A Maryknoll affiliate expands a project helping high-risk children to Tanzania.
As a result of cerebral palsy, 8-year-old Gabriela could only get around by dragging herself across the ground. After working with a physical therapist over the last couple of months, Gabriela is up and walking for the first time in her life. Her smile as she moves independently is so beautiful!
Gabriela is cared for at St. Justin’s Centre in Musoma, Tanzania, which recently partnered with our nonprofit organization, Bridges to Healing International. We provide grants for health care for sick and disabled children who are orphaned or at high risk of abandonment.
Bridges to Healing, which we started in Bolivia, came to Tanzania in 2023. Maryknoll has a long history of working in the East African nation, both with vulnerable children and in health care. Maryknoll Sister Janet Srebalus, who has spent decades in Tanzania, introduced me to partners for our new projects.
We work with the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa, an order of Tanzanian religious established by Maryknoll Father Gerald Grondin and solidified through the efforts of Maryknoll sisters including Sister Rose Miriam Dagg. Several Maryknoll lay missioners have served with these sisters. As a Maryknoll affiliate, I joined this rich legacy.
A boy with sickle cell anemia is given physical therapy at St. Justin’s Centre. Bridges to Healing International pays for a local physical therapist to work there. (Courtesy of Erin Rickwa/Tanzania)
In Musoma, a city on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, the Immaculate Heart Sisters run St. Justin’s Centre for 115 disabled children. Even with very limited resources, the sisters have created a warm and caring environment. They also run Jipe Moyo, a shelter for girls fleeing sexual violence and female genital mutilation. At both places, Bridges to Healing provides funds for a nurse. Our local physical therapist also goes out to rural areas to teach training exercises to families with disabled children.
On the southern end of Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania’s second-largest city, we work with a project named Chanua Group. Many of the 60 children it supports were orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. Until recently, the group, whose name means “blossom” in Swahili, was run by Maryknoll Sister Felista Wanzagi. Two local Tanzanian Maryknoll affiliates now lead the project. One of them, Costansia Mbogoma, is a member of the Maryknoll Affiliate Board.
The idea of Bridges to Healing started in 1995 while I was serving as a Salesian lay missioner in a government-run orphanage for 100 children in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The children there received little or no medical care. Some children were so traumatized they didn’t speak, and the babies rocked back and forth to comfort themselves.
Erin Rickwa (left) talks with Maryknoll Sister Janet Srebalus and Immaculate Heart Sister of Africa Margaret John Masalu. (Courtesy of Erin Rickwa/Tanzania)
Upon returning from Bolivia, I studied for a master’s degree in social work and designed a program for providing effective health care to children such as these in institutional settings. I wanted to create a “bridge” to local medical resources.
I met my husband, Spencer, while volunteering in Bolivia, and we married in 1998. As a physician, Spencer brings his medical expertise to our work. Together we joined the Maryknoll Affiliates chapter in San Diego, California, in 2001. Through the chapter, I met Maryknoll Sister Ramona Oppenheim, who became a friend and inspiration. Bridges to Healing International was incorporated in 2010. The members of the current board of directors of Bridges to Healing International are all Maryknoll affiliates.
I was drawn to the Maryknoll idea of going out to listen and observe, spending time to hear people’s needs. That’s what leads the service. We respect local cultural norms and keep our focus on the universal right of all children to basic medical care.
There is a deep wound in children when it is not possible for them to be with their biological parents. We partner only with groups that make every effort to reunite the children safely with family members.
Rickwa poses with Immaculate Heart Sister of Africa Regina Linda John. (Courtesy of Erin Rickwa/Tanzania)
Bridges to Healing offers three main types of assistance. First, we enable orphanages, residential schools and shelters to hire local, full-time staff nurses. Secondly, we pay for screening labs for all the children, as well as any medications and treatments needed. Thirdly, we provide funding for individual children who need surgeries, therapies, imaging studies or other treatments.
Building relationships has been critically important in establishing Bridges to Healing. I have been very fortunate to work with wise Bolivians and Tanzanians who helped me navigate some tough situations. I am in awe of healthcare workers in the Global South who do incredibly brave work, often with little or no pay.
In partnering with homes run by religious, I work with the sisters to find local support. I assist them with grant reports and collecting data on the diseases the children suffer. This helps to develop appropriate care models, and demonstrates to the larger community and their governments the needs of these populations.
Bridges to Healing focuses on the children’s daily lives. Can they go to school? Do they have trouble sleeping because of nightmares, headaches, stomachaches or infected scabies? If they have families, is there a safe path for them to return home?
It’s important not to give up hope! I have witnessed many positive, real changes over the 30 years I’ve been doing this work. Yes, so much more needs to be done and there are more children to reach, but progress is possible.
Erin Rickwa is founder and executive director of Bridges for Healing International.
Featured Image: Immaculate Heart Sister of Africa Margaret John Masalu, founder of St. Justin’s Centre, is shown with one of the children the center serves. (Courtesy of Erin Rickwa/Tanzania)
