Remembering Moses
Moses would have been pleased.
He was buried last Tuesday. Many farmers from the surrounding towns came to his funeral. He worked for a small, Arusha-based NGO during the week. Through his training programs, he touched many lives. He was well liked by the farmers as he was always very patient with them during training and Q&A. I also notified the farmers in our weekend program, who live 5 hours away from Arusha, of his death. Most of the farmers in our program are broke and don’t even have any money to pay for seeds. I was moved when I heard about their plan to visit Moses’ family and collect a few coins to pay their tribute. His boss was devastated. He had reached out to his family and provided a lot of help with the funeral and the transport of Moses’ body.
Moses was probably about 5’ 2” and weighted no more than 90 or 100 pounds. I went on a field trip with his boss to see their work. That’s how I met Moses. He didn’t talk very much. I thought, initially, that he was just like other Tanzanians I know who were afraid to speak to their bosses.
Many of the Tanzanians I met were friendly but reserved. Moses was different. He spoke his mind which was one of the things that I liked about him. But he thought that’s why his boss was not fond of him.
When I first told him about my plan to help the farmers in the remote areas where few non-profit organizations would go, he was very excited. He had a good heart.
During our first trip to the village I was interested in, he came down with typhoid. Not only he showed up on time which is a rarity in TZ, but he declined my offer to cancel the trip. I had no clue what it was like to have typhoid. I learned later on that it made you feel very ill.
With him, I revisited a family I met from previous trip and found out that they were completely out of food and were eating leaves. I couldn’t hold back my tears when I learned that the grandfather had passed away. I saw Moses wiping his nose, and I knew he was crying, too.
Sometimes he got tired of traveling such a long distance to the village for training and would complain about it to me. But as soon as he found out that the farmers were frustrated with the new techniques, he rushed back to help them through the learning process. He was always more concerned about other people. And I was preoccupied with farmers’ food supply problems, and overlooked his challenges. It’s something that I would always regret.
At the funeral, we found out that he had been helping the children of his deceased brother with school tuitions and living expenses. Many Tanzanians would have used that to get sympathy and handout from foreign aid workers. He never mentioned it to any of us.
He once told me that he had problems getting dates so we would do role play and I would give him suggestions on how to get phone numbers from girls. It was one of the few light-hearted moments that we had. He was always striving for love and recognition. I wish he had known how much all of us respected him.
He would have been pleased.
He was buried last Tuesday. Many farmers from the surrounding towns came to his funeral. He worked for a small, Arusha-based NGO during the week. Through his training programs, he touched many lives. He was well liked by the farmers as he was always very patient with them during training and Q&A. I also notified the farmers in our weekend program, who live 5 hours away from Arusha, of his death. Most of the farmers in our program are broke and don’t even have any money to pay for seeds. I was moved when I heard about their plan to visit Moses’ family and collect a few coins to pay their tribute. His boss was devastated. He had reached out to his family and provided a lot of help with the funeral and the transport of Moses’ body.
Moses was probably about 5’ 2” and weighted no more than 90 or 100 pounds. I went on a field trip with his boss to see their work. That’s how I met Moses. He didn’t talk very much. I thought, initially, that he was just like other Tanzanians I know who were afraid to speak to their bosses.
Many of the Tanzanians I met were friendly but reserved. Moses was different. He spoke his mind which was one of the things that I liked about him. But he thought that’s why his boss was not fond of him.
When I first told him about my plan to help the farmers in the remote areas where few non-profit organizations would go, he was very excited. He had a good heart.
During our first trip to the village I was interested in, he came down with typhoid. Not only he showed up on time which is a rarity in TZ, but he declined my offer to cancel the trip. I had no clue what it was like to have typhoid. I learned later on that it made you feel very ill.
With him, I revisited a family I met from previous trip and found out that they were completely out of food and were eating leaves. I couldn’t hold back my tears when I learned that the grandfather had passed away. I saw Moses wiping his nose, and I knew he was crying, too.
Sometimes he got tired of traveling such a long distance to the village for training and would complain about it to me. But as soon as he found out that the farmers were frustrated with the new techniques, he rushed back to help them through the learning process. He was always more concerned about other people. And I was preoccupied with farmers’ food supply problems, and overlooked his challenges. It’s something that I would always regret.
At the funeral, we found out that he had been helping the children of his deceased brother with school tuitions and living expenses. Many Tanzanians would have used that to get sympathy and handout from foreign aid workers. He never mentioned it to any of us.
He once told me that he had problems getting dates so we would do role play and I would give him suggestions on how to get phone numbers from girls. It was one of the few light-hearted moments that we had. He was always striving for love and recognition. I wish he had known how much all of us respected him.
He would have been pleased.
posted by Nancy at 11:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home