Tanzanian Board Members

Elizaph Deo

Elizaph Deo

Secretary

I am Elizaph Deo, a born again Christian and a Tanzanian citizen from Kigoma {(Kigoma is one of the thirty administrative regions of Tanzania. The Region resides in the northwestern corner of Tanzania, on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The region is located between 29.5° and 31.5° east longitude and 3.5° and 6.5° south latitude. It is bordered to the north by both Burundi and the Kagera Region. To the east it is bordered by the Shinyanga and Tabora Regions, to the south by the Rukwa Region, to the west by Lake Tanganyika which forms a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[3]The region covers 45,066 square kilometres (17,400 sq mi) of which 37,037 square kilometres (14,300 sq mi) is land and 8,029 square kilometres (3,100 sq mi) is water.[3]As of 1998, approximately 20,000 square kilometres was in forests and 12,000 square kilometres was suitable for grazing or farming)}. Kigoma was among the regions of Tanzania that seemed to be left behind in development, and I have been living in Tanzanian all my life.

Travelling and taking photos is one of my hobbies. I have made several visits to Zanzibar and it’s a unique coral island lying in the Indian Ocean a short distance from mainland Tanzania. There is a lot of spice cultivation, particularly the clove trees, memories of its extraordinary past of sultans and slaves, colorful underwater garden and life.  Its historical stone town with lots of big and very old houses everywhere you look.

I am the first child to my lovely parents Mr. Jackson and his wife Justine. God blessed my parents with 15 children including 3 sets of twin babies born to my mother. Unfortunately 5 children passed away because of malaria when they were ages two weeks and 6 and half years old, except one girl, my young sister Dinna who died of bad headache when she was 20 years old in 1996. So we’re five girls and five boys now.

I know you might be surprised with and that big number but in Africa especially for developing country like Tanzania, it is normal for people to have many children due to ignorance and poverty.  It is amazing that only one child (a boy) Ngenda was born in hospital although he came to die because of malaria when he was 3 years old. The rest of us were born at home by the help of experienced old women and midwives. I almost have died of malaria too when I was in standard/grade one. It was in 1982 when I and my little brother Ngenda were both very seriously sick at home due to malaria, we were not taken to hospital till the night when Ngenda passed away and early in the morning I was taken to hospital where I was treated and got healed. Thanks to God that I am alive still today, I know He has a purpose for me to live, so that I may save and help those in need, and this is my wish and desire.

My mom is a very different woman than I have ever seen; she is wonderful and very strong. I was raised in a very difficult life seeing my dad beating my mom almost every night when he comes back home while drunk. My mom struggled a lot to take care and raised her children by involved herself in doing small business like cooking “mandazi, baking scones and selling charcoal at the nearby local market. Apart from those challenges, my mom still forgiven and loved her husband till today and I do also love my dad very much.

I studied primary education at Gungu Primary School in Kigoma between 1982 – 1988. It was not very easy because every day when I come back from school I have to help my mom with activities like fetching for water, cooking and go to the market to sell goods. I remember also going to nearby forest to find fire wood and took it to the market where I earned some money and being able to buy a pair of shoes “plastic sandals” for Christmas wear.  By the grace of God I finished my primary education of which I passed my exams and was selected to join O-Level education at Ifunda Secondary School in Iringa Region (far away from Kigoma) between 1989 and 1992.

Crying was part of my life during these four years of studying O-Level especially during end of leave. I remember, I had to cry when it reached the time of returning back to school. My parents had to struggle a lot to get money for my schooling and transportation cost from Kigoma to Iringa. And most of the time I was late to school. By that time I did not understand it well; I thought my dad was not giving much attention to my schooling like many other parents who didn’t bother taking their baby girls to secondary school believing that girls were to stay at home helping their parents while the boys go to school. Thanks to God who helped me and by His grace I passed form four final exams and was again selected to join higher learning Institute at the Arusha Technical Collage taking General Mechanical Engineering + computer knowledge and that was 1993 to 1997 and I was sponsored.

Passing my exams and being selected to go to government schools and Collage was a very helpful to my parents to be able to pay for my schooling costs from the little amount they earn especially during my O-Level studies. Otherwise, they couldn’t have afforded to take me to private schools which are very expensive.  “You will be able to participate in life more because you know more”. I further developed my career by joining the Open University of Tanzania in 2010 doing Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management, majoring in International Business.

Since 1998 I have been involved with different activities like Ministering with Evangelism through Music (ETM), I worked as a Volunteer at Tanzania Telecommunication Company (TTCL) for a clerk position under Sales and Bills Departments. Employed by Hakikazi Catalyst since 2002, a non-governmental organization committed to social and economic justice. Hakikazi promotes the rights of all people to fully participate in social, technical, environmental and economic decisions that affect their lives. Supports vulnerable people by giving them an effective voice, ‘the Right to a Say’ which enables them to work towards: Reducing poverty, Achieving sustainable livelihoods through social, civil and economic rights, and Enjoying equality with others at community, national and international levels. While at Hakikazi I was given the following positions Secretary, Public Relations, Information Management Officer and a Pear Health Educator. Cooperation among Civil Society Organizations and Members of Parliament is the key to sustainable development. My experience of working with Non Governmental Organization for more than ten years now has given me a wonderful exposure and capacity to engage and collaborate with different stakeholders including government officials, Members of Parliament and communities at large.

I am a Board Member of Hope 2 Others (H2O) Tanzania. H2O is a Christian, non-profit ministry dedicated to renewing hope of a better life to remote, impoverished and underserved communities, as God leads and empowers by His Spirit. Karen and her husband Rick are the founders of “Hope 2 Others” located in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. I am also a member in a Youth Camp’s Committee of the New Life Band Ministries. New Life Band Ministries is an inter-denominational ministry that serves as an instrument to transform the lives of youth and students within Tanzania through the gospel of Jesus Christ by giving them hope and opportunity knowing that they are loved.  Every year during leave they host hundreds and thousands of youth from schools and colleges in different locations in Tanzania teaching and serving them by the word of God, seeing youth turning to God for help as many are confused and in bad situation life wise and spiritual it has been a great experience in our lives and contributed a lot to us as well.

I’m married to Deo and God has blessed us with two amazing boys named David and his younger brother Denies. Deo works with Mission to Youth and Students (New Life Band Ministries).

I sing and like making friends because I know for sure that God inhabits and dwells in our praises (Psalm 22:3). And thus friends are God’s hand of taking care of us . I also like to smile because I feel good when smiling with the JOY of the Lord in my heart…XOXO;

I love to love and to be loved; “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).

So this is me, a simple yet very passionate individual. With my words, I hope I can motivate and move people because words have greater power in them if used properly.

Cheers!!

Lulu Bavuma

Lulu Bavuma

My name is Lulu Bavuma, and I was born in June 1983, in Arusha Tanzania. Our family is made up of my mother Elisangicha Massam, my sister Lilo, and my brother Rev Goodluck.

I went to Leganga Primary school in Arusha and then Masama Girls Secondary school at Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania. Afterwards, I joined Masoka Management Institute where I got an Advanced Diploma in Accountancy.

On February 2006, I married Eglah Vespus Bavuma and our first child (Irene Bavuma) was born in December of 2006. In November of 2006 God gave me a job at Tumaini SACCOS as an accountant, where I still work. In September of 2011 God blessed us with another baby, his name is Ian.

From 2014 – 2015, I attended the Institute of Accountancy (Arusha), where I got a Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy. In the middle of my studies God called my Husband to heaven, he died from Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), MAY HIS PRECIOUS SOUL REST IN ETERNAL PEACE; and I thank God that I managed to finish my course.

From 2015, I started doing professional examinations which are under National Board of Accountants and Auditors in Tanzania (NBAA).
My hobbies are listening to music, singing, and chatting with friends.