A Beacon of Hope
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Teamwork Ministries International was founded by Dr. John N. Chacha, a native of East Africa who has lived in the United States for many years. In 1985, Chacha returned to his home in Kenya after attending an American university. It was in Kenya that he learned of the desperate need for Christian leaders in Third World countries. He felt there weren't enough opportunities for potential leaders to be taught the principles of leadership and trained in the word of God.
Chacha returned to the United States, determined to take up this cause. He established Teamwork Ministries with the help of Dr. Slaydon and Marian Myers, a family that he met in his American hometown of Martinsville, Virginia. "I went to the town that [the Myers] live in, and they had the Bible study in their home," Chacha said. The Myers were well known throughout the community, and Chacha felt they were the right people to talk to: "I believe the people that surround you determine what you become. I wanted to be surrounded by winners, and that's what they were."
With the Myers help, Chacha managed to raise money to finance Bible schools around the world. With these funds, Teamwork Ministries created Teamwork Bible College International, a program that offers affordable, church-based education and basic training for Christian leaders close to home. TBCI has distributed books on leadership in more than 50 nations, and has held training programs in more than a dozen countries.
Now Teamwork Ministries is taking on the challenge of building the City of Hope. This organization will serve as a haven for orphans who have lost their parents to the AIDS epidemic that is currently tearing through Africa. Located in western Tanzania in a remote town called Ntagatcha, the completed city will include a training center, a medical hospital, a farm, a high school, a Bible school, and an orphanage. The organization aims to raise about three million dollars to build the city, and hopes to have it finished by the end of 2009 after three years of construction.
So far, Teamwork Ministries has managed to acquire land, recruit volunteers from the local community, and finish building the orphanage and the city's headquarters. It has also begun construction on the medical center, which will include an outpatient clinic, operating rooms, a maternity center, and inpatient beds. Within the next year, the organization hopes to furnish the mission center and orphanage, continue construction on the hospital, and start building the Bible school and dairy farm.
Yet the recent outbreak of civil war in Kenya may hinder this goal. Due to the war, construction of the city is a little behind schedule. Many of the city's supplies come from Kenya as Ntagatcha is just a stone's throw away from the Kenyan border. When fighting began, the price of supplies tripled overnight, which forced Teamwork to raise its budget. Fortunately, the war has only affected the city financially, and despite this setback, Teamwork plans to have children living in the city by July of this year.
The process of building the City of Hope depends entirely on private funding. If the money stops flowing, so does production, thus fundraising is a vital part of the program. Although construction of the city relies heavily on financial support, it will be completely self-sufficient once order is established. The city's income will come from the farm's livestock and crop sales, as well as the skills that the children will develop in school. Chacha hopes that the city will serve as a place to train future leaders of Africa.
One of the city's biggest fundraisers has been selling miniature replicas of the desks that now furnish the school. These pint-sized models were created by Chester Lane, a retired shop teacher and avid supporter of Teamwork Ministries from Martinsville, Virginia. The desks were sold for $25 and the proceeds went towards purchasing new desks for the school. Prior to Teamwork's donation, the local school had only 75 desks for 900 students and eight teachers. "If you got a desk, it was your lucky day. If not, you got the floor," Chacha said. "[When we first visited the school,] we looked at the desks and said 'We can change this.'"
And two months ago, they did just that. In early March, Chacha traveled to Ntagatcha to present the children with 300 desks that were purchased with the profits from Lane's efforts. The event was such a big deal that it made Tanzania's national news! Surplus funds from the sale of the desks went toward construction of the school's roof, and Teamwork Ministries is continuing to sell the mini replicas to raise funds for other areas of construction.
In December of 2007, the Myers family brought fundraising efforts for the City of Hope to Darien. Marian's son Jefferson Myers and his wife, Clare, are board members for the organization, as well as directors of its Darien chapter. Thanks to the Myers endeavors, nearly $70,000 has been raised for the City of Hope in Darien alone.
The Myers's daughter Charlotte, a junior at DHS, is getting involved as well. As youth director of the City of Hope, Charlotte began to organize fundraising for the city in January of this year. She brought together a group of friends who came up with ideas for fundraisers that are set to take place in the next couple of months. One of these events will include a town-wide lemonade stand, and the group plans to sell City of Hope t-shirts designed by DHS junior Helen Robinson. A dance for the kids from Middlesex Middle School, with ticket sales going towards the City of Hope, is also a possibility. In addition, Charlotte and several others involved in fundraising for the City of Hope plan to travel to Ntagatcha for two weeks this summer to help continue construction on the city.
When asked what he hopes to achieve by building the City of Hope, Chacha said, "The failure of poverty does not start in your pocket. It starts with the mindset. To just give orphans food or a bed does not change their situation. The City of Hope is about changing that mindset. It's about transforming a society and making a difference in our generation." The City of Hope is also meant to serve as a model for other communities. "We want to duplicate it, make a hundred Cities of Hope across Africa," Chacha said.
Chacha hopes to get more young Americans involved in the cause as well. "American youth has the potential to change a nation," Chacha said. "Instead of spending $25 on a pizza, you can spend $25 to train a leader of a nation." Charlotte is just one of the many teenaged youths getting involved in the city's cause, "It's a great organization for kids who are really deserving. I think it's a revolutionary concept that will change the poverty mindset in Africa and serve as a model for emulation."
