By Elise Thomsen
Dodoma, Tanzania is over 14,000 kilometers from Mortlach, Saskatchewan. Many haven’t heard of either place, but Ron and Linda Locke have called both home. The couple from Mortlach are in Dodoma doing charity work with the Christian Council of Tanzania.
The Lockes were helping people long before they set foot in Africa though. Ron participated in military missions in Afghanistan and Bosnia before retiring. He was then elected the mayor of Mortlach in 1998. During his time as mayor, Ron brought businesses to the village, instituted community projects, and even secured Mortlach its own artist-in-residence.
“Ron sees what is needed and puts his whole heart into things and works tirelessly for this village,” said Marilyn Forbes, who runs the Crocus Ridge Gallery.
“Nine years ago you couldn’t have bought a cup of coffee in Mortlach,” she added. The main street outside her window now has a Welsh tea house, a candy store, a photographic art gallery and a convenience store cum diner.
He didn’t do it alone, though. Linda was always helping and working on some of her own projects.
“She probably does most of the work,” joked Larry Forbes, who was a town councilor with Ron. Linda was the town librarian and active in the United Church. She helped organize the church’s annual fall supper and also served on the lay supervision team for the congregation’s student minister, Jim Tenford. He described her as supportive, helpful and honest.
Linda also organized a medieval feast for the town and many dinner theatres. “She wouldn’t act though,” said Councilor Forbes
Tracey Gardener, who serves as the village administrator and is janitor for the K-12 school, said, “Linda was sweet as pie” and that Ron was “the military kind of guy”. Tracey Gardner attributes Ron and Linda’s success to their belief that the village could be more than it was.
Then, in 2009, Ron sought out a new project. He agreed to help the Christian Council of Tanzania and resigned from his post as mayor in November of 2009. He had the computer and internet expertise they needed to launch a new website. Ron had been the mayor for 12 years and Linda had served the community in many ways. The couple began packing their bags for Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma, home to an estimated 324,000 people.
“When they said they were going to go, there was a small selfish part of me that didn’t want them to go,” recalled student minister Tenford
Ron and Linda arrived in Dodoma on May 28th to be greeted with balloons, flowers and pieces of cloth to wrap themselves in.
Ron immediately got to work on the website, while Linda worked in the accounting office. But as they had done in Mortlach, they imagined more. In addition to helping introduce environmentally friendly LED lighting and power outlets and water saving urine diversion toilets, the Lockes initiated the Land for Life project. It will provide commune style housing and land for HIV/AIDS infected families so they can have a safe place to live and support themselves by planting crops. The 350 sq. ft. houses may seem small to Canadians, but Ron said one woman exuberantly noted that they could fit 10 to 15 people their new homes. They plan to build 100 homes a year over three years. “It sounds like a lot of homes, but really it’s just scratching the surface. People’s lives will be changed for the better,” said Ron.
One of the potential beneficiaries is Solame. Her husband is gone and she has three children. With an infant on her back, Solame walks six kilometers to her job at a hotel where she works six hours a day, six days a week carrying the hotel’s water buckets. Every month she earns 30,000 Tanzania shillings, about $20.
The impact Ron and Linda are making in Tanzania have allowed the people to make a definite impression on them as well. Linda said, “I’m impressed by their faith and their love for other people. They aren’t afraid to show their faith,”. Tanzania is a country with diverse religions that mix peacefully according to national reports.
Ron was impressed with how much Tanzanians value education. Young children will study before school, go to school all day and then come home and study until bed time, he said. “I guess when you’re desperately poor, you see that you can get a degree and get a better standard of living,” he explained.
Ron and Linda are almost half way through their one-year mission to Africa. Mortlach misses them though, according to Marilyn Forbes, Gallery Operator. The feeling is mutual. Both the Lockes, especially Linda, confessed to being homesick. They plan to make it home in time for Mortlach’s famous Saskatoonberry festival.