Content Warning: What follows is a very sad story, concerning the death of a child.

Christopha Paulo Matiko (Topha for short) was a dear friend of ours here at QuadW Tarime. Last year, we had started a Bible study group for children, and at the children’s insistence, we transformed it into a house church; Topha was a part of that group. Cassidy Barker, Doto Francis, and Gloria Sentozi would go meet with them every Monday evening. Topha was a lovable young man. He had an undiagnosed mental illness; possibly autism. Everyone agreed that it was exciting to talk with him about the Bible and hear the creative things that he would come up with; thoughts that no one else would have thought. He never quite understood the concept of raising one’s hand; he would just blurt out his answers and his prayer requests, adding so much life to the meeting every week. One night, we got the news that he drowned, and it really cut us all to the core. We still do not understand how he ended up in a small pond that was fed by an underground spring. Maybe he just got curious about the water and didn’t understand that it could be dangerous. He was 12.

Many people talked about him in the days following his death. One of the comments that people made over and over again was that two other children had also drowned in the same pond recently. Obviously, we were deeply disturbed, even angry, that the danger was already known and that Topha’s death might have been prevented, so we started asking the people of the surrounding neighborhood (called Rebu) about how this pond could be made safer. Every neighborhood in Tanzania has its own elected official, called a “neighborhood chairman”; we requested that the Rebu neighborhood chairman call a meeting of everyone living in Rebu to discuss what we could do.

We were grateful to see that the people of Rebu really had the will to do something about it; they agreed that it was unacceptable, and that a little construction work could transform it from a dangerous pond to a protected and useful well. They couldn’t quite afford the materials for the construction, but they were willing to help with the work if we could bring some materials. The Tarime town government gave us a budget of $2,000 for the materials, but something didn’t seem right. Knowing the selfish side of our own human natures and how construction often presents an easy opportunity for theft of materials and money, we asked the Rebu neighborhood chairman if we could go with him to the pond and make another budget. He brought his own construction workers, but again, we could tell that even their budget of $900 was heavily inflated. Finally, we went back to the pond with a long-time trusted friend and church member, and he was fully honest with us, that the whole thing could be done for $400. We went back to the neighborhood chairman, who said that sounded good, and that we shouldn’t waste any more time.

This morning, we brought 3 dump-truck-loads of large construction stones to the site, as well as a dump-truck-load of construction sand, to start making the area safe. To protect all other children, in memory of Topha.

Elder Mwita checking the depth of different places in the little pond.

This is the best picture that we have of Topha.