A8
FROM PAGE ONE
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Fulfer:
(so was) how incredibly
happy they were with what
we would consider noth-
ing, where they are fi ghting
every day for food, for cloth-
ing, maybe walking around
with no shoes, and they
don’t know if they’re going
to get their next meal,” he
said. “They don’t have run-
ning water, they don’t have
any of that, but still, every
single person it seemed like
I met, (was) so nice, so kind,
so outgoing and wanting to
help. ... The children would
give you the shirt off their
back to help anybody. That
was very touching to see.
And that was every day.
“I remember feeling so
much hope about human-
ity being where I was at.
They have nothing, but
they were still appreciative
of every ounce that they do
have. That’s a very teach-
able moment, and I want our
community here to see that.
I think that it would make
them feel a lot better about
our world.”
Continued from Page A7
not just teaching.”
During the second week
of his trip, though, his tra-
jectory changed.
More to be done
“The fi rst time I noticed
one of my students were
gone, it was one of my chess
players. I talked to the direc-
tor, (and) ended up fi nd-
ing he literally couldn’t go
to school, couldn’t aff ord
(it),” Fulfer said. “His fam-
ily is starving, his parents
are dead, he was literally try-
ing to take care of his family,
and come by any means nec-
essary to provide food.”
Fulfer, wanting to get this
student back in the class-
room, purchased a week’s
worth of food for the student
and his family, which was
six people in all.
The total cost?
Four dollars.
“It got a massive bag of
vegetables, it got me fruit,
it got me (ugali) powder,
got me rice, spaghetti, (and
cooking) oil,” he said of the
purchase.
The Tanzanian shilling
is not even pennies to the
dollar in comparison to the
greenback. In fact, he said,
the exchange rate is about
2,300 shillings to one U.S.
dollar.
With a supply of food in
hand, the student was back
in the classroom the next
day.
The experience did two
things for Fulfer. One, it
forced him to completely
rethink his approach when it
came to food and money.
“That has changed my
mentality of everything,”
he said. “Now, going to the
store (or buying) anything,
I have to think. I think so
many times about what I’m
buying, what I’m purchas-
ing — is this needed? What
can I do with this money?”
But he also started notic-
Olan Fulfer/Contributed Photo
Olan Fulfer stands with a group of students outside of Arusha, Tanzania, who just received new uniforms — students he also
helped teach chess to.
ing more kids missing, and
knew there was more to be
done.
Much, much more.
“One of the kids passed
away (of) HIV; passed
away (of) starvation,” he
said. “It terrifi ed me. I was
like, ‘Where are these stu-
dents?’ The director was like
a student can pass away, and
there is nothing we can do.
That terrifi ed me to where
I’m like, ‘We have to do
more.’”
Stepping up
What downtime Fulfer
had was gone after that,
as he devoted hours not in
the classroom to getting as
many students and other
Arusha-area residents as
possible as much help as he
could.
For some, it was uni-
forms for school. For others,
it was clothing and shoes.
Olan Fulfer/Contributed Photo
Olan Fulfer, center, demonstrates chess to a group of students
at a combined school and orphanage outside of Arusha,
Tanzania.
For several, it was food. For
still others, it was rent pay-
ments to prevent eviction.
Illness is often one of the
challenges that keeps people
from being able to work.
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For some, it was all of
this.
“This is a 97-year-old
that’s blind that fought
World War II for the Brit-
ish,” he said, showing a pic-
ture of the man. “That was
a British colony at the time.
We ended up paying for rent,
medicine, blankets and an
entire bag of food to help out
a little bit.”
Fulfer quickly learned,
too, the etiquette of properly
helping.
“You can’t just go there
and hand out food, and
be like, ‘Here’s a blan-
ket, here’s shoes, here’s all
this kind of stuff .’ I think
it’s considered disrespect-
ful to say, ‘You get this, you
get this,’ (You become) the
white savior. And I learned
a lot. I want to do the most
impact that is going to be the
most respectful.
“What we ended up
doing was meeting with
neighborhood leaders who
have the best intentions, to
where they pinpointed (the)
families that were in the
most need, and what they
do. They won’t just accept
it, they want to tell you why
they are accepting it.”
Fulfer also worked with
Hope and Soul, a charity
working in the region that is
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“She (Hope and Soul
Founder Hope Prosser)
warned me that what we’re
going to be doing is very,
very diffi cult. And I thought
I was prepared,” he said.
“I’m like, ‘I did it, fed this
family, they were really
really happy,’ but she was
like, ‘We’re going to do
more than just feed them for
a week. We’re going to do
sustainability.’ This is going
to last for a month, or even
longer, and it’s going to be
more than food. We were
providing food, but good
food that lasts.”
Hometown involvement
from afar
As the days wore on, and
Fulfer reached more and
more people who he could
help, the fi nancial resources
he had taken to Tanzania
with him were depleted.
“This is the coolest thing.
Didn’t really have internet. I
had to ask my wife (Tessa)
if she would set something
up. We ended up setting up
a GoFundMe that was set up
with the community here (in
Joseph).”
The GoFundMe link
describes Fulfer getting set
to visit the market to buy
food to feed families.
It had a designated goal
amount of $100.
“Within 24 hours, it
made two grand,” he said.
“And we spent every penny
within a week. But I just
had to keep doing it —
bought uniforms, paid for
kids’ school for a year. It
was cool the amount of
impact we were able to
make, and that was with
the overwhelming support
from this community.”
Hope for humanity
Fulfer said that despite
the severe lack that people in
the east African country live
with, there was no shortage
of one item — joy.
“I was not prepared for the
living conditions. I thought
I knew, but I thought that
would be just in the slums.
That was everywhere. The
living conditions that they
have (were shocking), but
Spreading like wildfi re
There is almost some-
thing coincidental of Fulfer,
who fi ghts wildfi res, want-
ing to pass the passion he
has built for service to oth-
ers and have it “spread like
wildfi re,” as he put it.
It’s safe to say he would
not be opposed to having
this one burn out of control.
“What I want to do is
instill the passion to my stu-
dents to start doing the same
thing and then pass it on,”
he said. “I remember when
I fi rst started teaching, my
goal was to make an impact
on one student to where they
in turn, later on, made an
impact on another student.
And so, I want it to spread
like wildfi re. If I do more,
do more, teach, teach, teach,
preach, preach, preach, and
actually do the stuff I talk
about as much as possi-
ble, I’m hoping that will be
infectious to my students.”
Sparks are already being
kindled. Fulfer said a pair of
fundraisers within the walls
of the Joseph school have
raised more than $700. And
several students in Fulfer’s
classes have expressed inter-
est in doing service or mis-
sion trips, whether it be
through an organization
like IVHQ or a faith-based
group.
“I do know that there
are students here that (faith
is) one of the main pushes.
They do want to go, and I
think there is a church here
that goes to Mexico,” he
said. “I know there are stu-
dents that (faith is) going to
be their driving force, which
is awesome.”
As for Fulfer, he is
nowhere close to being
done in Africa. He is already
working on plans for his
next trip — one in which he
hopes to take others along
with. He intends to con-
tinue working in Arusha in
the immediate future, but
is open to helping in other
areas down the road; he
mentioned Uganda and Jor-
dan as two possibilities.
“Maybe after this next
trip I’ll go to another spot
and do the same thing,
because I’m not done,” he
said. “Gonna bring a group,
going to go here and do as
much as we possibly can.”
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