Meet Tanzania’s Cholera Fighters
Leah, Pili, and Serina carry Health & Hope’s Cholera Prevention message through the markets of Mwanza.
Women's Business Groups provide lifesaving volunteer support.
In Mwanza, Tanzania, cholera is not a distant threat. It spreads quietly — through a shared cup, a contaminated well, hands not yet washed. Most families don’t know this. And for a long time, no one was telling them.
That changed when Health & Hope Foundation put a megaphone in the hands of the women who knew their neighborhoods best.
This Women’s History Month, we celebrate them.
- Leah Vena, 63 — “Saving Team”
Not long ago, Leah (above left) was breaking rocks by hand to provide her family with food.
A widow raising three orphaned grandchildren, she took whatever work she could find — crushing stones, washing other people’s clothes for almost nothing. Life was hard, and hope was running low.
Then she joined Health & Hope’s Women’s Business Group. Today, with skills, mentorship, and donor-startup support, Leah sells fruits, vegetables, fresh juice, batik cloth, and her own handmade soaps.
But it was the Cholera Prevention Campaign that gave her a new calling. Leah was one of the very first to volunteer.
"I love people and don’t want them to suffer or die. To be part of this team is very important to me. I feel good to be part of the Saving Team."
- Esther Dana, 48 — “Mama Cholera”
Esther and Devota bring one-to-one cholera education directly to market vendors in Mwanza.
Esther knows what fear of cholera looks like up close. When a family member fell gravely ill, the community assumed it was witchcraft. No one knew what was really happening. No one knew how to stop it.
When Health & Hope launched its Community Cholera Prevention Campaign, Esther volunteered immediately. She now leads one-on-one outreach to market vendors — person by person, stall by stall — teaching them how cholera spreads and how to stop it.
The market women call her “Mama Cholera.” She wears this with pride.
"The challenges that I face help me to do better. I am happy to be part of the Cholera Campaign. I am Mama Cholera."
- And They’re Not Alone
Leah and Esther are part of a growing team of Health & Hope Business Women who have taken this work into their own hands and their own communities.
Pili Constantine, 67, and Serina Msana, 45, join Leah in megaphone outreach through Mwanza’s streets. Devota Stephanie leads our Fish Sales business by day and Community Cholera Education one-to-one by evening.
Together, the women have installed 35–40 hand washing stations — provided by Health & Hope — in market areas across the city. Each one comes with soap and a woman who knows how to teach how and why to wash hands.
Devota put it simply: "The time has come when no woman should show weakness of any kind. We have proved it ourselves what we can do. A woman is a hero. The Cholera problem must stop. We are determined to bring that change."
Why This Work Matters - Family Water Collection
Access to clean, protected water is still not guaranteed for many families in Tanzania. Open wells and shared water points carry the risk of cholera every single day. Your support is helping change that — one lesson, one handwashing station, one conversation at a time.
Thank you for making this possible. These women are not waiting to be rescued. They are doing the rescuing.
Donor generosity is what puts the megaphone in their hands.
