LF_081017

LakeForestLeader.com LIFE & ARTS
the lake forest leader | August 10, 2017 | 21
Former LF residents volunteers at underprivileged school
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
When Mike Conklin
went to the baggage
claim at Kilimanjaro International
Airport he collected
two huge suitcases
crammed with knitting
needles and yarn.
Most Americans go to
the East African country
of Tanzania to see Mount
Kilimanjaro or go on a safari
in Serengeti National
Park, but Conklin had a
different objective.
The 72-year-old former
Lake Forest resident
a current Highland Park
resident took a two-week
trip to Tanzania this summer
because he wanted to
help people in dire need.
“This was my third trip
and I’d like to go a time
or two again,” Conklin
said. “My first two trips
were with a group from my
church, First Presbyterian
of Lake Forest, to Faraja
School, a primary school
exclusively for kids with
physical disabilities that we
support financially through
our mission committee.”
Conklin went on the trip
with a group called God-
Parents 4 Tanzania, which
is headquartered in Roanoke,
Va. GodParents 4
Tanzania raises money for
scholarships to help kids
attend secondary school
and college.
Through his trips Conklin
got to know Kristin
Westermann, who is the
daughter of the founder
of GodParents 4 Tanzania,
Dwayne Westermann. On
a previous trip, women
Tanzanians how to knit,
Conklin said. When they
started running low on
supplies, Kristin emailed
Conklin and told him they
were in need and asked
for help.
The group GodParents 4 Tanzania, which includes former Lake Forest resident Mike Conklin (front center) poses for a photo outside a lodge in
Karatu, Tanzania. Photo Submitted
“I went to the knitting
club at our church in April
and asked for donations,”
Conklin said. “I took the
yarn and knitting needles
that were donated in the
two big suitcases and after
I got there I dropped them
off at the school.”
While Conklin began
traveling to Africa
through his church, different
faiths between groups
were never an issue.
“Our church is a Presbyterian
church, GodParents
4 Tanzania is a Lutheran
group and we spent
some time staying in a
Catholic Conference Center
that is across the street
from a mosque,” Conklin
said. “Nobody cared.”
Instead, he emphasized,
the common cause was
helping people whose
lives are a daily struggle
in a country where the
life expectancy is 52.9
years.
Conklin and the other
volunteers spent time visiting
schools and hospitals
helping out with chores.
During their visits to the
schools the volunteers
learned the kids stay at
school for the entire term,
without seeing their parents.
To help the families
communicate with one another,
the volunteers taped
videos of the kids and
took them to their parents
homes.
Conklin recalled some
of the extreme poverty he
saw while traveling to the
schools and homes in Tanzania.
“Nobody has electricity
and some of the schools
and homes we visited
didn’t even have roads,”
he said. “One day it rained
and we could only get to
within a mile of the school
so they sent out a welcoming
delegation of about
75-100 kids.”
Driving and walking
through town Conklin
remembered seeing
people washing clothes
in streams and herding
goats, cattle and sheep.
Among the many places
they visited, they also went
to a dormitory which helps
young girls go to school.
“We went to a dormitory,
Door of Hope. They
take girls who are 5, 6 and
7 years old out of their
villages and make arrangements
for them to go
to the public school. The
mothers gave them up because
if they didn’t, the
girls would probably be
married by the time they
were 12 and they would
be one of six or seven
wives per man.”
Conklin said GodParents
4 Tanzania has many
success stories of scholarship
graduates from its
secondary schools and
colleges who have gone
on to become doctors,
nurses and teachers. There
also are graduates gainfully
employed, such as tour
bus drivers who double as
translators.
According to Conklin,
the Faraja primary school
is exclusively for children
with physical disabilities
and is the only one of its
kind in Tanzania.
“It’s a residence school
with about 100 kids,” he
said. “They stay there in
dormitories because they
couldn’t get there otherwise.
They didn’t even
have a road leading to the
school until about two
years ago. Each class has
kids of varying ages and
sizes. Many times kids
with disabilities are abandoned
by their parents and
put in orphanages. When
we get a kid at the school
we might start the child
in kindergarten. We could
Please see Conklin, 22