Crosslinks MP Hathaway

Bridget is Advisor to the Community Based Social Care Programme (CBSCP) of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, Diocese of Kagera. Below are some examples from her work - but, as she writes: "The foundation of all our work is Jesus himself, on whom our work depends. He is the reason for our work, and our desire is that all people may hear and experience the Gospel, and live their life in the fullness of Christ. Healing or improvement physically and mentally is important, but spiritual healing is for eternity."

Bridget's main sending church is St. Germain's Church, Edgbaston, Birmingham. Her prayer letter distributor is Jean McCubbin.

Due to email difficulties - (long power cuts) please do not send email at the moment

Kayanga Deanery,

PO Box 389, Kayanga,

Karagwe,

Kagera,

Tanzania.

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This may seem to you to be an odd comment to make to someone! But I was thrilled when Mzee Jeronimo said this to me. You see, he had been blind with cataracts for nearly 15 years, and had declared to us he would rather die at home than in the hospital. His belief was that he would surely die if he had an operation. After gentle persuasion during our visits to his village home, he agreed to our accompanying him to the Hospital nearby. The doctor operated on one eye and it was successful. What joy when we took him home and he saw his family for the first time in 15 years.

“She will never get better, she fell in the fire with a fit, therefore she cannot get better.”

The traditional belief regarding epilepsy is that if someone falls either in the fire or in the water because of a fit, that person can never be healed. There are many traditional beliefs surrounding epilepsy, and it is often seen as something to be ashamed of in the family. Thus intervention may be late, and complications to the epilepsy occur. A large part of our work is in raising awareness and ‘education,’ enabling the community to learn more about disability, the abilities and needs of people living with disability, and their rights. As far as possible we involve members of the community in all we do.

We also advocate with and on behalf of children with disability who would benefit from a place at Special School, and we assist young adults with disability in gaining places at Vocational Training Centres, or in starting up small businesses. In other cases the main need is that of surgical intervention to reduce or remove a disabling factor in the person’s life. This may be to seek a specialist surgeon for Cleft Lip & Palate operations, Plastic Surgery for burns or Orthopaedic surgery. We have a good working relationship with the local Hospital, with several Departments of the Local Government, and other NGO’s in the area. In addition we co-operate with other Faith Groups in the area.

Hathaway, Bridget - Tanzania