This started for me December 1st, 2005, ‘World
AIDS Day’ when I suddenly realized I needed to find some of the most impoverished
people in the world, leave my privileged life as a successful artist for a
couple years, and go to Africa to do whatever I could to serve fellow human beings
in their time of need. My intention was and still is to fearlessly thank the
universe for always giving me what I truly need, and to have more of the
wonders life has to offer, as I truly believe the more one gives - the more one
gets!
I enrolled into a program with a nonprofit organization that
trained me as a volunteer to use teaching, doing, and being the living example as
a way of promoting positive changes that can be achieved by taking action. As
volunteers we live together in the same community as the people who we together
come up with solutions for the different situations one experiences living in poverty.
We fill positions in schools, orphanages, or development projects with NGOs,
and we share our experiences and build friendships with those who we help
realize their worth. I took a position in a Teacher’s Training College in
Mozambique for a year to provide me with practice to all I had come to learn
and understand about poverty in a developing country during my training.
Mozambique being one of the poorest countries (# 15 up from the poorest) is
struggling to train much needed primary school teachers, builders, and farmers
to help push the country into a more progressive future and get their foot onto
the first rail of the economic ladder of growth.
It really is true that to teach one how to fish rather than
to just give him a fish is a more sustainable way to empower people so that they
have tools to lift themselves up out of poverty by their own efforts and
improve their situation, but the ugly reality of extreme poverty is more
complicated. People who are living without one or more of the basics we all
need for a dignified life like; food, water, clothes, shelter, health and
sanitation service, medical facilities, or access to education, have a very
difficult time thinking and planning for the future when they are striving to
get through another day constantly vulnerable to the next crisis.
My year in Mozambique was life changing for me, and my couple
of years commitment to do what I can for others less fortunate than myself turned
into a decade - now more determined and committed than ever. When I returned to
the USA after my practice year at the Teacher’s Training College I started
working for the non-profit organization that ran the program I had completed,
and I started training the new volunteers. My students went to Mozambique,
Belize, Malawi, and Zambia where they worked and contributed in the communities
where they lived. It was a fulltime occupation running a boarding school/
training center and it was also very fulfilling, and a good place for me to
continue to study, investigate, and prepare myself for what I am doing now.
Last year it became time for me to move back to Mozambique
and commit myself in a much bigger way in the struggle that so many people have
every day of their lives, and to use everything I’ve learned to contribute and initiate
more positive changes. During a trip to Mozambique in 2012 I visited several
schools and projects to meet with the leaders and make plans for my student’s
practice periods, and I also had the opportunity to visit a friend who was
working on a banana farm. The farm ‘Jacaranda’ was started up by a group of
humanitarians who believe that by organizing and working together it is
possible to create a better world by addressing injustices such as extreme
poverty. The farm is located in the remote bush of northern Mozambique and the
majority of workers who constitute the Jacaranda community and leadership have
previous experiences in developmental projects such as AIDS education for
prevention and teaching, while some of the workers are fresh from getting a
degree in agriculture. The work they were doing and the way they were living
really touched something in me and the idea of joining them would not leave me,
so here I have completed 11 months of my 5 year agreement.
We are 32 people living on the farm and in addition we are
hosting students from agriculture schools in groups of 5 to 10. We are located between
the village of Napito and the Lurio River and we employ about 50 people full
and part time from the surrounding communities. Being part of a socially
conscious collective farm is very powerful in a country that can lack so much
hope for so many people, and it is a great model and example of a very
effective way for people to work together and improve their quality of life. I am
the only person living on the farm who is not from Mozambique, and I am
extremely grateful for having this opportunity. There is so much that I can do
here in the nearby community of Napito with your help, and the support from the
people who live here.
The money I am raising is to be used for upgrading the
education and improve access to health service in Napito, and host activities in the community center over the next 4 years.
·
Build a new primary school that will serve as a
community center - There are two government teachers in Napito but the school
and resources are in great need.
·
Provide reliable transport to members of the
community for emergency and scheduled trips to the hospital, and to bring
locally produced goods and crafts to markets.
·
Have the community center full of activities
such as; courses, movies, classes, clubs, and workshops with actions such as building
latrines, growing vegetables, exercise, yoga, and creating art, together with
the educators who are working on the farm and the community of Napito.
·
Have an inventory of emergency medications for
malaria, diarrhea, and dehydration.
I have been journaling about my experience and work in
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/anthony.nugent.77) as a way to communicate
with my family, friends and anyone else who has an interest and it would be
much appreciated and of great service to share this with your family and
friends. I thank you in advance for coming here and reading about my plans for
using our money to build something positive in our world that will impact the
lives of the beautiful people who live in the village of Napito, Mozambique and
beyond, and I invite and encourage you to come for a visit and be part of the
activities.