Breathe Magazine

LF: Why did you start Karama Connection?
CN: Winfrida took me on a home visit. Over the course of a couple of days, we talked about what it would take for them to buy the building they were using. She said it would be $30,000. I thought that I could raise $10,000 and she could get a loan for the rest. Then the land owner found out that Americans were helping and jacked up the price, so we decided we might as well just buy land and build ourselves. Once we made that decision, it got pretty big.

I came back to the States after my first visit to Tanzania and started Karama Connection as a nonprofit and started raising money. In December of 2005 we bought two acres of land. Since then, we’ve built the hospice and orphanage building, and we recently bought two more acres of land. We also were able to get electricity to the site, so we don’t have to depend on a generator. Next we’ll drill a well and continue to develop their ability to be self-sustaining. I tell Winfrida that I would like for her not to need Karama. St. Lucia now has enough land to grow some of our own food and sell some. We have cows that produce more milk than we need, so we sell the extra. We have started a daycare, and the place we rent for that program has extra rooms we rent to volunteers for more income. Next in the plans are solar energy, bio-gas, and harvesting rainwater.

LF: How did you come up with the name Karama Connection?
CN: Karama is a Swahili word that means “blessing or gift.” At first I thought that the organization would be a blessing or gift to them, but now I know that they are much more of a gift to us than we can ever be to them.

LF: Has it been difficult to ask people for money?
CN: After experiencing Africa, the culture shock of coming home is almost more shocking than being overseas. We have so much. It’s almost embarrassing. After seeing this vast disparity, asking people for money in the U.S. didn’t feel like such a big deal. People want to help, but they often don’t know how. We’re a small nonprofit. Neither Winfrida nor I take a salary. The results of the giving are very tangible. Most of the time, I don’t even have to ask for money. I just share with people what I’ve seen.

LF: Have all of the children in the orphanage lost their parents to AIDS?
CN: Not all of them. Some are referred by the local hospital, some from the community, and one was actually left at the gate one morning. Each child has a unique and powerful story. We have one boy who came to us when he was three years old. He couldn’t even walk or sit up. He was HIV-positive and really malnourished, but the thing that was even worse than all of that was that he didn’t respond when you tried to make him laugh. After just six months he is actually walking, starting to say a few words, and a total little chunk. He’s just really happy.

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