you sponsor a child with World Vision and want to share an exciting day with them. Find out more about meeting your sponsored child »
