Snellville Resident Aids West African Nation

Snellville resident David Josue is a soft-spoken, peaceable man who smiles often. But Josue possesses a strength and determination that presents itself in full force when he begins speaking about his passion: helping the people of his adopted home country of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.

Josue, a Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, native who has called the United States home for more than 30 years, traveled to Africa in the mid 1990s to volunteer with an organization teaching African women basic business skills. The aim was to help the women be more successful when buying and selling goods. When Josue arrived at his destination, he found an unexpected, pleasant surprise.

“That evening, I was listening to some people in a restaurant, and they were speaking a language that resembled Haitian," he said. "I just had to be intrusive, and I said, ‘What language are you speaking?’ And they said, ‘Crioullo.’ I said, ‘Where are you from?’ They said, ‘Guinea-Bissau.’”

Josue struck up a conversation with them, and they invited him to come to Guinea-Bissau. “I said to them, ‘Don’t play! Because I will.’”

A few years later, Josue did just that, staying with a family in Guinea-Bissau for four months. He fell in love with the country and its people. “I felt like I was home,” he said.

Guinea-Bissau, formerly a Portugese colony, is a multi-party republic on the western coast of Africa. There are an estimated 1.5 million people in what is one of the least developed countries in the world, according to Bureau of African Affairs, a division of the U.S. Department of the State. It’s a small country, roughly the size of Maryland.

According to the U.S. Department of the State, it is a country plagued by waterborne communicable diseases. Every year, natives die as a result of malaria and cholera. The life expectancy is 30 years below the United States. Infants die at a staggering rate, 14 times that of the U.S., according to information on www.state.gov.

Josue made many friends among the Bissau natives during his stay, but what he saw troubled him. The people were poorly educated about sanitation and hygiene, and they continue to die from preventable diseases. Josue became determined to change that.

“I looked at what they were doing, and I said in my heart, ‘Oh, no. Don’t do that.'”

During his visit, Josue spent his time observing the people and their habits, and with the assistance of volunteers from Guinea-Bissau, he formed the Aizan Charitable Organization. Aizan, meaning “purity,” seeks to educate the people about hygiene and water purification.

“Giving your baby a drink of water should not be a death sentence,” Josue said.

After returning home, Josue started a chapter of Aizan Charitable Organization in Snellville. Initially organized in 2002, it was recently dissolved in September 2010 by the Secretary of State's office. It's renewal registration is pending, which currently negates its nonprofit status. Still, Aizan Charitable Organization continues to work toward its mission.

It tracks outbreaks of cholera and malaria in Guinea-Bissau and alerts international aid and health agencies when needed. The group raises money to purchase water purification tablets, and it tries to keep elected officials educated on the issues. Josue, however, is careful to point out that it’s not all they do.

“For lack of a better way, I look at it almost like parenting," he said. "In parenting, you don’t always have a clear mission statement. You are the nurse, the teacher, the housecleaner, the counselor, everything.”

The leaders of the sister organization in Guinea-Bissau alert Josue and his team when there is a need, and they do what they can with the resources available to help out, Josue said.

Eva Haynes is a fellow member of the Snellville-based Aizan Charitable Organization. A native of Liberia, Africa, Haynes is a first-grade teacher in Warner Robins, Ga. Helping Josue was something she did willingly.

“I’m from West Africa," she said. "I know the problems we have there. Things people take for granted, like drinking water. I had to help.”

Josue appeals to anyone with a skill to help Guinea-Bissau. The people are in need of educators and medical treatment, as well as monetary contributions for water purification tablets, medical supplies and building supplies.  According to Josue, most of the medical care the people of Guinea-Bissau receive is at-home remedies and “old wives’ tales.”

“My greatest wish is for there to be no need for us anymore," Josue said. "I would like for them to have sustainable development. I’d like to see the mothers not have to worry about their children and what they give them. I’d like for there to be no reason for me, all the way here in Snellville, to have to worry about where I’m going to buy water purification tablets."

Josue goes on to say, “We are accountable for each other. Our circle of concern doesn’t end at the border for ZIP codes or the boundaries of the United States. It’s a planetary effort."

If you would like to help David Josue and Aizan with their efforts in Guinea-Bissau, contact David Josue at djosue@yahoo.com.