Tanzania in Their Hearts
“Train up a child in the way he should go…”
The story of Ubora is about people. The people of Karansi, Tanzania to be exact, who just 20 years ago, were struggling for survival.
Our story is about a visionary leader, Pastor Wariaeli, who had a great vision for his people and community.
Ubora is about countless volunteers turned missionaries, many including teachers, who have poured into this village, traveling to eastern Africa to love, mentor and educate. The people of Ubora also include prayer warriors and donors who sacrificially give to make the ongoing transformation of this village possible.
In Jesus’ upside-down kingdom, we learn, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Acts 20:35). And that the very act of service, when bestowed upon another person, is actually a blessing on our very own lives.
Kathy and Jim Stewart have been part of UboraTZ since the beginning, loving and serving our brothers and sisters in Karansi for 18 years. The three Stewart children, now grown, have all been to Tanzania multiple times and they continue to sponsor and financially support our mission. Kathy and Jim’s grandchildren are now growing up with the love of Tanzania in their hearts and homes, evidenced when their 3-year-old granddaughter Brooklyn is asked, “Where are you from?” She shyly responds with a sweet and tender southern drawl, “Tan-za-neee-a!”
We are thankful for the call of mission and service on the lives of the Stewart family and their ongoing involvement with Ubora. Read on to learn more about the generational impact of this one amazing family.
Kathy and Jim with their sponsored child, Norah and her family, in 2002.
The call to serve in missions was written on Kathy Griffin Stewart’s heart at an early age. When she first met Jim in the early days of Perimeter Church, she made it clear she would be open to traveling to Africa to serve as a missionary. And if they were to have a future together, she was hopeful that missions would be something they would do together, as a family.
Jim and Kathy married in 1980. Three years later, with a toddler in tow and Kathy pregnant with their second child, they flew to Nairobi, Kenya where Jim would lend his talent as an architect for the design of seminary buildings. Griffin was born in Nairobi Hospital in 1983 and the family stayed for an additional two years, serving, teaching, and loving the people of Kenya.
Returning to Atlanta, the couple resumed attending Perimeter Church and got involved in mission trips to Guatemala and Poland. When the Tanzanian ministry within Perimeter first began, Kathy was quick to to say “yes” for the chance to return to her beloved eastern Africa. It was 2002 when that first group of 22 people from Perimeter Church, including Kathy, traveled from Atlanta to Karansi, Tanzania and first met Pastor Wariaeli. What they saw was both heartbreaking…yet hopeful.
The widows, or “special ladies” of Karansi.
The vision of Pastor Wariaeli for his village was clear and his enthusiasm, contagious. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but God will do it,” said Pastor Wariaeli.
Upon returning to America, the question resonating in everyone’s hearts was: how in the world can we make a difference?
“Wouldn’t it be exciting for God to use us for this vision!” recalled Jim.
“The spirit was moving both here in Atlanta and in Karansi,” said Kathy of those early days of Ubora.
“Pastor Wariaeli was called to take care of the widows,” said Kathy. “We culturally don’t understand how the widows were treated at that time… they were ostracized and left destitute. They had no one to protect them or their children and grandchildren. Pastor took that to heart–taking care of the widows and orphans and the children without family—and it was there, with the widows, where I decided to serve.”
“It was God, that first trip, grabbing my heart and gave me a love for those ladies that were left for worthless,” said Kathy.
The many blessings of a goat!
Help for the widows began with a goat ministry. A widow would receive a female goat which would provide milk for her and her family. When the goat could become pregnant, the young goat would be gifted to another widow, and so on.
Working alongside Pastor Wariaeli and his church, they found ways to protect the widows, as well as the widows’ children, grandchildren and their few belongings. Homes for widows would eventually be built—the number now stands at 30 safe and beautiful homes–providing shelter and room to take care of additional orphaned children if needed.
Kathy soon became known as “mama Kathy” and “Mother of the widows”. Along the way and over the course of the years, the Stewart’s and their three children, Becca, Griffin and Carolyn, and now their spouses, have traveled to Tanzania, a few even braving the climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro.
The Stewart Legacy in Tanzania Continues
Griffin, in Kenya, where he was born, and returning 30 years later.
All three of the Stewart siblings, their spouses and now children continue to pour into the people of Karansi, Tanzania and the ministry of UboraTZ.
Griffin, born in the neighboring country of Kenya, and his wife, Valerie, are adventurers, lovers of Jesus, parents, entrepreneurs and now, philanthropists. In founding their innovative company, 5DayDeal, charity was top-of-mind and built into the business model with a portion of all sales of photo and video bundles to be donated to various charities around the world.
Through the last bundled offering of 5DayDeal, UboraTZ was chosen by the Stewarts’ as a beneficiary to receive over $40,000 in donations! These funds will be used to establish a feeding program in Karansi that will equate to over 400,000 meals for children in the community, many in the public schools, who now are severely malnourished. These food silos will be installed throughout the village with a separate silo dedicated specifically to feeding the widows and their children and grandchildren.
“If you’re starving, it’s almost impossible to learn,” said Tim Neet, director of Ubora Project Child. “By establishing these food silos throughout the community, we will be able to provide nutritious meals to the children in the community who are attending public schools. It’s been a dream of ours to be able to establish this feeding program and expand our humanitarian reach further into the community. Soon it will become a reality, thanks to this faithful couple and this very generous donation.”
“It’s been really fun to be involved over there and be able to make an impact with, in my opinion, probably the nicest people on earth,” said Griffin. “They are really kind people even though they have nothing. They’ll offer everything to you.”
The third generation of Stewarts, the precious grandchildren, also carry the love of the people of Tanzania in their hearts.
What a blessing it is to have the Stewarts serve as one of the founding families of Ubora! We are so very grateful for the call of missions on their hearts and lives and the undeniable impact of their love for the people of Karansi.
And now, for more of the verse…
“Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it…A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”
A picture of the early feeding program in Karansi. Humanitarian efforts have always been at the heart of Ubora. Thanks to the generous donation of Griffin and Valerie and 5DayDeal, our feeding program in Karansi and the Siha District will be greatly expanded!