A little over a year ago, Deepa Kapur, Coordinator of the TOS in Tanzania, reported that a second generation was becoming involved in service work in Dar Es Salaam.  Deepa’s daughter, Malaika, and fellow TOS member, Harsukh Dubal’s daughter, Khyati, along with 13 committed and enthusiastic youngsters, started in Tanzania, the first African branch of World Care Way (WCW), a charitable organisation for youth, whose international base is in Chennai, India.  The group is dedicated to various social causes and environmental issues.  What have they been up to since our last report?

Starting from the most recent, exciting news of 2012, let’s rewind into 2011.

On 26 February 2012, 21 children left for open heart surgery in India, including a seven-month-old baby with two holes in her heart.  Nishtha Arora, Malaika Kapur and Chandni Mehta, along with Harsukh Dubal and Runjiv Kapur, went for the send-off and gave US $1,050 (US $50 each) to the children for incidental expenses.  The gift was much appreciated by Dr Kanabar, pioneer of the Tanzania Heart Babies Project, the Lions Club of Dar Es Salaam and the chief guest, Regional Commissioner of Dar Es Salaam, all of whom thanked World Care Way in their speeches.  The girls were seen in the local news on two TV channels.  All the Theosophical Society members in Tanzania send warm thanks to the TOS in England, Italy, Australia and New Zealand who made possible this support for the Heart Babies Project.

The World Care Way group has been promoting the use of cloth bags.  The Indian High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Bhagirath, invited the WCW teen group to hold a stall at the cultural fair that took place in Dar Es Salaam during the festival of Diwali.  We see him here holding up a sample of a cloth bag that the group was selling.  WCW President, Malaika Kapur, is showing a T-shirt with the message “Avoid Plastic”.  One hundred T-shirts were donated by the Tata business group to boost the efforts of WCW.  Also seen are WCW teens, Krunalika Mutha, Nishtha Arora and Vidushi Yadav.

It was a moving moment when the young children at the Kind Heart Orphanage, on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam, received the teddy bears knitted by TOS members in Italy as a part of the 'TEDDIES FOR TRAGEDY' project.  Seen in the photo is the Vice-President of WCW, Khyati Dubal (in a dark blue T-shirt), along with Nishtha Arora and Vidushi Yadav.

When Mary Anderson visited East Africa to give a series of lectures for the Theosophical Society, the WCW group made a presentation about their work at one of her public lectures.  Many in the audience were touched by the sincerity of the teenagers.  One of these was Mr Kiran Shah, a stalwart member of the East African Section.  He spontaneously donated 150,000 Tanzanian shillings (US$100) – a sum that goes a long way within Tanzania.

From left to right (standing): Mr Kiran Shah, Mr Harsukh Dubal (Secretary/Treasurer TS Dar Es Salaam), Malaika Kapur, Nishtha Arora, Tejas Tambe, Vidushi Yadav and Chandni Mehta.  Seated is Mrs Lili Chohan, Head of Dar Es Salaam Lodge of the TS, who also made a contribution of 100,000 Tanzanian Shillings (US $66).

Mary Anderson accompanied the WCW teens and TS officers on a visit to the Mtoni School for the Mentally Challenged.  There, they presented 50 kilos of rice, 27 classroom curtains, biscuits, footballs, toys and the teddy bears from the Italian TOS’s TEDDIES FOR TRAGEDY effort to the eager young children.  (A big thank you to the Italian knitting team!)

At Easter last year, a group of Tanzanians attended the East and Central African TS Convention in Zambia.  The youngest delegate, Malaika Kapur, made an impact on the crowd when she delivered a speech on the projects that she and her teenage friends have carried out. Many of the members came forward to compliment Malaika on her ability to show the relevance of theosophical ideals to World Care Way’s service activities. 

Front: Mrs  Ranjan Patel and Mrs Lili Chohan.
Back row (left to right):  Mrs Deepa Kapur,
Mr Jaysukh Patel, Malaika Kapur, Mr Jayant Chohan, Mr Jayu Sampat (head of TS Zambia) and Mr Harsukh Dubal.

On her 17th birthday, WCW President, Malaika Kapur, climbed the highest mountain in Africa, Mt Kilimanjaro (19,540 feet).  Malaika was accompanied by her father, Runjiv, and a professional guide for the six-day ascent.  Malaika also had the privilege of being monitored by a  female guide who had scaled Mount Everest.  When Runjiv developed a medical problem three-quarters of the way up, Malaika had to make the midnight ascent alone with the guide.  She said she drew strength from women like Annie Besant who never let obstacles hinder them.

Most importantly:
1) She received a corporate donation as she had declared that she wanted no award for herself but would appreciate a donation to World Care Way.

2) When she finally reached Uhuru Peak, Malaika was exhilarated but also dismayed to see that most of the snow atop Mt Kilimanjaro had melted – an effect of global warming.  Later, Malaika talked at a large meeting of the TS in Dar Es Salaam about strengthening our commitment to a healthy environment.  She pointed out that the use of plastic is a significant factor in global warming.

Bravo to the action-packed, dynamic team of World Care Way!!!