Volunteers recall ‘unbelievable’ trip to Mto Wa Mbu
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John McCauley, Marie O’Toole and other volunteers.Image 2 of 4
Ruth O’Connor took glasses out for the elders.Image 3 of 4
Áine Shaw, Caoimhe McGee and Maura Buckley having a bit of craic on the day volunteers played locals in a football match.Image 4 of 4
Teams in the locals vs volunteers match.Marie O’Toole and Caoimhe McGee are two of the volunteers who joined John McCauley on the annual Tanzania visit. They had what could only be described as the trip of a lifetime, one that opened their eyes to the poverty that exists in the world and the privileges we enjoy here in Ireland.
The two travelled to Mto Wa Mbu in a group of 20 under the leadership of John McCauley and the charity Tanzanian Heavenly Homes.
They worked with the elderly residents of the Senior Hope home, which gives the elderly residents a level of care they wouldn’t otherwise have.
Marie O’Toole said: “I had no idea of what we were going to encounter but I found it absolutely unbelievable. The abject poverty – we have no idea how the people have to live there.”
It was those living conditions of some of the villagers that really shocked Marie. “There were lots of people living in tiny huts with no running water, no electricity, and barely the means to survive. But what I would say is that despite the lack of what we would consider basic essentials, they all seemed happy and they all seemed thankful for the help we gave them.”
The Senior Hope home exists to older people’s lives easier by providing clean, heated accommodation with showers, three meals a day and their own beds.
Before their arrival, volunteers were given names of residents at the home to make care packages for. “I had a woman named Monica, I’m Marie she’s Monica, I brought her a little chain with an M on it. I brought her some clothes, small gifts, toiletries, cosmetics and some biscuits and stuff like that.”
Marie said a fellow volunteer had brought some truly life changing presents. “One of the girls on the team with us was an optometrist and she brought hundreds of pairs of glasses. She was able to check the eyesight of some of the elderly people that we met and gave them glasses.
“So for the first time some of them saw clearly for the first time in years.”
Marie also recalled the joy on the elders’ faces as some took a bus journey (see main article) for the first time and waved out the window.
Caoimhe McGee, another volunteer on this year’s trip, agreed with that: “Seeing them on the bus all excited and waving at everybody and all the kids as we drove down the lane to the resort we went to was unbelievable.”
Caoimhe is 19 and described the trip as an “unforgettable” experience, but there was a moment during one of the house calls that really moved her. “We saw an awful lot on the food runs, it was raw and rough at times. In particular there was one lady, only 17 years old and she had a nine-month-old baby, and her mother passed away two days before we visited. Being 19 years old, close in age to her, I think that one really hit home for me.
“We came back to our accommodation that night and we put together a little care package for her. One of the other girls that came on the trip with us, Maura, printed off pictures of the girl and her baby. She’d never seen a picture of her and her baby together so we framed that and gave it to her.”
Over the 15 days Caoimhe spent a lot of time with the elderly residents of Senior Hope. “We got on really well. We were playing cards with them and Connect Four was a popular one with some of the men there.
“They were all competitive, like us, and the kids were lovely as well, so it was hard to say goodbye to a lot of them.”
Bonds were forged and Caoimhe said she and a few fellow volunteers are planning to meet up again. Asked if she’d do it again, she said: “Definitely. I think John nearly has a plane full for next year with the people who went this year.”
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