Rosemarie Strine will openly admit that her God given gift is a big mouth, and she intends to use it as long as she has air in her lungs. She doesn't mince her words even if they're spoken with the accent of a retired Inn Keeper from Germany who's lived most of her adult years in Vermont. She sounds tough, and she is!
Rosemarie happens to be an important pillar of Bridges of Promise. When we decided to take on projects to serve the community in Rulenge Tanzania, we were introduced to Rosemarie and she became an instant and integral asset to our mission.
In 2004, Rosemarie met Father Simon Taabu. They hit it off instantly and she learned a great deal about his African culture including his intentions to help his community to acquire clean water, establish good healthcare, improve the educational system, and assist the orphans by helping them attain proper food, medical attention, and schooling. She saw her new friendship with Fr. Simon as timely. She had been widowed for many years and had just lost her mother. She decided she needed to stay busy (or to keep out of trouble, as she puts it.)
Unfortunately, before Rosemarie and Fr. Simon could work together to help his community, he left for Illinois in pursuit of his PhD in higher education. However, Fr. Remi became Rosemarie's conduit to the Rulenge community, and that's when the groundwork began.
Fr. Remi supplied Rosemarie with photographs and vitals of several orphans in the village who didn't have anyone to provide their school tuition. Education is not free in Tanzania nor is anyone taxed for it so that the government may provide mandatory schooling. And so with that big voice, Rosemarie spoke at several consecutive masses for weeks and months encouraging the parish members to sponsor an orphan.
By 2006, fifteen orphans had sponsors and were attending school, and by 2007, Rosemarie paid her first visit to Tanzania to see first hand what it's like to live in Rulenge. She was shocked. What she witnessed was almost unbearable. She realized that not only did these orphans need and deserve an education, but school was really the only opportunity for them to be fed and sheltered. The community was so remote and lacking so much that she felt overwhelmed with all that needed to be done.
She saw schools built for 350 students packed with 750 kids. Schools without windows or even screens for fresh air. Small hand made beds shared by several orphans. No shoes. The struggle for water. The remote location of the village (it took three planes and an eight hour ride along a dirt road to reach Rulenge.) Not to mention the disease.
Seeing the village and meeting the children in person made Rosemarie work even harder. We have to trust that God knew exactly what he was doing. Within two years, Karen Schuster learned about the community and felt the same call to duty. Rosemarie served as a guide to Karen providing her with invaluable information and resources. Eventually, Bridges of Promise was formed as a 501c3 with the main intention to provide school tuitions to the orphans of Rulenge as well as provide clean water, public health and other basic needs to this underserved community so it may grow and thrive.
Today, in large part due to Rosemarie's initiative and together with Bridges of Promise, we currently provide tuition for fifty-five orphans and counting. We've joined forces and together, we have pledged that each and every orphan in the community receive an education.
Each of us has a gift. It may not always seem like it, but we do. If Rosemarie can use her voice, imagine what you could do.
