jake lyell photography (blog)

For the better part of the year I have been in East Africa. Tanzania became my refuge back in December when my mom’s voice (“Promise me you’ll always do the smart thing”) rang in my head to leave the Kenyan city of Kisumu following the outbreak of some brutal post-election violence. Kenya has settled down now and I hope to return later this year.

Tanzania is a country with which I am well acquainted. Eight years ago, my first foray into the developing world was to Tanzania where I taught in a summer ESL program in a primary school in Moshi, at the base of Kilimanjaro. The country was to prove quite captivating; this March marked my fifth journey there. Experiences in Tanzania in years past have shaped me as a person and influenced the career path I’ve taken. Returning at the beginning of this year for the first time since I’ve considered myself an established photographer, I was eager to try a more mature eye on the country.

In Tanzania I was able to document the work of two NGOs: Heifer International and Light in Africa (LIA). The two organizations, which are unaffiliated, operate in some of the same areas of Tanzania but differ greatly in size, scope and organization. Heifer and LIA have vastly different goals; Heifer is a development organization whereas LIA can be loosely defined as a relief organization. The humanitarian work of these groups meets different needs of those they serve. Large and small, the work is from the heart and is changing the lives of some of the most vulnerable Tanzanians. This post will focus on LIA’s work in Tanzania. I’ll focus on Heifer’s work in the area in a later post.

It seems odd to call Light in Africa an organization or an NGO. Yes there’s an office and staff, and a even a company letterhead but it operates almost like a big family. Lynn Elliot, “Mama Lynn,” is the matriarch, the founder and CEO. She came from England in 2000 on what she calls direct assignment from the Holy Spirit to “deliver these children safely into My arms.” She founded a children’s home in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro but moved down to the town of Boma Ng’ombe on the Arusha-Moshi highway in 2003.

Since 2003, Mama Lynn’s ministry has expanded from raising some 40 orphaned or abandoned children to around 150. Many of the children she cares for are afflicted with HIV/AIDS. See my PEPFAR post for more on this subject. Far more than a children’s home, now operations include a food kitchen in the desperate town of Mirereni (shown above), medical dispensaries in several remote villages, and housing and hospice care for many elderly and disabled people. However, this is by far not an exhaustive list of LIA’s current and ever-expanding duties. “Whatever God puts in our path, we will care for,” Mama Lynn says. Below, she slaps fives with children waiting for a meal at Mirerani food kitchen.

This Whatever God puts in our path policy keeps Mama Lynn in a mode of constant ministry and her house full of guests. She has very little personal time, save for prayer in the morning. At the time I visited, Mama Lynn had been spending an increasing amount of time in the aforementioned mining town of Mirereni. In addition to operating a children’s home there, she established a food kitchen there the previous year. Below, children in LIA’s Mirereni Fleeze House.

The kitchen now serves over 400 hungry adults and children a day. Many who attend are children of Tanzanite miners whose parents work in deplorable conditions for extremely low pay. Mama Lynn is fortunate to have a partner in the work in Mirereni, the American NGO Kids Against Hunger. KAH supplies most of the food that is served here. The food kitchen serves not only to fill hungry stomachs but also to keep a pulse on the community, identifying other needs as they arise.

Take for instance Anna Mapena. Shown above with her baby boy of nine months, Taigo, she is 40 years old and lives in Mirereni. Mama Lynn and I first met her lying on the doorstep of the town’s only medical dispensary (built by LIA volunteers). The doctor there could not do anything for her condition, which was later thought to be Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. I was unable to photograph her in the state in which I first saw her: sick and in pain, lacking dignity. I couldn’t do it without first gaining her trust and letting her know my intentions; so I didn’t even ask. That week, Mama Lynn brought Anna along with her husband, Sakita, back to LIA in order to begin treatment for her skin condition at KCMC hospital in Moshi. It was there that I shot the above picture.

Paulo Nangu (above) is a man who slipped through the cracks of Africa’s traditional gerocentric society. Husbands and wives sometimes have children numbering in the double digits to insure that they are cared for in their last years. Paulo and his wife, who died many years ago, were never able to have any. A migrant worker, he ended up in the town of Magadini. There he developed a tumor in his leg and became too ill to work. Villagers there would trade off providing what they could in the way of food, shelter and clothing. On a trip home to Magadini, a LIA staff member heard of his plight and brought Paulo back to live at the guest house.

Paulo (above center) receives food, clothing and a place to live at LIA’s guest house. “Here I am happy because I never sleep hungry, but there I went to bed with no food,” he says, looking back to his former life. He considers Mama Lynn’s charity an answered prayer. Mama Elihuruma (below) expresses similar thanks for the help she’s received. To her, LIA is “a close friend you can run to for help.” LIA stepped in as she was being driven off the land she was renting while caring for her severely disabled child, Elihuruma. Light in Africa volunteers pitched in to buy her a plot of land and build a house for her and her family. LIA still funds and facilitates physical therapy for Elihuruma.

Operating on the examples of Jesus laid out in the gospels by providing for those in need, Mama Lynn is unabashedly outspoken in her Christian faith. Rising early in the morning for prayers and continuing her heavenly dialog throughout the day, she often fasts meals. “I was anointed by God to come out here and do the work,” she says. “I could not do it any other way… I rely totally on the Holy Spirit.”

However, Mama Lynn has refused to identify with any particular Christian sect or denomination, preferring her autonomy. She remains accepting of volunteers at LIA of any faith or no faith at all. She keeps in close contact with the Hindu community in nearby Moshi, who have dubbed her the Angel of Kilimanjaro. Furthermore, she receives food donations from Muslim merchants in town.

Brushing aside the inevitable comparisons to Mother Theresa, Mama Lynn humbly states, “I’m not a holy person, I’m a social worker,” thus recalling her former occupation in the UK that has given her much needed experience in the care of the vulnerable and disenfranchised. Mama Lynn’s daughter, Laura Cox, was an integral pillar of LIA before returning to England last year to better educate her children. Laura (below) still makes occasional visits and eventually plans to resume her full time role at LIA.

LIA receives no regular funding from any religious, government or charitable institutions nor do they hold fund-raising campaigns. Mama Lynn operates solely on what is given to her by passing volunteers or those that choose to arbitrarily deposit money into her Paypal account. “We pray for people to be inspired to help with God’s mission.” This way, she says, she is more clearly able to discern God’s will and the purposes of her ministry; if she is to help someone or begin a new work, the funding will become available.

Her living-by-faith financial strategy is rare for NGOs and unheard of to many Tanzanians and government officials, who from their view perceive all westerners as having no bottom to their bank accounts. Charitable work is seen as big business in Africa and for some NGOs it is. For Mama Lynn, who refuses to pay bribes, the resulting lack of cooperation from local government has been exhausting. Things are improving of late however, since the election of President Jakaya Kikwete. His anti-corruption and NGO-empowering policies have yet to fully filter down through the ranks of the old guards still occupying positions of power.

Recently, recognition of her work has been on a national level. Mama Lynn was last year an honored guest at a luncheon hosted by President Kikwete. Mama Salma Kikwete, the Tanzanian first lady, has twice made visits to Light in Africa.

Driving the dusty, bumpy, ever-shifting route to Mirereni, Mama Lynn comes to a new fork in the road. “Which way do you think Jake?” she asks. “I say right, but you can always go ahead and forge your own path,” I wittily respond. It wouldn’t have been out of character. “I’ve tread enough new ground by now thank you” she laughs. But somehow, I think there’s more yet to come.

Copyright 2008 Jake Lyell. With thanks to Laura Sechu.