By-Liner (Op-Ed)
U.S. Ambassador marks Thanksgiving by giving thanks to Tanzanians
By U.S. Ambassador Mark Green
November 21, 2007
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| Ambassador Mark A. Green |
Thanksgiving does more than just bring families together. It is also a time when Americans of all faiths and all backgrounds reach out to those in need. They volunteer to serve the traditional Thanksgiving meal to homeless citizens; offer generous donations of time, food, or money; and help the elderly and vulnerable children.
The early explorers and settlers who arrived in the Americas began the Thanksgiving tradition by giving thanks for the natural abundance they found there. One of the first Thanksgiving celebrations on record happened nearly four hundred years ago in 1619 in the state of Virginia. To mark its safe arrival, the captain of a ship that had made the long, perilous voyage from England to Berkeley Plantation read aloud orders that, “The day of our ship’s arrival… shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God,” and the crew of the ship fell to their knees in prayer.
I have lived in Tanzania for about three months now, and there seems no better occasion than today to offer my thanks as well. I am thankful for the warm hospitality and friendship my family and I have received since our first days in this beautiful country. I am thankful for the chance to meet some of the kindest and most sincere people I have ever known as I travel throughout the mainland and Zanzibar. I have continually found myself giving thanks for the small kindnesses I have witnessed and that have been extended to me, from sharing meals with Tanzanians to being welcoming into homes, universities, hospitals, and places of worship.
I have also seen a side of the American people that makes me both proud and thankful. I have met countless Americans here who are volunteering to help Tanzanians, the same way they volunteer in the U.S. I have met American doctors and nurses practicing medicine here, as well as Americans volunteering at clinics, child health projects, HIV centers, and teaching in schools of all levels. I have received dozens of letters from Americans who have raised money in their communities to build schools, clinics, markets, infrastructure projects like wells and water pipelines, and environmental protection projects.
Just one example is John Kenworthy. I’ve never met John, but he wrote to tell me about his work here. Mr. Kenworthy came with a group from Wisconsin (my home state!) that built a preschool near Usa River this past summer. Seeing the great need for classrooms, he has now returned to America, started a non-governmental organization (“NGO”) called “Brick by Brick for Tanzania!” and is raising funds to build more schools in partnership with local communities. This is the quiet spirit of volunteerism that makes me thankful to represent America every day.
In the coming fiscal year, the U.S. Government will provide approximately $648 million of American taxpayers’ money (over 721 billion Tanzanian shillings) in assistance to Tanzania. That figure doesn’t include assistance through programs like the Millennium Challenge Act. More importantly, it doesn’t include the assistance provided by countless private Americans through NGOs, faith-based and secular, Christian and Muslim and from other faith traditions, American and international, that are working in so many parts of this great nation.
For this year’s Thanksgiving Day, President George W. Bush has said: “While Thanksgiving is a time to gather in a spirit of gratitude with family, friends, and neighbors, it is also an opportunity to serve others and to share our blessings with those in need. By answering the universal call to love a neighbor as we want to be loved ourselves, we make our Nation a more hopeful and caring place.” I could not agree with the President more.
This Thanksgiving holiday, Americans will give thanks for all we have been given, all we have been able to give, and will ask for continued blessings for our families. For me, I will ask that Tanzanians continue to be blessed, and offer my thanks for all the blessings they have already offered my family and me.
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Note: The U.S. Mission in Dar es Salaam will be closed on Thursday, November 22, 2007, as American citizens throughout the world celebrate Thanksgiving. All offices, including the visa section, USAID, Peace Corps and CDC will resume operations on Friday, November 23, 2007.