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There was a village called Sambu in Tanzania. The village was very small but it had a lot of minerals. Jacob, who lived in the village, was very poor like most people in Sambu, but he was very smart, although he had never been in school. Jacob had twelve sons, but he favored and loved his eleventh son, Joseph, the most among his brothers.

One day he called Joseph and said, “My son, so many of our children are dying, the other village has a water well and we have to walk so far for our water. Some of the children in the village have left to get work and we miss them. Our village is full of wealth but no one can use them because no one has gone to school, so I want to send you to the next village to study.  Then, one day you will be in the position to change our village.”

Joseph was very happy and promised his father, Jacob, that he would go to school. Since he did not want to disappoint his father, he went to school and started to study.

The rest of the villagers told him, “Why are you sending your son to the next village to study?  Don’t you know that he will forget his village and his culture? You have to get him back and he needs to get married.”  But Jacob told them,  ” I know what am doing. Just wait and see. Joseph will help us.” Joseph studied and completed his secondary education. Years past and when he came back to the village, he told his father Jacob to gather the whole village because he would be leading a meeting.

The elders, which were also Joseph’s older brothers, agreed and told the rest about it. Joseph started the meeting by saying, “Our village is full of wealth but we are suffering because we don’t know how to use it, so I would like to tell you, elders and my brothers, to build our own school and start teaching our children, and believe me, our life will change completely.”

Some agreed but some started to tell his father Jacob, “We warned you about Joseph! Look at what he his doing now.  We never had school and we didn’t die so why go to school?” Life went on as usual.

One day, the first elder’s child became sick and there was fear the boy was dying. Since Joseph was educated and faithful to God, he was able to care for the boy and saved his life from malaria with proper medicine. Then Joseph brought in mosquito nets with mosquito repellent to protect all the children in the village. The first elder realized that Joseph’s education can help the village, but they did nothing because so many elders were jealous of Joseph.

Several months passed. The villagers woke up and the second elder’s daughter was missing! Later, the village found out that some men had offered the daughter a job, but she had been tricked and sold to other men to become a servant by force in a stranger’s house. Because Joseph was educated and was faithful to God, he was able to investigate the situation, and wrote many letters to the president’s office. Eventually, an officer was dispatched by the president to investigate the issue. The people involved in the case were so afraid and finally freed the girl. He found the daughter and brought her home. The second elder realized that Joseph’s education could help the village, but did nothing, because so many elders were jealous of Joseph.

Again, several months had passed when the third elders’ child was attacked while making the long journey to bring water to the village. There was an increase in attacks on people to steal their body parts for witchcraft. Because of Joseph’s education and his faithfulness to God, he was able to stop more attacks from occurring by making sure children do not walk alone. The third elder realized that Joseph’s education could help the village. He consulted with the first and second elders and brothers who decided it was finally time to use Joseph’s knowledge to improve the village.

Joseph proved to them many good reasons to go to school. Since he had graduated and went back to his village, he helped the village by finding investors from different countries.

It was discovered there was a wealth of mineral extraction! Sambu has large amounts of minerals including gold, diamonds, coal, and iron.

People invested and built a well for clean water and many industries such as a school, a church, a care center for the sick,  crops for food, building material, and other industries needed for a thriving, healthy community.

The elders and brothers congratulated Joseph, and his father Jacob also was very proud for him. The villagers realized what Joseph was doing and started taking their children to school!

As the years passed, the village life changed completely. Joseph got married to Asenath, and started his own family, and he was also selected to be a village leader. By then, his father Jacob had become older and died a happy death, because his hearts desire was fulfilled.

STORY BY

RASHIDI MAHAMUDU

NEWALA SECONDARY SCHOOL