September 2010 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Some of the items sent out from the UK via container! Special thanks to Marion Gough and team for all the hours of hard work needed to get this project accomplished!


CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
The children’s village has been introduced to some families this month that are really exemplifying what it is to be great parents in the face of the immense adversity that faces these impoverished families. Two mothers have brought there infant children here and are staying with them for a short time to learn proper nutrition and how to care for the children. Another Mother has brought two of her children (Ashim, 9, and Boniface, 13) for a short time while she build a home for her family. She is following the example of her neighbors from the same area who will be welcoming back four children this year who have lived at the Children’s Village while they have earned an income leveling the ground at other NGO development projects. The money that these parents have earned has gone towards building a new home and the family will be ready later this year to have their children return home.
Finally, a child named Joshua, 12 months, has been welcomed here after his mother passed away at the beginning of this month. Joshua’s father (Evaristo, 23) has pledged to welcome the child back home after he is employed and will be able to care for the child when Joshua is three years old. Evaristo is currently looking for employment, and the NGO is planning on giving him work on some of our development projects going on at the Children’s village.
We are excited about this new use of the children’s village and we feel it helps give the project a sense of momentum towards ultimately being taken over by the communities themselves.
Ongoing projects at the children’s village these days include the difficult task of clearing the massive stones from orphans’ home site number one, construction of orphans’ home number two, construction of a manager’s house to enable more volunteer housing, and construction of a social center that will ultimately be the heart of the children’s village and the NGO itself.

CONTAINER:
Another container has arrived in Mufindi! Right at the beginning of the month we had our work cut out for us as we unloaded all of the contents neatly organizaed and packed away by Marion gough and her team in the UK. This is the fourth container sent out by Marion, and it’s filled with countless useful items. It was clear to see the hard the work that had been put into loading the container as everything was neatly labeled, nicely organized and well packed to the brim of the container before shipping! Hospital equipment, computers, printers, copiers, clothes, and loads and loads of materials for a sewing project hopefully to start in the coming months were just a few of the items sent this time around. Again we’d like to thank Marion and Rod Gough and everyone who helped on this for their truly tireless efforts, and we only hope Marion’s efforts can be replicated by committed volunteers right around the world!

Community Outreach
A big project in medical treatment occurred this month through the Community Outreach program. 10 patients with various ailments needing surgical attention were sent on a bus to Dar es Salaam to receive treatment. The ordeal was a great success in terms of community outreach at its purest form. The expenses however further exemplified the need for local Health facilities to be improved. The Mdabulo Hospital project is needed so that this community can get the health care services they deserve, and so that everyone may have access to health care with their own means.
The ten patients had various ailments such as Fistula, clubfeet, cleft palates, and others, and were all taken to a Hospital in Dar es Salaam called Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation Tanzania (CCBRT). By a great stroke of luck, Dr. Leena Pasanen had retuned to Tanzania just as these patients were recovering and she was able to check in on all of the patients before she left for Illembula. Dr. Leena will be joining us again on the 20th of October.

Blantina’s House
On one of Dr. Leena’s village visits she met an amazing woman named Blantina. Blantina is a woman with an unfortunate infliction where her bones are very weak, and she has had corrective surgery a few times and she now stands just over three feet tall. She is doing all that she can to raise her children and send them to school, and in fact she is one of most important leaders in HIV prevention education as she visits homes of neighbors and friends on her own time to discuss testing and treatment options in the area. Unfortunately her home is slowly deteriating as the thatch roof is falling completely away. A Canadain donor has responded to this story and has donated the $2000 needed to build Blantina her own “Bibi’s home.” Construction was completed this month all the way to roof level, and the house should be ready by the end of October. Blantina helped make the bricks, and clear the land and carry the water for building during the whole process and she is very grateful for the helping hand that has reached out to her and her family.

Health Care
Mdabulo Hospital
Construction has continued past the ‘ring beam’ level but has stalled before installation of the roof. We are waiting on specific funds for this project before continuing. Plans are in place to complete a comprehensive proposal that will include a detailed budget each building project that will be necessary to complete this project. We are hoping that by sharing this vision it may help in getting more people aware and involved with this cause. The completion of this project will mark our biggest single project and our hope is that if funding is procured more rapidly building can continue accordingly as opposed to the more slower pace we are forced to continue with in order to stay within our means.

Education
Igoda Community Hall
Events at the Igoda Community Hall seem to be getting more and more productive with each experience. This month we had a seminar entitled “Pombe ni Sumu” (Alcohol is poison). The seminar was filled with various leaders in the village who shared thoughts and experience regarding alcohol in the community. Alcohol is specifically detrimental to the development of communities in this area due to the high HIV prevelance in the area. One of the most important reasons for having the Community Hall in the village was to give the community alternative entertainment options for family oriented fun. This seminar was the most engaging seminar thus far as everyone seemed to have an opinion as the floor was opened to all visitors for discussion. Over 481 people attended, and many people, and village leaders expressed a desire for another similar seminar to be had as soon as possible! The event was the ideal

Luhunga Secondary School
Geoff Fox, Chariman of Foxes Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust (FCWCT), was given a special honor this month as he was invited to give a speech as Mgeni Rasmi (honored guest) at the Form 4 graduation ceremony on September 24th. This was a very special event, as it was the school’s first Form 4 graduation celebration. Mr. Fox spoke about the importance of this step in education being the foundation on which more growth could be had, and he also stressed the need for students not to forget where they come from. The final point was made that Tanzania needs educated people to help develop the community, as does Mufindi, as does Luhunga. It was a great honour to have the NGO represented at this important event, and we are all grateful that such a poignant message could be given to students at an impressionable time.

August 2010 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Akida Mdalingwa (Community Outreach field officer) accepting a cheque on behalf of Foxes' NGO from the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania- Alfonzo Lenhardt. This photo appeared in the Dar es Salaam newspaper 'Mwananchi' on August 31st, 2010.




CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
We collected a large contribution this month from Alfonso Lenhardt, the United States Ambassador to Tanzania. The 25,500,000Tsh will go towards building the next home at the children’s village. This will cover most of the costs, as we have budgeted the cost of the project to be around 35,000,000Tsh in total costs. Foxes’ NGO in Tanzania has so far been successful in every grant proposal written, and this truly can be attributed to the successful projects the NGO has had so far. In another stroke of good fortune, Rotary International in Hong Kong has also committed around $6500USD to the Children’s Village house building, so the funds are here for house number 2! We in the latest financial meeting wit African Book Box, money was allocated as well to children’s homes, and so we are right on our way to finishing the six homes that the NGO set out to complete from the very beginning! This comes at a good time as the children’s village has filled to capacity, and even as there are plans for some children in temporary ‘faster-care’ scenarios to return home soon, we look forward to having some more space, and expanding the children’s village.

HEALTH CARE:
Mdabulo CTC
One of our most fortunate turns in years occurred this month as well as African Book Box was able to get funding for secured for a CD4 Machine to be placed in the Mdabulo CTC! As building has completed on this project, the Machine was the last gem be put into this building to complete our most important project in terms of HIV treatment and prevention. The funds for the Machine are an equivalent of $50,000, and there is no real way to measure the worth of the machine in this area, as thousands will now be registered and treated through the Mdabulo CTC.
This donation completes a project that has been funded until now with $50,000 secured through Mufindi Orphans Inc, at first through a donation from the Roselyn Hogland Foundation, and then from the M.O.M. Challenge fundraiser of 2009 where members of MOI climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro as a fundraiser for the building. This project will impact the community in a very direct way by bringing treatment and prevention education to thousands of people, and by stemming the spread of this deadly disease that has done so much damage to this area.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
While in Dar es Salaam receiving the US Ambassador’s Community Grant for HIV/AIDS relief, many useful contacts were made, and many will hopefully strengthen the donations coming from abroad by supplementing them with money found locally such as the Ambassador’s grant. One organization that was contacted was a Hospital called Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation Tanzania (CCBRT) which is now very interested in connecting with Foxes’ NGO and the Community Outreach Program. The Hospital has named our community outreach field officer, Akida Mdalingwa, an official representative of the Hospital. Akida is now able to get patients to Dar es Salaam for treatment through the CCBRT program. He will work with Dr. Leena Pasanen and Jenny Peck during visits to the 16 villages in our area, and he will report patients to the Hospital who will be referred by Dr. Leena. CCBRT will then help transport the patients to Dar es Salaam, and supply treatment for the patients free of charge.
In another promising development several stores and outlets were found in Dar es Salaam that are now interested in selling items such as the baskets, and batik materials made by the women in our income generating projects. This will help bring more sustainability to the projects, and hopefully even bring a source of reoccurring income for the NGO itself in the future.
A proposal given to a local mobile phone service provider was received well this month, and the phone company has promised to help support an income generating project that will start next year. The NGO has a goal of starting a sewing school so that the products in the income generating projects are made of higher quality, and so that various members of the community caring for orphans finish a course with a skill and the knowledge to start their own business if they so choose.

EDUCATION
Luhunga Library
This project continues on now with the roofing all completed. We’re excited about this African Book box funded project as students from Igoda Primary and other primary schools in the Luhunga ward will attend this school and the standard of good quality education will continue on into Secondary School. Luhunga is a relatively new school, and we hope to replicate the success of our projects at Igoda primary school so that Luhunga may become one of the better government schools in the Region, just as Igoda primary has become.

July 2010 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Inside the Igoda Community Hall which hosts a bevy of events and performances primarily educating the community on the dangers of HIV/AIDS



CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
After the tragedy of last month, it was great to see the children have fun again. Each year on saba saba (means seven seven for July 7th- a national holiday in Tanzania) the Children’s village celebrates its anniversary. This year marks three years since the first children, Issa, Willi, Remijio, and Moses, entered the children’s village. The children’s village celebrated the occasion with a goat roast, and many songs and dances. The guardians all had matching outfits made for the occasion and even performed a few songs for the children. It was a great day, and it was heart-warming to see all of the children so happy again. It was a cathartic experience really, and it was a celebration that encompassed everything that this project is all about.
We have had two new additions to the children’s village this month as well: Dismas Mkonye, 14, and his younger Sister Matilda Mkonye 12. The children come from an abusive home and it was suggested by the village that the children live at the Children’s Village until their guardians in the village become more fit for caring for children. The children are back in school after being denied the right of education at home, and the relatives are happy that the children are in a safe loving environment.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
Results from the research report we have been working on have come in. We hope to update this easily each year or every 6 months now that we have the original data. The number tallied in this report really give us an idea of the hard-work and dedication that has been put into the Community Outreach program. 1000 kids in the project area, and over 2500 adults etc.

HEALTH CARE:
Dr. Leena Pasanen
Dr. Leena continues to impress us as she has been invited this year to speak at an International event in Finland this year on World AIDS Day December 1st. She has already mentioned that she will take the opportunity to honour the passing of Felista Mpangile by highlighting the injustice that still exists in regards to rural health care in the world’s poorest countries. The hope is that Felesta’s passing will not be in vain, and that measures will be taken from everyone involved that we do not have another example of this preventable tragedy. We are honoured to have Dr. Leena with us and by our side, and we wish her all the best on her speaking engagement in December! We are sad that she will miss the planned festivities at the Igoda Community Hall, but we are happy that she will help us tell Felista’s story.


EDUCATION:
Igoda Community Hall
Exams are in for the adult English class in Igoda village where classes are taking place at the Igoda Community. It seems this year’s students are very serious about studying, and we are sharing ideas with more leaders in the village through this class as well as getting closer to the community through the forum of education. The adult education classes have already introduced us to some of the community’s most proactive leaders. In addition, the adult Engligh classes have produced some of our best NGO leaders including Yusto Chumi, the Igoda school librarian, and Yasinta Lunyali who is now a care-giver at the children’s village and was an integral part in organizing the World AIDS Day event last year that opened the Igoda Community Hall to the public.
Events at the Community Hall are going along nicely. Bibi and Babu tea day (grandmother and grandfather) has been a great success! At this month’s Bibi tea day over 75 grandmothers arrived from various villages in our area. Our Canadian friends from African Book Box Society, who wanted a project to show appreciation to the grandmothers in our area, started this idea of serving tea to the elderly in our area. The role of the grandmother in today’s sub-saharan Africa has now become globally recognized as heroic. Through the community outreach program we have seen in our area the difference these grandmothers are making in respects to orphan and child-care. Many households are led by grandmothers who’s own children have passed away due to HIV, leaving the grandmother the work of caring for several of her grandchildren. We have met so many inspiring women who are courageously taking on this responsibility and giving their grandchildren a chance at education and a good life.
Another event we’ve been very pleased with is the Oral History Day we have had now with two secondary schools in the area in attendance. Oral History Day is a chance for the area’s most elderly to share stories from Mufindi’s past, and to keep alive the history and traditions that this area has. It is also exciting to have this history passed on in its traditionally Africa manner- that of story-telling. We have had two History Days already. One ‘oral history day’ was attended by students from Mdabulo Secondary School, and another from Luhunga Secondary School. Each school brought most of their entire student body, and it was great to hear the student’s laughter and acknowledgement at the stories that the area’s elderly shared. We look forward to this event reoccurring as we further document the area’s history, and give the secondary school students a piece of their past that they can take with them, and share with their grandchildren.

May and June 2010 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Felista Mpangile, an 11 year old girl attending the Care and Treatment Clinic for treatment of HIV.


In June 2010, we lost a dear friend as a girl from our Children's Village died needlessly from complications due to HIV. Volunteer manager, Jenny Peck wrote this description of the events leading to this tragedy:

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
It is with deepest sadness that we pass on this news. Saturday June 26th, Felista Mpangile, an eleven year old here at our orphanage, passed away at 4am due to major organ failure caused by HIVAIDS. She is the first child here to pass away, and I still hear the beautiful haunting songs that were sung by her peers and guardians as they mourned her death, bringing tears to my eyes unexpectedly from time to time since then. Her story has left a deep impact on all of us here, and whomever she met along her journey I can guarantee, feels the same way. The hour of her death, she asked the housemother with her to pray with her, through her pain. She asked, “Why are you making me suffer so, God? Just take me! I didn’t make the mistake, my parents did. Why are you punishing me? Take me!” Until the entire ward at the hospital was in tears with her and Yasinta, the housemother. One month ago, Felista fell ill, and became skeletal, complaining about her stomach and head. After a few visits to the local dispensary, we were advised to take her immediately to the private hospital nearby where we found the shocking fact that she had a CD4 count of 2! Unfortunately for Felista, and thousands of people like her, she fell through the cracks of an already, severely broken system. She was taking Ceptrin, a broad spectrum antibiotic from the time she started “treatment” (Though the PEPFAR plan “the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief” pledged free ARV’s (Anti-retro-virals) to countries in Africa, a person must have a CD4 count of 200 or below to receive them, which is VERY low, as the normal healthy person has a CD4 count of around 1200 on average (the higher the count, the more protection your body has to fight infection). For the millions of people who are tested positive, but are healthy enough to keep living, they are given this broad spectrum antibiotic to keep their immune systems going until they are on deaths doorstep.).
Dr. Leena Pasanen had found Felista, a little 10 year old girl, all by herself at the hospital, asking to be tested, because both her parents had died, and she noticed that she was sick a lot and she had learned in school about HIVAIDS. She learned that indeed she was positive, and began treatment, but began asking/begging Dr. Leena to please take her to live at the Children’s Village because all of the children in her village of Ibwanzi had found out that she was positive and were ostracizing and teasing her. The NGO talked with teachers and village council members, all of who repeated the same story and all agreed with Felista’s request that she should go to the children’s village. The only true relative Felista had left was her grandfather, and he was unable to care for her. She came to the Children’s Village early in April, and fit in right away. She was continuing her treatment, however, as the village dispensary is a satellite of the district hospital for HIVAIDS care and treatment (until the CTC is finished and up and running), all the files are kept in Mafinga town, a good 55KM away. Normally, patients will come once a month (the staff comes to the dispensary twice a month to see the 1000+patients, meaning over 400 patients in one day seen by one doctor!) to get a refill of their medication, weigh in and talk about their health. As great as it was to get the hospital coming to the village, it still is a broken system, as Felista’s file was FORGOTTEN for three times in a row! The doctors just kept refilling her meds, not looking at her file, or really talking with her, as they just had too many patients to see. This, together with the problem that the district Hospital had run out of reagents to work the CD4 machine, became a lethal combination. For 4 months, this machine was “not working”, according to the doctors there. It wasn’t until we had to rush Felista to the private hospital 40km away that we found out just how low her CD4 count actually was. Had the doctors brought her file any of those three times when it was forgotten, or had that CD4 machine been working to test her each time, this death would surely have been prevented. This is our call to action! There does not need to be any more needless deaths! CD4 machines are available-they are $50,000, but they are available. This CTC in our village is close to being opened, meaning that all the patients’ files will be kept in the village-no more forgetting files! The only thing missing now is this machine. And if we could do anything for the Felista’s of these villages, we need to get it. NOW.
--Jenny Peck

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

We’ve welcomed the return of some people who’ve come from our favourite Canadian organization African Book Box Society this May and June. We’re forever grateful for the commitment the volunteers and members from African Book Society have given over the years, and this May we welcomed Anne Pearson, her husband, Terry, and volunteers Lauren Pearson (Anne and Terry’s daughter) and Pre-med student Brian Hurley. Terry has given us a very detailed map as to how to arrange our CD4 laboratory, as he has shared with us his years of laboratory work in Canada and in Kenya. Anne and Lauren have worked tirelessly it seems on countless new resources for our Teach English program that has now been adapted not only for teaching adults in the community, but also for teaching Primary and Secondary School students in the area in their classrooms. Anne and Terry returned back to Canada in June, but Lauren and Brian have stayed on and will be here throughout July. Both Lauren and Brian have been active in the communities, and have been teaching with local staff at the schools in our villages. Both have also taught regularly in our Adult English classes each evening.
June also brought the triumphant return of our original volunteers from last year- DOCTORS Will Metcalfe, and Vicky Milne. Will and Vicky were visited by Mama Bahati in their first week here, and the two doctors (officially qualified with their exam results given to them while here in Tanzania) had their picture taken with baby Bahati, now over a year old and very strong. Last year they managed to initiate a feeding regimen that saved the child’s life, and later this year or early next the child will be scheduled for a surgery on his double cleft palate and lip.
This year the two doctors have a shorter visit, but among other things are planning on expanding on their HIV prevalence findings that are featured in the NGO informational video. They have already visited dozens of families and patients in the surrounding villages, and we look forward to seeing them again next year!

HEALTH CARE:

Dr. Leena Pasanen

Dr. Leena graced us with her service again this month. She again held clinics at each of the health facilities in the villages of Ibwanzi, Mdabulo, and Luhunga. Dr. Leena also made home visits in Mwefu, Igereke A, and other parts of the village of Luhunga where patients were unable to leave their homes for health care. Finally, she held clinics in villages without a health facility, such as Ikanin’gombe, and Ilasa. At each of these clinics and home visits she sees a great bevy of problems, but also gives the NGO an insight on the problems that are afflicting our area. It is a valued resource to have her so closely connected with the people in our area, and to have such a personal insight on the lives of the people we are living with. She also made a stop at the Children’s village, to see our latest children, and to help us with the requisite health exam. We also again thank her for her time during our greatly successful Women’s health seminar!

Mdabulo Hospital

One of our goals in regards to health care is offering quality health services to this rural population so that the overall health in the area is improved thus enabling and empowering people to care for their children, and get themselves out of poverty. At the Mdabulo health facility, we hope to build an extension that will ultimately upgrade the facility into a fully functional Hospital. We hope to include staff housing, a dental clinic, operating theatres, an x-ray room, optometry room, consultancy rooms, women’s, men’s, and children’s in-patient wards, and all of the health care services any community deserves.
In June we managed to complete construction to the ‘ring beam’ level! We are waiting for specifically allocated funds to continue with this project. So far, we have come this far with a donation from an Italian Catholic priest who was requested via written letter from the NGO to see if there were any contributions to be made on behalf of the church for this project. He came out with 9 million shillings a few months later!

Mdabulo CTC

The news becomes more depressing after the recent developments in our strides to get this area the HIV treatment it deserves. Just yesterday we attended the first CTC day following Felesta’s passing. The staff from the Care and Treatment Clinic in Mafinga arrived quite late, and many patients again did not get to see their files. As a frustrating example of our struggles we are having here, the children’s village brought four children to Mdabulo to receive treatment from Mafinga, and ALL four children were told that their files had been forgotten.
Measures have already been taken to insure this does not keep happening, but we cannot be sure of the efficiency of this over-worked system. We are continuing to push to get the facility open and on it’s own.
Unfortunately bureaucracy is not making this easy. The facility has been ‘assessed’ recently and it has been stated that the facility will open when we add a 6-foot veranda on one side of the building and add two more sinks to two of the rooms. Also, not one piece of the furniture Tunajali has promised to build/supply has materialized, therefore our laboratory remains empty and without shelves.
Our new plan, together with the Mission, is to move ahead to complete the furniture and shelving, and hope to be reimbursed by Tunajali. We are also looking into the possibility of finding a CD4 Machine ourselves, and the logistics of such an endeavor.
It is shameful what casualty bureaucracy and formalities can bring to people who are grateful for what they have who only start to worry when health runs out.


EDUCATION:

Igoda Community Hall

The Igoda Community Hall is a project completely funded through African Book Box that will be used as a long-term tool for the community to use to educate themselves. The hall will be a source of education about various pertinent issues to this community including HIV/AIDS awareness, children’s and women’s rights, overall health, as well as many other issues. The hall will also host a bevy of events that will hopefully galvanize the community to lead itself out of poverty and help re-create a family based community upon which all of these villages founded.
June 16th marks Children of Africa Day, and as the NGO was honoured last year by having our own Jenny Peck speak as Mgeni Rasmi (honoured Guest), this year’s speaker was Bibi Cecilia. Bibi Cecilia Masonda is now 88 years old and has cared for over 80 orphaned children since 1970. Someday her whole story will be told, but for now we are truly grateful to be sharing space with such a heroic individual. On June 16th, the local primary schools gathered at the Igoda Community hall to celebrate Children of Africa Day. There were many songs, performances, and talks about children’s rights, and to have Bibi Cecila honour us with her words at the end of the day was truly encouraging.
Also in June we had our first Babu history day at the Igoda Community Hall. 4 (very old) Grandfathers were invited to the Community Hall to be asked questions by an audience of secondary school students. The questions all had to deal with the history of Mufindi, and the villages of Igoda and Luhunga. The event was well attended as the entire Luhunga Secondary School student body was invited, and nearly everyone arrived, filling the community hall. Many stories were shared including origins of family names such as Kalinga, Mvinge, and Chumi; and origins of place names such as Igoda, Luhunga, and Mdabulo. Many other stories were shared as well, including how elders used to communicate by yelling from hilltop to hilltop to share news with neighbors when each family lived so very far apart. We are quickly finding quite a few great purposes for the community hall and everyone in the area is beginning to associate the building as a place of gathering, and learning. The community is using this facility as a great resource to educate itself, and everyone seems to be grateful for its presence.

April 2010 (2 years in 20 days continues)

Pictured: Titus Nyunza (Left) and Mama Ivan - Treda Pius (Right), the Events Coordinators for the Igoda Community Hall. The Community Hall is seen in the background.



CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
A new house has opened! We now have four homes in our Children’s village each with children and care givers. The opening of this latest home brings a new much needed element to the children’s village, that of a care-giving Husband and Wife team. Isaya and Vicki will be living in House number 3, and they will be caring for the older boys in the Children’s Village. As some of the boys had never been to school before entering the children’s village, many are starting their primary education quite late, and will therefore be relatively older than their friends at the Primary School when they finish this compulsory schooling. The need for an ‘older boys’ house has been seen for a while now, and it seems to be perfect timing as this new house opens and we are able to welcome a parental guardian team to give motherly and Fatherly advice. Vicky has been with us since the very beginning, and her husband Isaya (or Baba, as he is affectionately called now) is a great fit in the village. Already he has shared his opinions in the guardian meetings, in a respectfully humble manner, and has valued the opinions of those who have lived here before him. He will also be the gardener, and new care-taker of the chicken banda project at the Children’s Village. The children will learn from him the valuable skills of chicken keeping and farming. This should be a perfect resource for the children to be learning these skills from a Fatherly figure in their lives, and it appears as though Isaya and Vicky are a great addition to the Children’s Village.
This month we also welcome Fraida, 20, who is working as our night nurse. She is responsible for caring for the children at night so that the Mothers who live in the homes can have some rest. Fraida has also fit in perfectly, and as she plans to study to be a nurse, she has been a great help in diagnosing problems with children who are HIV+ and otherwise. We are gathering quite a big family now with 43 children, and 9 guardians including Fraida, and more and more strives have been taken towards sustainability. We may be quite a ways away, but the beginning steps of the ultimate goal of having the Children’s Village become completely self-sufficient, is starting to take shape.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
Igoda Community Hall
The Community Hall (a project fully-funded by donations from Canadian organization African Book Box Society) will have two events coordinators, Titus Nyunza and Treda Mvinge, that will formally begin next month. Titus graduated from Jenny Peck’s Adult English class last year, and was instrumental in organizing last year’s World AIDS Day festivities that opened the building on December 1st, 2010. Treda Mvinge (better known as Mama Ivan) has been with the NGO since 2006, first as a founding member of the batik making women’s group, then as a cook for the Igoda School Kitchen. She has been a leader in the community in regards to advocating for HIV/AIDS testing and treatment, as she has been a great ambassador/educator about the disease, as she has encouraged countless others to know their status and seek treatment.
This month the Adult Education classes and Life Skills classes have continued, and we have added a very special event to the proceedings at the Community Hall: Bibi Chai day. On April 28th, 2010 the first Grandmother’s tea day took place at the community Hall, and although we had terrible weather conditions (pouring rain for 3 days in a row, and all morning long in Igoda village that morning) 20 rain-drenched Grandmothers all arrived at the community hall to enjoy some tea and maandazi, and to share their experiences of living in the village and caring for children. The event was a great success and it seems as though the Bibi’s day will get better and better as the village grows more aware of the usage of this facility.

HEALTH CARE:
Mdabulo CTC
On April 27th the NGO met with staff members from the oft-mentioned organization Tunajali (We Care). A laboratory consultant, grants-officer, programs director, and VCT specialist, all came to Mdabulo to evaluate what was needed at the facility to have it operating. Although the previous promise of a CD4 machine still seems to have been rescinded, we do have some good news this week: the site is getting closer and closer to having the patient files at site full time. To appreciate the importance of this step, first, we must take another look at some of the recent accounts of Care and Treatment at Mdabulo.
The Clinical officer explained to us this month that a ‘beautiful problem’ has arisen at Mdabulo. There are too many people arriving for treatment for HIV/AIDS and so the staff is becoming more and more overwhelmed. Just over two years ago it was beyond the means of most people here to receive treatment. The closest treatment was a 4-8 hour bus ride, and at a cost of nearly $10 for a return trip, many people refused to even be tested. Now, with over 1000 people registered at Mdabulo for HIV/AIDS treatment, it has been great to see the accessibility of treatment meaning more people are comfortable with their status and are living again! This amazing number of patients at Mdabulo however, is becoming overwhelming. Often times the staff from the CTC in the town of Mafinga either forgets, or doesn’t bring all of the patient files on the CTC day when they arrive at Mdabulo. This means that a re-diagnosis (if necessary) is not possible, and so patients stay on the treatment they are receiving. This can be a potentially disastrous problem, as patients need their medications adjusted to keep up with the virus so that the virus does not become immune to treatment. The good news brought to us this month signals the first steps for the CTC to become a fully self-operated facility hopefully beginning in July. The building will be in use, and most importantly the files for all patients at Mdabulo will remain there at the village facility. Overall we are encouraged that steps towards bringing full treatment and more access to quality health care are being made, especially with this most deadly disease that is affecting so many in our area.

Dr. Leena Pasanen
Dr. Leena’s incredible service continued this month with her monthly clinics for children with difficult problems at the health facilities in Ibwanzi, Mdabulo, and Luhunga. She also held a clinic in the villages of Ludilo and Kilosa where she made her office at the village government offices. She made home visits in the remote villages of Nandala and Kilosa, and also helped to see patients during the busy ‘CTC’ day at Mdabulo, seeing those patients who arrived while all other staff were kept busy by the 100s of HIV+ patients that arrived that day. We are very proud that Dr. Leena is with us and gives her time to the 16 villages in the three wards that surround us.

EDUCATION:
Luhunga Library
Construction is starting on the roof of the library at Luhunga Secondary School. We’re excited about this African Book box funded project as students from Igoda Primary and other primary schools in the Luhunga ward will attend this school and the standard of good quality education will continue on into Secondary School. Luhunga is a relatively new school, and we hope to replicate the success of our projects at Igoda primary school so that Luhunga may become one of the better government schools in the Region as well! This library will again be furnished with books and resources provided by African Book Box Society, and the tireless efforts of Ruth James and Anne Pearson are greatly appreciated again!
Igoda School Kitchen project
The Igoda School Kitchen Project (Another project fully funded by African Book Box) has made an immediate noticeable impact on the quality of Education at Igoda Primary School. Withing days of it’s inception last year, teachers were already commenting on how the changes in behaviour and change have improved in the classroom. This year we were especially pleased with it’s impact on the measurable results of the school. Igoda Primary school tested number 7th overall in the District of Mufindi, and was the 25th best school in Iringa region- out of 843 schools! This month Mama Ivan was replaced by Christina who’s children go to Igoda Primary school. Christina has been with the program since the beginning as she carried wated for the cooks before the water-catchment system was put in place. We are all excited to see what further impact this project will have on the school, the children, and the community

March 2010 (2years in 20 days)

Pictured: Dr. Leena Pasanen- One of the World's 64 Most compassionate Doctors: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1382561/



CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
The most encouraging news this month in regards to the Children’s village has come from the Mufindi District capital of Mafinga. To date, the Children’s Village has been on record in the district government’s eyes, but has yet to be officially registered as a children’s center. This month, some crucial steps have been taken towards this goal as relationships with the Social Welfare offices have opened up nicely, and they have already made several visits to the children’s village. Certain guidelines must be followed for the facility to become a registered “Children’s center,” but the processes have already been started to meet each of the Office of Social Welfare’s requirements.
One of the longer-term goals for this will require each of the housemothers to have an official degree for childcare in the village. This has always been a difficult hurdle for us as we are in such a rural setting. It has been difficult to find educated childcare providers who will be committed to the position for the long-term. These mothers are the parental figures for the children so we do not want any repeated temporary care disrupting the psyche of the children. Working together with the Social Welfare Officers, we now have a plan in place where one-by-one the mothers will take a short leave of absence to get their degrees. The mothers will leave for 4-5months at a time until they get their degree, but when they return with a child-care provider certificate we will have a perfect solution to getting ourselves on the way to registration without having to make any concessions in regards to the well-being of the children.
In the end, we hope this partnership will bring the children’s village even closer to the attention of the government leaders both at the local, district, regional, and eventually national levels. Fortunately we have managed to do this and still keep the system in place where the children are getting the same up bringing, as do their friends whom with they attend school.
On a final note, all of the HIV+ children have been transferred to start their treatment at the Mdabulo CTC instead of a far away Hospital. Having all the children receiving treatment at Mdabulo in the village is much easier, and it gives us a personal example of how the development of our area by the NGO is having such a positive impact.


COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
Our Community Outreach program is a project designed to address our first goal for care for Orphans- that of caring for children as they live in the village, by supporting them and their families. This has included the dispensing of basic needs such as blankets, clothes, soap, and school supplies to those families in most need, and especially those caring for Orphans in the villages in our area. In addition to this, we are starting some income generating projects for these families so they can have some self-sustainable income in order to provide for their families.
A recent trip to the village of Mlevelwa as part of our community outreach program showed us that there may a lot of potential for income generating projects in that area. The village of Mlevelwa is one of the most impoverished in our area, and it would seem like a great place to initiate a few projects that would get some of the families some income that will then get more children educated and hopefully start the process of ending the poverty cycle that has hit this village so hard.
This month also meant the shifting of the Community Outreach ‘office’ to the village of Igoda. The Community Hall will have a room that will be useful for meetings, and Jenny Peck and Community Outreach volunteers will have regular office hours there where leaders of villages, and members of the community will be able to meet with the NGO at their convenience.

HEALTH CARE:
Mdabulo Health Facility
We have made a great connection recently with an Italian priest who is connected with the Mdabulo mission. We were informed of his interest in development of the Mdabulo health facility and wrote a letter detailing our intentions, and he promptly came up with a donation of 9,000,000Tsh (about $7,500USD). This donation will be used towards cement and mason contracts, as we are now able to start construction on our much-anticipated extension of the facility. At months end, construction of the walls to the height of the window frames was nearly complete. This extension will include an x-ray room, two surgical theatres, a dental clinic, optical workshop, and other examination/consulting rooms. Our hope is that the facility will attract professional volunteers that will give their services to this community at various times over the years


Mdabulo CTC
Unfortunately we have learned that there are no immediate plans for Tunajali (USAID funded organization) to place a CD4 machine at Mdabulo as we previously were told. There may be more diplomacy needed at the offices in Dar es Salaam, but in the meantime counseling and adherence training is continuing at Mdabulo. Fortunately, the facility has already received some other critical medical equipment that will be useful as the CTC facility opens next month or in early May

Dr. Leena Pasanen
Dr. Leena has continued her great work and this month visited the villages of Mlevelwa, Iyegeya, Igoda, and the area of Mwefu which do not have health facilities, and held clinics at churches, schools, or village offices as appropriate. She also visited the homes of patients in Ikaning’ombe, Ikanga, Mlevelwa, and other places where patients are unable to reach local health facilities due to illness or disability. She also held clinics at the dispensaries in Isipii, Mkonge, Luhunga, Mdabulo, and Ibwanzi.
We are seeing more and more how useful her presence is to this area, as there seems to be quite a bit of malnutrition and many children have already literally had their lives saved by a visit from Dr. Leena.

EDUCATION:
Igoda Community Hall
WE have had some exciting uses for the Community Hall already, as it hosts Adult English classes 4 days a week. This is a continuation of a program that Jenny Peck has been doing now for the fourth year in this area, and as an exciting development, this year’s class is over half women. The class is a great way for the NGO to get more involved with the community, and inevitably leads to lasting relationships that help the organization become more effective in addressing the needs of the community.
Building on the success of last year’s ‘Life Skills’ class that took place at the children’s village last year, Yusto Chumi and Kibuga Fute have pledged to hold weekly classes again this year. Last year classes were held to discuss teachings regarding body changes, safe places in the village, children’s rights, self-worth, and other valuable lessons that follow a Tanzanian syllabus. This year the class has been extended to the village, and its children, and the NGO has invited parents to attend as well. Classes will take place on Sundays at the Community Hall, and has already had over 40 children at these early classes, with a high likelihood for expansion.
The Community Hall has also been used by the school for parent’s meetings, and by local church groups gathering to discuss possible developments in the village. The District Commissioner will also host a meeting at the Community Hall in April to discuss development projects that may be started in the area, It appears this facility will be of great importance to the community, and will continue to be a valuable resource for the school, village, and surrounding area.
Igoda Primary School Librarian/Results
Last year the Igoda Primary School welcomed a new librarian named Yusto Chumi who was sponsored by the NGO to teach English as the new library teacher. He has been a big hit, and since has been asked to occasionally teach English in the classrooms as well, including giving evening classes to Standard 7 students. This month the results of the National Exams from 2009 rank Igoda Primary School as 7th in the District, for an incredible 25th in the Region! That’s 25th out of 843 schools! We are very proud of Yusto for his role in this accomplishment, and it is very encouraging to see the other projects as well, such as the school kitchen program, having such a positive, tangible effect on the quality of education on the school.

December 2009, January & February 2010 (2yrs in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Celebration of World AIDS Day at the Igoda Community Hall December 1st, 2009. the event also marked the opening of the Community Hall. The perfect village-led event to signify what the community hall will mean to the community in Mufindi.


CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:

We have a new addition to the Children’s Village (Orphanage) as a two-month premature baby was brought to our doorstep after the Mother passed away at childbirth. We are hearing more and more horror stories about the maternal care at Mafinga hospital, and unfortunately this is another sad story. The mother passed away after the over-worked staff forgot to remove the afterbirth. Stories like these make us anxious to open our facility in the village so the people of our rural area can get the quality health care they deserve.
The little girl is doing great now, and the mothers at the houses held a meeting with all of the children to decide what to name the child. The result: Antonia. The terminology for the Orphanage itself is changing as well. We haven’t liked the term ‘orphanage,’ especially as the facility is not necessarily present for the purposes of the traditional adoption processes, but instead gives the children an upbringing similar to that which they might have in the village. For this reason we have leaned towards calling this a children’s village. As for now we have a loving environment where children are raised by Tanzanian mothers using the same values that are present in the village, and so it matters very little what it is called, as it is working great!
There is also a sad story that we have discovered this month that we hope will have a happy ending. Faleda is a 17 year old girl in Form 4 in secondary school who has been living with her sister and brother in law while she attends Luhunga Secondary School and completes her secondary education. Recently the brother in law has been put in jail as he raped Faleda, and Faleda became pregnant as a result. Normally, when a girl becomes pregnant in secondary school she is forced to leave school. The school made an exception given the circumstances, and said as long as there was a place for the child to be raised while Faleda gets schooling, Faleda could continue her education. Unfortunately Faleda is an orphan, and her own relatives came to us to ask if we could help. They’ve pledged to make monthly contributions to the children’s village while the child (only nearly two months old) stayed at the center temporarily. We are happy that Faleda will get to continue her education, and we are confident her child will be in good hands until Faleda is ready to take her back in.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

Our Community Outreach program is a project designed to address our first goal for care for Orphans- that of caring for children as they live in the village, by supporting them and their families. This has included the dispensing of basic needs such as blankets, clothes, soap, and school supplies to those families in most need, and especially those caring for Orphans in the villages in our area. In addition to this, we are starting some income generating projects for these families so they can have some self-sustainable income in order to provide for their families.
All of the chicken coups in the village are still running and each family is trying hard to maintain their project through the rainy season. Each family is showing great effort and pride in their project, so we hope this will lead to a successful year by the end of 2010.
Akida Mdalingwa’s research project is more than half completed, and it appears to be a big step in knowing the kinds of ways we may help various families in our surrounding area. We are working with him already to have the resources dolled out to families in need from the villages he has already visited and catalogued. This will be an extremely valuable resource to us as it will not only give us a great picture of the overall area to which we are working with, but it will also give us the information we need to go forward with any income generating projects.
Dr. Leena Pasanen continues to be a tremendous asset to the surrounding area, and indeed to the NGO. While other project volunteers were absent over the new year, she held a larger number of clinics at the local dispensaries and local gathering spots. She is now back with the volunteers giving the home based care service that is so desperately needed in our area where so many live extremely far distances from any local health facility.

HEALTH CARE:

Mdabulo CTC
The Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic is potentially the NGO project with the most impact in terms of literally saving lives. The building has the sole specific purpose for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. To give an idea of the need for this building- two times each month the staff from the closest facility of its kind (over 50km away in the town of Mafinga) comes to give partial CTC services. Each visit, which lasts from 6 to 10 hours, is met with over 300 patients arriving to be treated. When completed, the building will give full-time services, and the desperately needed full-time prevention methods of education and testing that have the potential to completely alter the devastating toll this disease is taking on the people of this area. This project is virtually complete! We await word from an organization under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) called Tunajali (We Care) who have promised to furnish the building once construction is complete. All painting and wiring, and major construction needs are complete, and so we will see what resources come in the following month from the Tunajali program. We are excited that this project is nearly ready to be opened as it is will be such a tremendous help to this community where HIV is so prevalent.

Chogo Health Dispensary

Chogo Dispensary is located in a village over 100km from the closest town (Mafinga) in the Ward of Mapanda. It is a completely isolated area, and has a health dispensary similar to Ibwanzi’s facility before FCWCT made the additions. Even further away from any form of quality health care than Ibwanzi, Chogo’s isolation makes it impossible for people to get the health care they deserve. If Chogo upgrades to a health center, it would be a welcomed community development project from which thousands of people would benefit. As of the end of February, all that is needed for completion are the doors, some plastering, and bathroom fixtures to be installed. One more load of resources will need to be brought out to the facility that will include beds and other hospital supplies donated to us from the UK and Canada from the containers that have been sent. We again give a special thanks to Marion Gough here, as she is tirelessly finishing up work on another container as we speak!

EDUCATION:

Igoda Primary School Community Hall

On December 1st, 2009 the Community Hall at Igoda Primary School in Igoda village was host to a World AIDS day event that was commemorated by the entire Iringa Region. The Community Hall’s opening came off as scheduled on World AIDS day and it hosted all of the events for the celebrations on the day. The building was officially opened by Regional Commissioner’s office of Iringa Region, and the day was full of events that were entirely run by members of the villages. Each village from Luhunga Ward gave a performance, and six HIV+ members of the community gave testimonials on how getting tested and having treatment changed their lives, and they were able to live again. Adjacent to the community hall was a testing center where hundreds of people were tested throughout the day. The day was a great celebration and all local officials attended. It was the perfect event to start off the use of the building as it was run by the village, for the village, and it highlighted it’s use as an educational resource for the area, especially in regards to prevention education. The hall will also be used as a classroom for Adult Education, a meeting room for grandmother’s to come together and discuss issues in the village, and there is a room for the community outreach offices.
During this time the NGO also helped Igoda primary in its attempt to get some income from an ongoing project the school has initiated on their own. The school has kept 30,000 tea plants for planting and selling. Upon request the NGO ploughed a field near the school where these plants will planted to become part of a project for the school to earn some supplementary income to pay for volunteer teaching, or other resources.

October and November 2009 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Akida Mdalingwa explaining the role of the Mufindi Highlands Orphans Project in the community. This picture is from a visit to a local tea field cooperative. Akida is has been a Community Outreach Volunteer with the project for over two years now.

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:
We currently have three houses in operation, each at a capacity of 11-12 children per house. We also have a fourth house that will be opened as soon as furniture is completed. The House Mothers have come up with a plan for our 4th house, as it will be used as a house for the older boys. The house will be run by a husband and wife team. The father, Issah, is employed already in the village, and the Mother, Vicky, has been with us at the Children's Village since it's inception in July 2007. Some children have never had a chance to go to school, and so are starting their schooling at an older age. The Mothers at the houses feel it will be best to have the older boys living with a married couple in a separate house from the girls as the children grow older

COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Our Community Outreach program is a project designed to address our first goal for care for Orphans- that of caring for children as they live in the village, by supporting them and their families. This has included the dispensing of basic needs such as blankets, clothes, soap, and school supplies to those families in most need, and especially those caring for Orphans in the villages in our area. In addition to this, we are starting some income generating projects for these families so they can have some self-sustainable income in order to provide for their families. We are currently embarked on a very extensive research project where we will end up getting a full comprehensive picture of the orphans and vulnerable children in our area. A volunteer representative from the NGO, Akida Mdalingwa, is meeting with each of the village leaders in each of the villages in our project area and meeting with every family that is caring for an orphan. By doing this we will be able to foresee the full scope of the resources needed to start continue with our projects in the village as we progress into the next decade. The numbers, and totals that this project produces will also make us a more viable option for Grant giving foundations, as so often these organizations are needing these facts to know if their grants will help them meet their goals and status quos. Akida will also be working with the Orphan's and Vulnerable Children committees in the village, which is helping our NGO to get further entrenched in the community as an important staple of the area.

'Bibi's Complex':
This facility may eventually house single Mothers living with HIV who are caring for orphans, and it will be of great use for the village. The idea is to have three homes in one compound with two outhouses. The complex will be built on village government land, and therefore the committees in the village government will be able to decide which families will move into the homes. The NGO community outreach program will work in concert with the committee deciding which families are most in need of this service. At this stage, we were able to get the roofing done before the rains, and the communal kitchen is in progress. The Village Executive Officer for Igoda has already told us that the facility will be of great use for those families who may need temporary housing while they re-build their own home.

HEALTH CARE

Mdabulo CTC:
The Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic is potentially the NGO project with the most impact in terms of literally saving lives. The building has the sole specific purpose for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. To give an idea of the need for this building- two times each month the staff from the closest facility of its kind (over 50km away in the town of Mafinga) comes to give partial CTC services. Each visit, which lasts from 6 to 10 hours, is met with over 300 patients arriving to be treated. When completed, the building will give full-time services, and the desperately needed full-time prevention methods of education and testing that have the potential to completely alter the devastating toll this disease is taking on the people of this area. At the end of November, painting had begun on the interior of the building, and we were in full communications with an organization called Tunajali (we care) on how we continue our partnership and finish this project. All wiring has been completed. The ceiling is in place, and all doors and windows are installed. Once this project is complete, it seems we will have the last step in a grass roots movement that this NGO has seen from its infancy. We have seen a surge in HIV awareness, and an attack on the stigma surrounding the pandemic in our area, starting with providing transport from the village to the town (Mafinga) for patients, to the initiation of Mdabulo as a 'field site' for the Mafinga CTC, and now with this facility. We feel this facility will spread the word to even more patients needing this service, and will in fact most importantly, start a push for prevention education.

Chogo Health Dispensary:
Chogo Dispensary is located in a village over 100km from the closest town (Mafinga) in the Ward of Mapanda. It is a completely isolated area, and has a health dispensary similar to Ibwanzi’s facility before FCWCT made the additions. Even further away from any form of quality health care than Ibwanzi, Chogo’s isolation makes it impossible for people to get the health care they deserve. If Chogo upgrades to a health center, it would be a welcomed community development project that thousands of people would benefit from. As of the end of November, we had completed construction of the foundations, and were even nearing a stage where we could begin roofing. After this we will be ready for interior wall plastering and then cementing the floors.

EDUCATION

Igoda Primary School (Luhunga) Community Hall:
Another project currently under construction at the school is a large Community Hall that will stage shows and educational events for the village and surrounding area to enable HIV+ members from the community to educate everyone about the prevention of this fatal disease. The building is designed to host events for hundreds of people at a time, and the local authorities have informed us that the building will be a focal point in the area for many events that will give family oriented entertainment. We were able to complete all construction on this project by the end of November. This is great news, as it not only means that another project has been successfully completed, but that we were able to host the World AIDS Day events at the facility to mark it's opening on December 1st! We'll have a full report on this event in the next report, but the entire Iringa Region did in fact come to our remote village of Igoda for the official World AIDS Day event! This is another great step towards awareness and prevention education.

Adult English:
Since February of this year, Community Outreach/Orphanage Manager volunteer Jenny Peck has been teaching an adult English class in the Ward offices of Luhunga. There are about 20-25 students attending regularly (4 times a week for 2 hours a day). These students have helped Jenny become more involved with villages, and some have become directly involved with the NGO. Because many of the students must resume farming in the months of November through February, the last class for the year took place on mid October. Each student had a written and oral exam, and upon graduation were given a certificate, and an english to swahili dictionary. A graduation ceremony was held, and all of the students were very gracious, and were excited about learning English the following year as well.

September 2009 (2 years in 20 days continued...)

Pictured: District Commissioner Evarista Kalula opens the new 30-bed in-patient wing of Ibwanzi Dispensary on september 14, 2009

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE:

We now have three houses in operation, each at a capacity of 11-12 children per house. We also have a fourth house almost ready to be opened. After welcoming a child from Kilosa village this month (Tosha Kalinga), there are now 10 girls and 25 boys. We are happy to report that the family from Luhunga village (mentioned in last month’s report) has been continuing to work very hard at building a new home since 4 of their children joined us in August. The Father has burned over 2000 bricks, and everything appears to be on schedule for the children to return home by the end of the year. This is a very encouraging story, as the neighborhood this family is from is one of the poorest in the area, and they are hoping to become a great example to the rest of the village as two HIV positive members pull themselves out of poverty!

Community Outreach:

Our Community Outreach program is a project designed to address our first goal of care for Orphans- that of caring for children as they live in the village, by supporting them and their families. This has included the dispensing of basic needs such as blankets, clothes, soap, and school supplies to those families in most need, and especially those caring for Orphans in the villages in our area. In addition to this, we are starting some income generating projects for these families so they can have some self-sustainable income in order to provide for their families We had a visiting guest politely ask recently: What does building chicken bandas have to do with people living with HIV? He was referring to our Income Generating Project whereby 16 HIV+ members of Luhunga and Igoda village have been given loans to build chicken coops where they will start a small business of selling eggs, fertilizer, and occasionally meat, in order to get some income for themselves. Also, this could pay for school fees or needs for their families. As an added bonus, the fertilizer from the chickens can be used in gardens to produce better yields, and vegetables can then be sold for further profit. The most important benefit for families with HIV+ members however, is addressing the need for protein that is severely lacking in this area, as noticed by our volunteer Dr. Leena Pasanen. We had a great visit from our first set of short-term volunteers, Will Metcalfe and Vikki Milne, who gave a donation prior to coming that covered all of their projected costs, so there was no financial burden on the NGO. They are final year medical students this year, each with a prior university degree in medicine. They compiled all numbers from HIV testing at Mdabulo Dispensary dating back to 2005 so that we may have actual figures prior to opening our CTC there. They also had a first-hand experience in saving one child’s life! A baby with a double cleft palate and lip, 4 days old, and unable to feed since birth, was brought to the NGO by its concerned parents. Will and Vikki engineered a way to feed the baby by using a syringe dropper into the baby’s cheek. Luckily the baby was able to swallow without a problem. After a day and a half of receiving rehydration fluids and milk powder, the baby was in perfect health! Since then, we have arranged transport to Illembula, and Dr. Pasanen has since referred the baby to surgical specialists in Iringa. The baby was later named “Bahati” which means ‘luck’ in Kiswahili. Will and Vikki have already said they will make plans to come back and volunteer next year, and maybe every year subsequently.

Health Care:

Ibwanzi Health Care Facility:
September 14th, 2009 marked the official opening day of our new 30 bed in-patient extension wing to Ibwanzi Dispensary. This also marks the official “hand-over” of the building to the government. The District Commissioner, Chairman of Mufindi District, and District Medical Officer have all expressed their agreement to change this facility into an official “Health Center.” This will mean the facility will be given some much needed staff as there has never been more than one or two nurses working there in the past. This also means that the facility will have HIV testing for the first time. Up until now the three surrounding wards of Ihanu, Luhunga, and Mdabulo (over 15 villages, and approximately 30,000 people), have only had one place for HIV testing- Mdabulo. This should greatly increase the awareness of HIV in the area as well as give a good boost to the grassroots movement that is happening now. People are becoming more open about talking about their illness and increasing awareness and prevention education on a door-to-door basis. The facility now has room to have up to 30 overnight patients, and there was also a substantial amount of medical equipment donated to the facility that Foxes' NGO received through containers from Orphans in the Wild, and African Book Box Society. The facility is completely stocked with materials including chairs, bandages, and an entire store full of resources. A special thanks goes out to Marion Gough for her diligence and hard work as she has been responsible for 4 containers now, and is on to another!
Mdabulo CTC:
The Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) is potentially the most impactful project the NGO is currently undertaking in terms of literally saving lives. The building has the sole specific purpose for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. This part of Mufindi is one of the most affected areas in the world. To give an idea of the need for this building- two times each month the staff from the closest facility of its kind (over 50km away in the town of Mafinga) comes to give partial CTC services. Each visit, which lasts from 6 to 10 hours, is met with over 300 patients arriving to be treated. When completed, the building will give full-time services, and the desperately needed full-time prevention methods of education and testing that have the potential to completely alter the devastating toll this disease is taking on the people of this area. All masonry work is complete. We have found a carpenter to continue with putting up the ceiling, after which there will only be painting and some furniture that remains to complete construction. We had an encouraging talk with an organization in Iringa called Tunajali (“We Care”) that is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). They are working with the current staff at Mdabulo on what is needed/required for the CTC to function at a high quality. They have told us that it is within their budget for next quarter (October-December 2009) to send Mdabulo a CD4 machine. This was previously promised without a time schedule, but since they have visited Mdabulo and seen the progress, they seem confident that this facility will be ready this year.
Chogo Dispensary:
In 2007, the Tanzanian government stated a goal of having each village equipped with a Dispensary, and each Ward a health center. On September 14, 2009, Ibwanzi Dispensary was handed over to the government, and will be officially upgraded to a Health Center, giving Ihanu ward its Health Center. The NGO would like to help Chogo village attain the same status. Chogo Dispensary is located in a village over 100km from the closest town (Mafinga) in the Ward of Mapanda. It is a completely isolated area, and has a health dispensary similar to Ibwanzi’s facility before Foxes' NGO made the additions. Even further away from any form of quality health care than Ibwanzi, Chogo’s isolation makes it impossible for people to get the health care they deserve. If Chogo upgrades to a health center, it would be a welcomed community development project that thousands of people would benefit from. This month Foxes' NGO purchased most of the building materials needed to complete a 6 bed wing to be added to the Dispensary. Also purchased were the materials to construct a water catchment system similar to that of Ibwanzi.

EDUCATION

Igoda Primary School Community Hall:
Another project currently under construction at the school is a large Community Hall that will stage shows and educational events for the village and surrounding area to enable HIV+ members from the community to educate everyone about the prevention of this fatal disease. The building is designed to host events for hundreds of people at a time, and the local authorities have informed us that the building will be a focal point in the area for many events that will give family oriented entertainment. New developments have come forward with plans to make World AIDS day 2009 (December 1st) the opening day of this huge facility. This will be a great chance to really set the tone for how the building should be used, as far as who uses it, and what events will take place. The village has already taken on the responsibility of hosting this event and taking on all logistics leading up to the event, so Foxes' NGO just needs to have construction completed. This will be a great chance for the village to see that although it will be an NGO building, it will be used for and by the village and its people. It will be great to have the first event be a family-oriented, alcohol free event that has a focus on talking about, and educating people on HIV/AIDS. It is also great that the day has the potential to be celebrated on quite a grand scale! Foxes' NGO visited the district offices this month in Mafinga, and had a meeting with the Chairman of Mufindi District (Naused Nyaganilwa), and the District Commissioner (Evarista Kalalu), in which it was discussed that this year the Iringa Regional event for World AIDS day will be in Mufindi District, and so if plans in fact fall in place to have the Mufindi District event to be in Igoda village, the entire Region of Iringa (population about 1,700,000) will have a chance to be fully aware of our projects and their importance of in regards to HIV/AIDS.
Adult English
Since February of this year, Community Outreach/Orphanage Manager volunteer Jenny Peck has been teaching an adult English class in the Ward offices of Luhunga. There are about 20-25 students attending regularly (4 times a week for 2 hours a day). These students have helped Jenny become more involved with villages, and some have become directly involved with the NGO. Two examples are:
1)Yusto Chumi who is the new Igoda Primary School Librarian, and has given new life to this project!
2)Yasinta Lunyali, is now a house helper at the Orphanage, and has been immeasurably helpful with our current volunteer Annie Gibbs with daily translating for her as she does therapy with Hezroni, a 10 year old boy at our center who is HIV+, and has cerebral palsy.

August 2009 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Igoda Community Hall construction progress- August 2009

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE (ORPHANAGE): We now have three houses in operation, and at capacity with 11-12 children in each house. There are 10 girls and 24 boys. This year we have seen a slight change in the usage of the Children’s Village (Orphanage) from the community. There are several examples of 'foster-care' type situations now here, where the family has asked that a child stay with us while they adjust their home situation, i.e. build a new home, fix up their living quarters, or get a more regular income organized through farming, or finding employment. This month we welcomed 4 children from a family from Luhunga village who lived in one of the worst living conditions imaginable in the village. The Mother and Father have just recently had their health improve as they receive their treatment for HIV/AIDS, and they are building a new house for the kids to return to at the end of the year. We've had several situations already where a child or children have returned home after some time at our center, and have made a smooth transition back to village life. This is important as we are encouraged that although the children have a good life in our center, they are not forgetting their culture, and the environment of village life, and they WILL be able to return to the village when they reach an older age.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH: Our Community Outreach program is a project designed to address our first goal for care for Orphans- that of caring for children as they live in the village, by supporting them and their families. This has included the dispensing of basic needs such as blankets, clothes, soap, and school supplies to those families in most need, and especially those caring for Orphans in the villages in our area. In addition to this, we are starting some income generating projects for these families so they can have some self-sustainable income in order to provide for their families. Our communications with local leaders in the village has become even closer this month. We have been in contact with the Ward Executive officer of Luhunga ward (WEO- Filipo Mgovano) who has connected us with the committees already formed in each village that meet regularly to discuss the issues of Orphans and vulnerable children- children living in difficult environments. Our community outreach/orphanage manager, Jenny Peck, has opened conversations with these committees (there is one in each village) and has been working with these committees to see how our NGO can fit into the community and work under these committees. As we continue, these committees will be vital for our services as an NGO and will insure that our services are being utilized appropriately, and that those most in need are getting access to our services. Peck, has also created a form that will be filled out in order to take a family history of each family in need in the village. This has been looked at as a great idea by the members of the village committee in Luhunga, and will be used by its members to assess the various family situations. This will lead to the NGO getting all of the information it needs from a reliable source- people living in each of the villages. Also this month, members of the Seventh Day Adventist church in the village invited Peck to be a member (the secretary) on their board for community outreach. One idea already discussed is the church members deciding together to go out into the village each weekend to re-thatch a roof of a grandfather or grandmother who may be ill or otherwise unable to fix their homes by themselves. This is a wonderful development, and on honor for the NGO to be invited to join into this community group to take part in such a great cause. Income Generation continues to be a main priority of Community Outreach, and ideas for future projects (such as our Chicken Banda project) will undoubtedly come out of these close connections with the community.

HEALTH CARE:

Mdabulo CTC
The Mdabulo Counseling and Treatment Center is potentially the most impactful project the NGO is currently undertaking in terms of literally saving lives. The building has the sole specific purpose for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. To give an idea of the need for this building- two times each month the staff from the closest facility of its kind (over 50km away in the town of Mafinga) comes to give partial CTC services. Each visit, which lasts from 6 to 10 hours, is met with over 300 patients arriving to be treated. When completed, the building will give full-time services, and the desperately needed full-time prevention methods of education and testing that have the potential to completely alter the devastating toll this disease is taking on the people of this area. All outside construction is now complete for the building of our CTC. Outside cement plastering, and pebble-dashing ('chupping') has been completed, as has all cement plastering on all inside walls. After the floors are complete, ALL masonry work will be finished, and plumbing, electric wiring, carpentry work, painting and finishing, will be all that remains before the building may be opened. When the CTC opens, it will be important to know how big the problem of HIV/AIDS really is in our area, and then perhaps a few years from now we may see what impact the building has had on the pandemic in our community. Currently working to get an idea on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in our area are our two temporary volunteers, Will Metcalfe and Vicky Milne, who will be here until the middle of September. Since their arrival they have been taken to have meetings with local leaders in the village, health workers in Mdabulo, and Luhunga, and we have all arrived at the District Medical Officer's (Dr. Christopher Jakoracha) office in Mafinga twice to discuss a possible way to sensitively address this issue. After coming up with several different methods, we have finally started on an acceptable way of running our project- The HIV Prevalence Project. With local permission, the volunteers will compile numbers of patients (with names omitted) from Mdabulo, and Lugoda CTC (a private Hospital over 50km away where some patients receive treatment) to see what percentage of people who come to be tested are HIV positive. This will at least give us some idea of how prevalent the disease in our area is, as estimates are quite high when compared to the Mufindi district number set by the National campaign for testing at the end of last year (15.9%). Earlier this year Form 4 students who were working on their graduation project, did a study on HIV in the area, and got informal estimates from Dr. Ndenga of 45% prevalence from those who come to Mdabulo to be tested, and 60% prevalence for women who give birth at the Dispensary. What we know about HIV already points to the facts that our area is indeed most likely the most hardest hit in the country by the AIDS pandemic. Iringa Region is rated as having the highest prevalence in the nation, and within the region, Mufindi district is most prevalent. According to numbers from the district offices, Luhunga ward is one of the top 5 wards (administrative areas with 5-7 villages) with the highest population of orphaned children, and the other wards with highest orphaned population all are neighboring wards in our area. The most predominant reason for the orphaned children, according to the social welfare office in Mufindi, is the prevalence of AIDS. As Tanzania is consistently one of the world's most affected countries by HIV/AIDS, it is no exaggeration that this building is being placed in one of the most highly affected areas in the entire world by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. All of this emphasizes the importance project, and the immense impact it will have on the community.

Ibwanzi and Chogo Health Care Facilities
In 2007, the Tanzanian Government at the National level stated a goal of having each village equipped with a Dispensary, and each ward a health center. On September 14, 2009, Ibwanzi Dispensary will be officially upgraded to a Health Center, giving Ihanu ward its Health Center. Not only will in-patient service start at the facility, but more staff will be placed there, and it will become the central location for medications to be given out to all of the neighboring dispensaries. Now, we have embarked on our 3rd health care facility renovation location in the isolated, very remote village of Chogo. Similarly to Ibwanzi Dispensary, currently the staff at the dispensary consists of only 2 nurses, and the area surrounding the Dispensary is in dire need of basic health care needs. Chogo village is located over 100 kilometers from the closest town (and closest Hospital) of Mafinga. With the success of our Ibwanzi project, we feel that making a similar (but smaller) addition to the Chogo Dispensary, will greatly improve the overall health care of this isolated area. This addition to Chogo Dispensary will not only allow for in-patient services at the facility, it will also mean more staff provided by the government, as is the case at Ibwanzi. Hopefully, fundraising efforts may be more focused and specifically allocated funds for this project can speed up the process of construction for this project.

EDUCATION:

Igoda Primary School Library
Yusto chumi continues to be teaching well at the Igoda Primary school library. Currently, the students from the upper classes (Standard 3 and above) are learning English through reading Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The methods used in teaching are that of a combination of story-telling, and a 'teach-English' program designed to follow what is learned in the Tanzanian English subject syllabus. The proof of the library's success came out this month as results from the National Mock Exams were released, and Igoda students scored highest in the ward with regards to English scores! Igoda Primary School Community Hall Another project currently under construction at the school is a large Community Hall that will stage shows, and educational events for the village and surrounding area, to enable HIV+ members from the community to educate everyone about the prevention of this fatal disease. The building is designed to host events for hundreds of people at a time, and the local authorities have informed us that the building will be a focal point in the area. At the end of August, all of the masonry work, including the floor has been finished. The painting phase has begun, as all of the roofing has been painted. Some serious carpentry work remains, including the back walls extension, and the stage.

Luhunga Secondary School Library
As the students from Igoda Primary will be accustomed to using a library by the time they graduate on to Luhunga Secondary school, there seems to be a need to build a facility to keep the school resources and reading books. Currently, all foundations including the veranda are completed, and outside brick work has already started. Carpenters are working on the window and door frames, and plans are in place to get this facility running water, and electricity wired over from the solar panels received last year. This building promises to be a perfect learning facility to improve the quality of education at the school.

July 2009 (2 years in 20 days continued)

Pictured: Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic construction progress July 2009

CHILDREN'S VILLAGE (ORPHANAGE): We have light! For the first time at the Children’s Village (Orphanage) we have electricity and running water in place. This has lead to the alleviation of expensive regular costs we had previously incurred of hired workers to carry the water daily, and nightly use of Kerosene lamps. Now, the children are able to study at night, and we have the reduction of these costs to be happy about. The next step will be solar, or alternative/renewable energy, as we currently run periodically on a generator, but for now we are happy to have these two impractical practices done with. The Income Generation Project involving chicken coops has come to the Orphanage. A chicken coop, similar to those still being built in the village for income generation, has been built on the orphanage complex. This will hopefully be a successful project in which each child at the orphanage will have a chicken to care for, and as the child becomes old enough to join Secondary School, the income from such a project can help pay for his or her school fees, and school needs which are a new burden to a child at this level of education. School fees for one year cost a child 20,000Tsh, and one chicken may be sold for 10,000Tsh, as one tray of eggs can be sold for 6000Tsh, so the potential is there to have each child started on a self-sufficient project as they enter Secondary School. As the rains had completely stopped by the beginning of this month, the Orphanage farm project is well underway. This project will give the Orphanage a much needed spacious bit of cultivated land on which the Orphanage may plant and grow food to alleviate the growing costs of food. If successful, the project will be one of our first steps in making the children's center a more sustainable entity. Currently working on the garden are orphaned Secondary School students in Form 4, who come on Saturdays to make money to pay for the costs of this expensive year in school.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH:

Our Community Outreach program is a project designed to address our first goal for care for Orphans, of caring for children as they live in the village, by supporting them and their families. This has included the dispensing of basic needs such as blankets, clothes, soap, and school supplies to those families in most need, and especially those caring for Orphans in the villages in our area. In addition to this, we are starting some income generating projects for these families so they can have some self-sustainable income in order to provide for their families. Our Batik project, in which 5 HIV+ Mothers from Igoda and Luhunga village make batiks to be sold at the Mufindi Highland Lodge is continuing strongly as the Mufindi Highlands Lodge coffee beans placed in a batik bag have been a regular purchase of guests wanting to go home with good gifts for their family and friends. There is exciting progress in our 'Chicken banda' project where 16 HIV+ members of the Tumaini (Hope) group are well into the construction phase of their chicken coops. This is the first stage of our micro loans, as upon completion of construction the members will get further loans as needed for inoculations, food and purchase of the chickens. This project is modeled after a similar endeavor that took place in the Ilembula area where volunteer Dr. Leena Pasanen spends her time when she is not with us. In the project from Ilembula, there were 152 members that borrowed from a pot of 10Million Tsh to be paid back after 7 months. This was a hugely successful project as ALL members but one (a 50,000Tsh loan) returned their loans on time. We learned a great deal from this project and have used these lessons to help insure success in our area. If successful, this project will not only bring much needed income to some of the poorest families in the area, it will also improve the overall quality of health in the area and surrounding villages, as eggs and meat will be more readily available to the population than every before. Contact has been made this month with an organization headed by graduate students from MIT in Boston, now living in Tanzania in the Arusha area called Global Cycle Solutions. The organization (GCS) has several innovative technologically novel ideas that may be of some use in our area. This includes attachments to bicycles that first take the maize off the cobs 40 times faster than by hand, and another that grinds the maize into flour. We've tentatively ordered two of these machines, and have asked people in our area if they think this may be a successful endeavor for some in the area, and have had some positive feedback. Income generation projects are designed to give the poorest families in our communities the ability to support themselves through their own work, ultimately instilling pride in their hard work and likely starting a self-sustaining business for these would-be entrepreneurs.

HEALTH CARE:

Mdabulo CTC
The Mdabulo Counseling and Treatment Center is potentially the most impactful project the NGO is currently undertaking in terms of literally saving lives. The building has the sole specific purpose for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. To give an idea of the need for this building- two times each month the staff from the closest facility of its kind (over 50km away in the town of Mafinga) comes to give partial CTC services. Each visit, which lasts from 6 to 10 hours, is met with over 300 patients arriving to be treated. When completed, the building will give full-time services, and the desperately needed full-time prevention methods of education and testing that have the potential to completely alter the devastating toll this disease is taking on the people of this area. As construction continues at a pleasingly quick pace, the most important advancements this months with this project have been made from the preparatory/bureaucratic end. As we now can see the possibility of achieving our goal of completing this project by year’s end, we have started on the process preparing for it opening. The visits made by the staff from Mafinga have prepared our local staff to a sufficient amount that the District Medical Officer (DMO) has already written a formal request to make Mdabulo a static site. This is important as it confirms that in fact the staff are currently able and qualified to run the CTC. Communications have also continued with a regional organization called Tunajali (‘we care‘) referred to us by the United States Aid and International Development (USAID). Tunajali has already supplied Mdabulo with a white blood cell counter machine, a TV and DVD player- including educational videos regarding HIV/AIDS- and has pledged to continue support of Mdabulo as it becomes a CTC site on its own. Things promised by Tunajali include a small refrigerator, contributions towards construction- to assure uniformity with CTC’s built elsewhere in the country- and other pharmaceutical equipment that will be useful once the CTC construction is complete. Finally, one of the biggest breakthroughs with the CTC occurred this month, as Tunajali has promised that upon completion of construction of the CTC building, they will furnish the building with a CD4 machine! This is an enormous development, as this machine costs more than $50,000USD, and finding the funds for this purchase has been a worry of ours since the conception of the project. All that remains to open this project is completion of construction of the building. We will need to focus on a bit more fund-raising for this to happen. Upon completion, it is expected that testing and awareness will raise in the community and the slow moving grassroots movement addressing this disease will get a serious boost, helping to continue to wear down the stigma and taboo surrounding this pandemic.

EDUCATION:

Igoda Primary School This month we welcomed a new librarian, Yusto Chumi, who was born and raised in Igoda village, has a wife and 2 kids, and has committed to teaching at the library for years to come. He has been continuing well as he is introducing all of the students to speaking and learning English through use of the books and resources from the library‘s resources. This is especially important as the students at the primary school level (aged 7-14 years) in government schools in Tanzania are taught in Kiswahili, and then suddenly are taught all lessons in English at the Secondary level (Aged 15-20). So, this extra exposure to English is vitally important to the education of the students as the go through the education system in Tanzania. We have started are refurbishments of the kindergarten this month which has given some encouragement to our Kindergarten teacher (an NGO sponsored teacher). She has had over 60 and 90 students respectively the last two years, and this is the beginning of making the kindergarten a more child-friendly learning environment. We are hoping to eventually (funds provided) give the kindergarten a much needed modest playground to help with productivity and involvement with the students on a daily basis.

Community Hall:
The school is located in the heart of Igoda village, and the NGO has initiated another project at this location that will hopefully address the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in the community. Currently under construction is a large Community Hall that will stage shows, and educational events for the village and surrounding area, to enable HIV+ members of the to educate everyone about the prevention of this fatal disease. The building is designed to host events for hundreds of people at a time, and the local authorities have informed us that the building will be a focal point in the area. At the end of July, construction of this building is also continuing at a nice speedy pace. Virtually all of the masonry work has been finished, and even the floor has been completed. The biggest development with this project has been word recently from government authorities at the district level that the Hall may host the official District level event for World Aids Day this year- December 1st. The Chairman of the Mufindi district, Naused Nyaganilwa (on the FCWCT board of trustees), Susan Chak (HIV/AIDS Programmes director for Mufindi District), and Evarista Kalalo, the District Commissioner in Mufindi, have all shown interest in having the official district event for the day in our community hall in Igoda village. As plans progress we will continue to welcome the idea as it would be a great driving force to show everyone the building’s main purpose. This is of a family friendly host of events that enrich the community not only with cultural events, including oral traditions being passed on, traditional dances, drams, and choirs; but also educational events as well, that will include among other things, information about HIV testing and awareness and prevention ideas.