To Feed A Village

Thank you for taking a moment to read more about To Feed A Village, an anti-hunger campaign led by St. Paul's youth.

In July 2009, the youth group at St. Paul's Episcopal Church welcomed back Si Wofford and Natalie Davis, two of its members who had a transformative month working, teaching, and living in Mwitikira, Tanzania -- St. Paul's partner village through the Carpenter's Kids program of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Tanzania.

While in Mwitikira, Si and Natalie learned that the rainy season brought little rain. As a result, food will be scarce and some of the children of Mwitikira will not survive the year. Together, the youth group decided to act and so was born the To Feed A Village campaign, a fundraiser during August 2009 to buy food for the children of Mwitikira.

As of September 1, with support from the St. Paul's and St. Christopher's School communities, the youth reached their goal of $20,000, which will feed 800 children in Mwitikira. Thanks to all for your generous donations, prayers, and words of support for "To Feed a Village."

More information about the campaign is contained in the youth letters below. Throughout the year, the youth will continue to research and raise awareness about hunger in the U.S. and abroad.  

Letter from the St. Paul's Youth Group

August 5, 2009

Dear Friend,

A few weeks ago, my youth group at St. Paul's Episcopal Church welcomed back two of our members who had a transformative month working, teaching, and living in Mwitikira, Tanzania. St. Paul's has a relationship with the village of Mwitikira through the Carpenter's Kids partnership.

Upon their return, our peers shared with us some moving stories and some sad information. We learned that the rainy season brought little rain. As a result, food will be scarce and some of the children of Mwitikira will not survive the year.

My experience as a member of the St. Paul's community has taught me to act when I learn of someone in need. Recently, our Rector, The Rev. Wallace Adams-Riley, wrote in his weekly email about the call we have to care for others. He recalled a cartoon he once saw:

‘In the first frame, humanity looks up into the heavens and asks, "Why, God, do you let your people live in poverty and hunger?"

In the second frame, a voice from the clouds answers back, "I was about to ask you the same thing."

Some members of our youth group have made a commitment to spend time this year learning about the issue of global hunger and poverty and finding ways that we can act on what we learn. We have committed to praying daily for those who live in hunger and poverty. We have also decided to spend the month of August raising money to buy maize for the children of Mwitikira. $25 will feed one student for the duration of the dry season.

We are asking for your help in our mission to feed the children of this village. If you would like to make a tax-deductable donation of any amount, please send a check made payable to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, with a memo line ‘Carpenter's Kids Famine Relief' mailed to

Bryan Appel, Youth Minister
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
815 E. Grace St.
Richmond, VA 23219

All money will go directly to the Carpenter's Kids program and will be used to purchase food. The money will be forwarded to the Carpenter's Kids in Tanzania through the Diocese of Virginia. As the food prices will go up in the early fall, we will send the money that we collect at the end of August.

Thank you for considering a donation to this important cause as we answer our call ‘To Feed a Village.'

God's Peace,

St. Paul's Youth Group

Si Wofford Describes the Call to Care

From a letter by Si, August 5, 2009

This summer, I went with a small group organized by St. Paul's Episcopal Church and a relief organization called Carpenter's Kids to Mwitikira, a small African village of 6,000 people in Tanzania. The land is poor, but the people are very honest and hardworking. The purpose of my three week trip was to teach English to students aged 7 to 18. They speak Swahili but must take their exams in English. Everyone was so eager to absorb the language, and they were amazed to have a fluent English speaker living in the village with them.

This trip has forever changed my perspective of the world. As we approached the village, the dusty road was filled with people who came to welcome us to their home. Children ran several kilometers to meet us and then followed our Land Cruiser to Mwitikira where I noticed something new and exciting. I was surrounded by complete strangers who were ecstatic that I was there. Within the first few seconds of being in the village, I knew that I was accepted as if I was a new member of their family.

In talking with the local Episcopal Bishop's wife, I found out that this year's rainy season brought very little rain. Therefore, food will be scarce, and some of the amazing children that I grew to love may not survive until the next rainy season. Malnutrition is already a problem, and starvation is a definite issue this year.

This realization hit me like a train as I was looking at everyone as I left. One of my new friends, Jafar, one of the "tough" soccer players, started to cry as he waved goodbye. This led me to tears. To know that Jafar and his friends Leonardi, Mwilwa, William, Ronaldo and many others may not be in the village when I return was truly heartbreaking.

St. Paul’s has taught me to act on my beliefs, and so I am starting with some friends a simple act of raising funds for food for the students I taught. There is a critical, immediate need for money to save these children that are being helped by the Carpenter’s Kids program. $25 will feed one student until the end of the dry season... All money collected will be sent by August 31st before the cost of maize increases early this fall. So timing is very important! Thank you for considering a donation to this very worthwhile cause as we try To Feed a Village!

Dancing in Tanzania

A Reflection by Natalie Davis, August 18, 2009

The first time I faced my Tanzanian class of twenty 14-17 year olds, I felt a momentary wave of panic. Although the students were the most eager-to-learn group of teenagers I had ever met, they found it incredibly difficult to understand my thick American accent. My Swahili vocabulary at the time included ‘hello,' ‘goodbye,' ‘friend,' ‘lion,' and ‘thank you.' As the days went by, our ability to communicate verbally to one another increased, yet great frustration continued to arise when they had questions about irregular verbs or the past perfect tense. We needed a way to lighten up the day, and my Swahili did not include jokes.

Instead, we danced.

Tanzanian dances are beautiful and fluid, I naively attempted to learn them. My students found endless amusement in watching me shake my hips and wiggle my shoulders, and I could always count on a few giggles from even the shyest kids. By the second week of teaching, my class was ready for large-scale participation in the dancing. If the students were particularly frustrated by a certain exercise or sentence, I would scream "Dance break!" Everyone would immediately rise up, shimmy, laugh, twist for about thirty seconds and then we would sit back down. Suddenly, smiles would return to faces and the work would no longer seem so hard.

The children of Mwitikira taught me how to count to ten in Swahili and how to play netball. They showed me how to tie a traditional skirt and how to balance items on my head. Most importantly, they reminded me to find the joy in the little things, they taught me how to dance. The children I met carry a wonderful spirit, and I will never forget their smiles. When I return again, all I wish for is another chance to watch them dance. I wish to dance with them, for it is the purest form of joy I have ever experienced. For this reason alone, I feel the call to feed them.

Every child deserves the chance to dance.