Organization History

The Vision
In May of 2003, Dr. Christopher Lewis, founder and president of Village Life Outreach Project, Inc., fulfilled a dream when he made his first trip to the African continent for a month-long international health elective during his family medicine training at the University of Cincinnati. He had previously worked with the global health organization Shoulder to Shoulder in Honduras, and wanted to use his international training to connect with people in Africa. He worked at a local hospital in the rural village of Shirati in the Rorya district of Tanzania, East Africa. While in Shirati, Dr. Lewis noticed a distinct lack of accessible healthcare for the surrounding villages. The only time these villagers were able to see a doctor was if they were able to make the day-long walk to Shirati Hospital, and during his time there, Dr. Lewis frequently witnessed villagers dying while attempting to make that arduous journey.

When he finished his month in Africa, the cows were ushered away from a grassy patch of land and Dr. Lewis boarded a 4-passenger puddle-jumper to begin his long journey home to Cincinnati, Ohio. As the plane taxied from the makeshift runway, with the crowd of waving children pulling at his heart, Dr. Lewis made it a goal to someday return to the area to provide help to the outlying villages.

The Inception of Village Life Outreach Project, Inc.
After completing residency, Dr. Lewis began working with Alliance Primary Care. In the early days of building his practice, the urge to return to Tanzania grew stronger and stronger. With encouragement and advice from Dr. Jeff Heck and Sharon Mullen of Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc. and Dr. Andrew Bazemore of the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Lewis began plans to return to Tanzania with a core group of volunteers to accompany him.

Several important elements quickly came together and Village Life Outreach Project was transformed from one person’s vision of spreading love by helping others into a full-fledged non-profit, non-government organization. A timely article in the local newspaper introduced Dr. Lewis to Amie Wilson, RN whose passion and commitment to the mission of the organization helped him organize the first ever Village Life Tanzania Outreach Brigade. Before taking the trip, the idea needed to be housed in an official organization. Thanks to the hard work of his friend Tanya Goins, Esq., who had just moved to Cincinnati, Village Life was granted 501(c)3 status and built its original Board of Directors.

The First Brigade to Tanzania
In October of 2004, the Village Life team made their first trip to the villages of Roche (“Row-shay”), Nyambogo (“Nigh-am-Bo-go”) and Burere (“Boo-Ray-ray”), treating patients in mobile field clinics. The success of the first brigade cannot be measured simply by the number of patients the team treated. Rather, the groundwork was laid for a lasting partnership forged with the local NGO SHED (Shirati Health, Education and Development Foundation) and, most importantly, the villagers themselves. A commitment was made to continue working in these villages through identifying their primary concerns and developing solutions to address them. However, realizing that these solutions would only be successful long-term if they were sustainable by the villagers themselves, the methodology adopted was that of giving a “hand-up” rather than a “hand-out” by providing the knowledge and resources necessary for the villagers themselves to adopt them and take ownership of them.

Subsequent Outreach Brigades and Projects
After annual brigades in 2005 and 2006, Village Life added a summer brigade starting in 2007, now taking 20+ volunteers to Tanzania twice per year. During these brigades, in addition to treating patients in mobile field clinics, brigade volunteers tackle such widespread problems as the spread of malaria, lack of clean water and lack of educational opportunities. Some of the key accomplishments during these brigades and through stateside work include the following:

• Over 5,000 patients treated in Mobile Field Clinics.
• Publishing Room to Love, a collection of photographs and reflections from the first brigade. Proceeds form the sale of Room to Love are used to purchase and distribute mosquito nets to stop the spread of malaria.
• Teaching villagers how to build slow sand filters, use seeds from the moringa tree and use solar disinfection to clean their water.
• Through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), two University of Cincinnati engineering students spent 6 months in Shirati, conducting workshops on clean water and setting up a regional water testing facility.
• Teachers and members of the University of Cincinnati’s Project STEP (Science and Technology Enhancement Program) conduct teacher workshops and design lesson plans to be taught in both Tanzanian and Cincinnati schools.
• Feeding Program established, serving food to 1,200 children in three primary schools in Roche.
• Professors and students from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP) and the UC College of Engineering begin research and designs on building a permanent health center in Roche Village.

To learn more about these and additional projects and how you can get involved, please see the “Projects” and “Committees” pages.

Partnerships
As of 2009, Village Life will have completed 10 outreach brigades, taking more than 200 U.S. volunteers to serve in the villages in Tanzania. However, the success that has been achieved could not have been accomplished without the strong partnerships that have been formed along the way. The most important partnership has been with the villagers themselves. Villagers actively design and implement projects in partnership with Village Life. To this end, the villages have even formed their own Life, Health and Education Teams to mirror and work with the Village Life Committees. At the same time, the Tanzanian NGO SHED has been instrumental in helping to strengthen the bond with the villagers, providing guidance and overseeing all projects year-round.

Village Life has established strong ties to the University of Cincinnati. Professors and students from the colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, education and architecture have been instrumental both during brigades and working on projects locally.

Village Life also partners with other non-profit organizations such as Engineers Without Borders. These valuable relationships support the tremendous efforts of our volunteers. Generous assistance from MAP International, Abbott Pharmaceuticals and Schering-Plough supplies Village Life’s brigade teams with essential medicines to distribute at our mobile field clinics in Tanzania.

Community Support
The vision of spreading love has enveloped the Cincinnati, Ohio community and spread throughout the United States.  LIFE, HEALTH and EDUCATION. For this, Village Life is grateful and inspired. With your help, we truly believe we can make the world a better place for everyone.