Imani & Joyce
For two hours that felt like eternity, Joyce waited racing heartedly to find out whether her friend survived the plane crash. With trembling hands, she dialed numbers, trying to understand what just happened. Alas, nobody was able to give her the information she was asking for.
She recalls that it was only last week that she herself took this exact flight that goes between Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar Es Salaam and Bukoba. “I remember that we were flying in bad weather conditions. We had a lot of turbulences. I was very scared.”
Only this time, her friend was on the flight.
Finally, her phone started ringing. Her ringtone seemed different. Joyce picked up. Without saying a word, she carefully listened to what the person on the other end of the phone had to say. It was one of the plane crash’s survivors. Still in shock from what he just witnessed, he searched for the right words to say. With a shivering voice, he explained that the only ones that were able to evacuate, were the passengers in the back of the plane.
Her heart made a leap. Her friend had a front row seat.
Hours later, international newspapers started publishing that 19 people died on the plane that has crashed into Tanzania’s Lake Victoria on Sunday November 6th of 2022. For Joyce, it was the day she lost Imani. A close friend. An inspirational figure. A mentor.
Joyce met Imani five years ago at a conference in Germany. An event that was arranged for people who do humanitarian and social work.
Joyce came to that conference with a vision. She wanted to learn more about how to start one’s own nonprofit organization. It had been a big dream of hers to start an organization in Tanzania that supports disabled children to receive an education. For most countries in the Global North, education is a norm. There are oftentimes even specific systems in place that allow children with disabilities to receive quality education. However, in a country like Tanzania, where educational opportunities are already scarce, disabled children face extreme hardships.
Joyce grins when she thinks back to 2016 and the time that she tripped and fell to the floor. The person that helped her back up was a kid with a physical impairment. “I realized that just because you are not able to do something, doesn’t mean that you can do nothing.” Ever since, Joyce dedicated all her free time to supporting the disabled children that were living in her home city Mwanza. However, for Joyce this was not enough. She felt that she could do more. “All these kids still have their life ahead” Joyce said. ” Just because they have a disability doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t receive an education.” Many people in this region have a very low income. Parents try to get their families through the day. For parents who have a child with a disability, it is difficult to provide the care they need and deserve” Joyce explains compassionately.
Imani had already been working at an education nonprofit for just under a decade and attended the conference for networking- and partnership reasons. Imani was an ambitious and well-educated Tanzanian woman whose passion for promoting the right for education was obvious. First, she received a master’s degree in education, then she worked for a nonprofit that implemented education projects in East Africa. These projects included the provision of learning materials, improving school infrastructure, and empowerment of girls’ education. Imani was considered an ambassador for promoting education rights in Tanzania. Joyce recalls that “Imani always went out of her way to ensure that children in Tanzania could receive quality education.” She was a hard worker and climbed her way up from being an intern at the NGO to becoming its executive director.
When Joyce and Imani ran into each other at the conference, their passion for education immediately created a strong bond between them. With sparkling eyes and a passionate voice, Joyce explained to Imani her vision of supporting disabled children in Tanzania. Even though the two women had just met, Imani was directly intrigued by this idea. “I will do my best to help you in any way possible,” she promised Joyce. Imani was always encouraged when someone else decided to join the cause of making education more inclusive in the country she loved.
Imani had kept her word ever since that conference. It is difficult to start an NGO from scratch, but Imani supported Joyce throughout her journey. Even though Imani was very experienced, she made sure to encourage Joyce to be confident in her own vision. The two women’s bond grew stronger and stronger throughout the years.
Two years later in 2018, Joyce made her dream a reality by starting her own nonprofit organization. She called ‘Care for Dignity and Inclusion Tanzania’ (CDI).
Soon enough, Joyce realized that running a nonprofit is everything but easy. Every day, she saw disabled children that could benefit from her service. Her heart was bigger than the resources she had available.
Joyce explained this feeling to Imani. “Your vision is to support a very specific group of people in Tanzania, Joyce” Imani said. “If you want to help disabled children, you must go to the communities, get to know each and every one of the people you want to support, and listen to their needs. Only by letting their voices be heard, your organization can have sustainable impact.”
Imani taught Joyce an important thing. A lot of nonprofit organizations and donors decide internally on the projects that they want to implement. But it should not work this way. The thing that is most important is to include the people you want to support throughout the entire process. You have to make them, and their needs feel heard. Only this way, your work as a nonprofit can be actually impactful and sustainable. Donors who want to support this cause through funding are much appreciated, but the organization should always put their vision first. “Don’t make donors feel like heroes. Make the people you support feel like the heroes that are worthy of getting support.”
This piece of advice has been at the core of Joyce’s work ever since. She regularly meets with children that have a disability and listens to what they have to say. The struggles they face, the support they need, and their hopes for the future. “Only with their participation, development projects can have the desired impact.”
Even though Joyce is a strong woman with a passion of helping others, she was always grateful for the mentoring and encouragement she received from her friend Imani. “We both decided to dedicate our lives to helping others in our country. It made our bond very strong.”
Joyce’s voice breaks when she says “Imani always went out of her way to help others. When that plane crashed on that very Sunday, Imani was on her way to plan new education projects for children in Tanzania.”
To news channels, Imani might have been one of the 19 victims of the plane crash. But for Joyce, she was a friend and a mentor. Someone who still inspires her to keep pursuing her dream of creating a brighter future for disabled children in Tanzania.
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