Village Life Outreach

THE MISSION
The mission of Village Life Outreach Project is to unite communities to promote LIFE, HEALTH, and EDUCATION.

THE PROJECT
Village Life Outreach Project, Inc. (VLOP) is a non-profit, non-government organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Village Life is a non-profit organization; however the work we do is designed to profit others...not in terms of financial wealth, but in the wealth of our communities.

The organization’s current focus involves providing health and educational improvement measures to the people of the Tarime District of Tanzania, East Africa. In these efforts, VLOP aims to not simply provide hand-outs, but rather to empower poor villagers to address the issues that affect their communities. By illuminating and joining the struggle against poverty in Africa, VLOP hopes to also strengthen the local community by promoting ideas of humanitarianism, service, and social responsibility.

THE STORY
Dr. Christopher Lewis' visit to the African continent was in May 2003. He worked at a local hospital in the rural village of Shirati, in Northern Tanzania. This month-long International Health elective became his favorite rotation during the final year of his Family Medicine residency at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Lewis had previously done medical work in Honduras and El Salvador with the international health group “Shoulder to Shoulder,” but the experience in Tanzania was even more special because traveling to Africa had always been a dream.

At the end of the month Dr. Lewis spent in Shirati, after the cows were ushered from the grassy runway, he boarded the 4-passenger puddle-jumper and prepared to fly back to Nairobi, Kenya, the first leg of the journey home to Cincinnati. As the plane climbed from the the runway, the scene of a crowd of waving children pulled at his heart, and at that moment Dr. Lewis knew he would return to this land.

THE VISION
How people treat others can be the most accurate sign of how they feel about themselves. Without love for people, love for oneself is incomplete. Village Life Outreach Project was born from a vision to encourage the spread of love. Success hinged on the ability to unite communities and provide service to poor people, to treat disease with knowledge and care, and to teach people about themselves and each other. The plan is succeeding because the grace and the power of a concerted effort by a group of people that have worked hard for the benefit of others. The groundwork that has been laid is but a bridge from the original vision to the challenges of the future. What can be done next?