September 2012

Pictured: Progress of the Mdabulo Hospital Project! CHILDREN’S VILLAGE An exciting achievement developed this month as we officially opened up the final Orphans’ house! The most important housing component of the Children’s Village is now complete, and we can now address the various needs from the community in creative ways as we have 6 completed houses. The final house gives us options to take-in children if need be, or else maybe use the extra rooms as guest accommodation for visiting relatives, or guest speakers at either the children’s village, or community hall in Igoda. The rooms may also be used for Mothers or parents who are staying with their children at the Children’s Village for a short time, while the child regains his or her health, and the guardian learns about proper child-care for the child. The Children’s Village is evolving rapidly as the need from the community is changing. More people are getting back on their feet and being able to care for their own children in the community. The Children’s Village is slowly becoming more of child wellness center, or a general community resource center, while still housing and caring for over 65 children of its own. It is still being used predominantly for its original purpose of sheltering those children with no where else to go, but as the tide changes for the better in the surrounding area with the fight against HIV, the Children’s Village is beginning to change along with it. COMMUNITY OUTREACH Home Based Care The NGO fully welcomed its second long-term Peace Corps Volunteer this month as Stacey Droll began her work as a third-year extended Peace Corps Health Volunteer under Foxes’ NGO. Stacey will be working with Dr. Leena, and other health volunteers, showing them patients to visit in the community, and coordinating the health branch of the NGO. She will do so while also coordinating the entire Home Based Care program. This year’s goal is to start a second Home Based Care team for the ward of Ihanu that surrounds the Ibwanzi Health facility that Foxes’ NGO has constructed in the past. Stacey has been busy partnering with the District AIDS Cooridinator, and HBC Coordinator, Dr. Mpiluka, and has been interviewing potential volunteers from Ihanu ward. Training of these volunteers will start on December 3rd. HEALTH CARE Mdabulo Hospital Lots of developments at Mdabulo Hospital this month, as we get closer and closer to the opening of this ‘functioning-wing’ of the facility. The rooms of the constructed area of the Hospital were painted this month, and a ceiling was installed. The facility is also now wired for electricity throughout. We were excited to have special guests Marion and Rod Gough with us from the UK sister charity Orphans in the Wild this month. It was fantastic to be able to show the Goughs the progress at Mdabulo, as all of their hard work packing and sending containers from the UK will come to fruition here as the area gets its first Hospital. Marion spent quite some time organizing bandages, medical supplies, and other resources brought over from the NGO storage to Mdabulo, and her work has added to the efficiency of the facility. EDUCATION Adult English The Adult English program is back in action this month. Classes have begun again at the Igoda Children’s Village, and an added breath of enthusiasm came into the program this month as Yusto Chumi has started to teach English at the Igoda Community Hall. This means the Hall is being used daily, and the community is becoming more and more comfortable with using the Hall on a regular basis. Igoda Community Hall This month’s Bibi and Babu chai were a great success yet again, and an added event this month included the 2nd annual career fair for students in Standard 7. The students came to the Community Hall and learned first hand about the opportunities that were in their community as they plan their lives going through school. Two guardians from the Children’s Village were present, and there were stations for farmers, shop owners, workers from tea companies, and elsewhere. It was an exciting day, even if it had a late start, and it further pushed the reputation of the Igoda Community Hall for being a great educational resource for the community.

July and August 2012

Pictured: Jenny Peck has spent the past 6 years in the project area, working with the community towards better health, education and child care. July 4th was one of those days where it seemed as though everything was happening all at once! The progress in July and August can be exemplified for the most part, by the activities that were packed in to this one day. CHILDREN’S VILLAGE Because Igoda Primary School had been closed ahead of Sabasaba preparations Cornelia Raymond was teaching at Igoda Children’s Village on July 4th instead of at her normal post as kindergarten teacher at the primary school. Cornelia has been working for the NGO since 2007, and her teaching has improved each year, and her passion for the children has yet to wane even in the slightest. She is a great role model for the students at the school, as well as the children at the Children’s Village. Orphans’ House number one (the sixth and final house at the Children’s Village) continued progress on this day, as mason workers laid down the cement floor. The house will bring the Children’s Village to its planned full-capacity, and we are envisioning many purposes for this house as well, as the community has begun to use the Children’s Village as a resource with a variety of purposes. The final house may be used as a version of a guesthouse for Mothers with children who’ve fallen ill who need time to learn how to support their children with proper nutrition. It may also be used for visitors of the children here whose relatives may be close to bringing the child back into the village and would like to stay for a few days to see how life has gone on for their children while they’ve lived at the Children’s Village. The Social Center/Kindergarten got a new fence on July 4th. Our carpenter finished the fence with local materials, and it has helped to further divide up the Social Center area of the Children’s Village. The Social Center has the potential to really expand the services of the Children’s Village to the community. Eventually the Center will include an administrative office, a health clinic, a kindergarten, a day care, a playground, a small social hall, and a center for the Children’s Village that encompasses all of the facets of the project in Mufindi. COMMUNITY OUTREACH Milk Formula Program Also on July 4th, 60 HIV+ Mothers arrived to receive their monthly stipend of milk formula. This program continues to thrive and educate Mothers about proper nutrition for their children. Another service was provided this month as a seminar was held by Dr. Onyango from the Mkonge Village health dispensary. He talked to all of the women about family planning, and infant and maternal health. The added education for the women in this program is intended to enhance the results of the program, and enable the families to make their own life decisions armed with all of the resources they need. We are excited to see the area become more informed about the decisions they make, and the difference this will make for the future of this community. HEALTH CARE Mdabulo Hospital Doors were installed today at the Mdabulo Hospital, and more supplies were delivered to keep the progress moving at the Hospital. Plumbing and electricity are next, and then the ceiling can be installed. The Hospital can’t be completed soon enough, as we seem to see on a daily basis that the resources in this rural area are direly lacking. Dr. Leena has to make referrals for patients to go as far away as Iringa or Dar es Salaam for treatment for example, and these places can be over a day’s worth of travel. Once the Hospital is complete, and the partnership between the government, mission, and our NGO is in place the area will have a health system that can properly serve its community. Administrative Manager Geoff Knight met with Padre Baptista Duma about forming a formal committee that will solidify the Public Private Partnership between the mission, the government of Tanzania, and the NGO. The committee will help make group decisions on the operations of the Hospital, and the overall quality of health service will no doubt improve through this partnership. Mdabulo CTC July 4th was also Children’s Care and Treatment Day, and so the 9 children with HIV at the Igoda Children’s Village joined the 100+ children in the area who are treated at Mdabulo. The Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic continues to test more and more people for HIV, and is also part of the prevention program in the area giving seminars to people about contracting HIV. The facility remains as the only treatment facility where CD4 can be tested, and the steady supply of reagents may soon make it a more reliable treatment center than the CTC in the district capital. EDUCATION Mwefu Primary School Building supplies were delivered to Mwefu Primary School on July 4th and progress on this project is being made each day. The devastation that this school experienced last December when a storm knocked down more than half the school is quickly becoming a distant memory. Soon the students will return to the school- they had been attending another primary school over ten kilometers away – and the community continues to contribute to ensure that this school gets re-built better than ever. Public Health Community Outreach Coordinator Jenny Peck gave an afternoon talk at the Seventh Day Adventist church today on the topic of maternal and infant health. She gave a long presentation that included a power point full of educational photos showing the development of a fetus through pregnancy and birth. The presentation was attended by several hundred women and men, and was a great success. Many requests for another presentation were made, and the NGO’s goal of spreading education for the long-term benefit of the Mufindi community will continue to be met through events such as these. Igoda Community Hall Another successful Babu Chai day took place on July 4th at the Igoda Community Hall. Over 100 grandfathers came together at the Community Hall to have tea and share in a social event to discuss the issues of the community. The grandfathers come together, as do the grandmothers on the last Wednesday of each month, and many discussions are had in a group setting that give the elderly a social outlet for their ideas and thoughts for a better tomorrow. The attendees share a cup of tea, but also get to share their burdens of raising grandchildren whose parents may have passed, and they are appreciated for their contributions to society. Luhunga Library Volunteer Sasha Bill has been with us for a few months and has shown the go-getter attitude that is greatly appreciated out of our volunteers. On July 4th he was busy teaching Leudi Mtende the basics of computers in hopes to have our Computer Lab at Luhunga Secondary School up and running. The goal is to have this lab completely functioning sometime after the August break that Tanzania takes this year for the National Census. We hope that bringing computers to this school will be another added resource that will help make this school an educational facility that the community can be proud of, and one that will help mold a brighter future for Mufindi!

June 2012

Pictured: Adult Education at the Igoda Children's Village is one of the resources that the project is extending into the community.







The following is a description of what has been accomplished by the NGO during the month of June 2012.

 The Igoda Children’s Village is a resource for the people of Mufindi that extends far beyond the 68 children that live here. This month we would like to explain further about just how far that reach extends. This project alone fully encompasses everything that the NGO as a whole is doing here in Mufindi.

 CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

 First an update of the daily developments at the Children’s Village is in order as there has been a lot of progress this month. The Children’s Village welcomed a new member to the family this month, as Elkana Mduvike, 14, from Ludilo village had lost both of her parents, is an only child and her grandmother has become unable to care for her in the village. Elkana has fit right in, and the older girls are happy to have another sister for their group.
Also this month, a new committee was formed to help manage the everyday issues of the Children’s Village. 5 leaders, 2 male house guardians, 2 female house guardians, and a female gardener make up the committee that will oversee the daily issues and problems of the Children’s Village, and generate solutions on their own as a group. The committee has already had to immediately deal with some very difficult issues this month, and have done a phenomenal job combining locally acceptable cultural ideas with standards of child care that are expected at the Children’s Village, to come up with some great solutions for issues that have already come up. We are excited to see this local leadership arise, as it is the latest step in having our projects run more efficiently, by people from the area.
On June 25th this month a wildly successful meeting was held at the Children’s Village where leaders from throughout Mufindi were invited to learn first-hand about all of the things the NGO has been able to accomplish with the community. Nearly 50 leaders from local churches, local government, local schools, and two district leaders were on hand to receive a tour of the Children’s Village, and to watch informative videos on the developments of the NGO. The meeting was a raving success as the question and answer period went on for quite a while where advice was shared, and praise was given to the NGO from everyone in attendance regarding the successful projects introduced by the NGO.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Income Generating Projects

The women of the “Threads of Hope” basket group came to the Igoda Children’s Village to sell their baskets this month. The group had a great month of sales in June. A friend of the NGO living in Dar had a sale on the first weekend of the month where over $600 was sold, and then a few hundred dollars more worth of baskets were sold in Iringa at a crafts fair the following weekend. The crafts fair was exciting as Sila Ngigwa, the head basket weaver, was able to attend and share her story with people who attended. She also got to see first hand what people were interested in buying, and we feel the whole experience will help the business.
On the 27th, over 100 women from the group came to Igoda Children’s Village to sell their baskets. For most of the women it was the first time visiting the Children’s Village, and so it was exciting for all of the guardians to once again explain everything that was happening here. The women from Threads of Hope toured the Children’s Village, and then watched the same videos that were shown to the village leaders two days earlier. We are hoping that by opening up the Children’s Village, and the NGO to the community, we will have an even closer relationship with the community.

Home Based Care

Another service that started at Igoda Children’s Village has expanded into the community this month as several birth control seminars have been hosted by Dr. Onyango from Mkonge village. The first seminar, and procedure day, occurred at the Children’s Village, and the demand for such education and services has brought the seminar into the village. The Home Based Care team in Mdabulo organized a seminar at the Mdabulo CTC this month, where over 50 women came for the education, and some received procedures for family planning.
Home Based Care volunteers have also received some extra help from the Children’s Village this month, as our community service continues as the children are on school holiday. The children from the Children’s Village have been accompanying Home Based Care Volunteers on home visits to the homes of the most sick and vulnerable people in the area. This has taught the children to give back to the community, and to help those they way they were helped. We’re also hoping this will teach the community that everyone is in this struggle together, and everyone must help in this community, even vulnerable children from difficult backgrounds can do their part! One visit was particularly important for some of our children as they had a peaceful visit back to their village from where they were born. A large group of our children are from Mlevelwa village. All of the children from Mlevelwa were able to do their community service, as well as visit their families. It was difficult to convince these families to leave these children in the care of the Children’s Village in the beginning, so it is a good thing that these relatives can see what shape their children are in, and we now see that the families are seeing the benefits of the Children’s Village.

HEALTH CARE

Mdabulo CTC

A very exciting development happened at the Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic this month, as a child from the Igoda Children’s Village was present at each and every ‘CTC’ day to help as a volunteer. The children selected to visit the CTC and help the understaffed facility were those who have shown an interest in the medical field. Datrai Masonda, 15, for example wants to be a doctor when she grows up, and this experience was a real eye-opener for her. She was able to help patients at the CTC, and see how HIV is affecting her own community. She learned about the disease, and the patients at the CTC clearly appreciated that a child was learning about health, and helping her community as she had been helped in her life.

EDUCATION

Igoda Community Hall

Every June 16th, marks Children of Africa day, and this year marked the third year running that the Luhunga Ward official event has occurred at the Igoda Community Hall. Many children from various schools, and also from the Igoda Children’s Village put on performances, and there was a lot of talk in the speeches about Children’s rights. This year’s event was focused on children with disabilities, and it was exciting for us to bring Hezron, a boy from the Children’s Village with HIV and Cerebral palsy; and Zainabu, a girl from the Children’s Village, who is slowly learning to retrieve her motor skills after a lifetime of neglect.
The honoured guest this year, Evarista Kalalo, District Commissioner of Mufindi, gave an impassioned talk, and also included some good news for the Children’s Village in her speech. She granted permission for the Children’s Village to run a kindergarten out of the Social Center. This was exciting to hear in front of all village leaders, and the community, and so plans are continuing to have the kindergarten open this year, or at the beginning of 2013. Yusto Chumi and Cornelia Raymond Yusto Chumi has been the Igoda Primary School librarian for over three years now, and Cornelia Raymond has been the Igoda Primary School kindergarten teacher. During the school break they have come to the Children’s Village to teach the children here extra lessons, so that these children who are from disadvantaged backgrounds may catch up with their colleagues in the classroom. Other children from the nearby neighborhood have come as well to take advantage of this service, and this is just another example of how the Children’s Village is starting to be a complete resource for the community.

May 2012

Pictured: Ruth Chelule arriving at the care homes complex We take a look at sustainability this month, and how the organization has incorporated this in everything we do. The following is a description of what has been accomplished by the NGO during the month of May 2012. CHILDREN’S VILLAGE Each month the parents at the Igoda Children’s Village have a meeting of the minds, and on May 21st a spirited discussion was had on the topic of sustainability, and income generation. Each parent contributed ideas on how the children’s village could start earning income to offset costs of housing all of its children. Obviously, the very nature of ‘orphan-care’ is not sustainable in a natural sense. Children without relatives to care for them have no means themselves to support themselves through school, or support themselves into adulthood. Immediate care is often needed to get the children or some families back on track for a brighter future. As a long-standing facility now, the children’s village is approaching its fifth anniversary, the Igoda Children’s Village is looking for ways to generate income in order to pay for the monthly costs of running the village. Some ventures have already started. A two and a half acre garden has been planted, and the vegetables have been enough to feed all of the children at the Children’s Village, as well as some extra produce that has been sold in the village. Over 5,000 pine trees have been planted as an investment to be sold later, as well as a fruit orchard that will supply the children’s village with a steady supply of fruit in the future. Currently, the Children’s Village is buying fruit and meat weekly. With the ideas brought forward from the parents themselves, and the development already in place, the Children’s Village may be in a position to self-sustain at least a great portion of its own development going forward. COMMUNITY OUTREACH Care Homes The community in and around Igoda village has seen some drastic development over the past few years. As the community as a whole has become healthier, more and more families are able to help themselves out of poverty, and we’ve seen more stores, more tin roofs, and more signs of positive development in recent years. The community is contributing more and more to help its orphaned and vulnerable children population as well, as committees are growing bigger and stronger, and a social network is coming together to help the community care for all of its children. One of the most encouraging signs is a group of people that has been initially helped by the NGO, wanting to help others as a form of paying back the good fortune they received in the past. This group of people includes those who have earned an income through the basket program, or chicken banda program, or those who have been helped as a part of crisis management where the home based care program helped a family get back to a level where it could provide basic care to its children. These people are coming together to form a committee in Igoda village on how to use the constructed ‘Care Homes.’ Candidates for the homes (a cluster of three homes built with sun-dried bricks on donated property in Igoda village designed after our popular Bibi’s houses) will include single mothers needing temporary shelter; grandmothers content with leaving their dilapidated homes in favour of better shelter for the children they might be caring for; and other members of the community that need temporary shelter to get through a difficult stretch of their lives. The committee has already chosen the first tenant for these care homes, Ruth Chelula. Ruth is a 19-year-old girl who was forced out of school when she became pregnant, and was told she could not keep work in the tea fields, as she had to care for her infant child. She will live in the care homes until she establishes a farm, and her own life somewhere in Igoda village. The care homes will be completely managed by the committee, and a sense of sustainability will be formed as the community solves its own issues related to orphaned and vulnerable children. Milk Formula Program The guardians from the milk formula program received an extra benefit from the program this month on May 7th, when family planning options were made available for the day at Igoda Children’s Village. Over 50 people arrived to receive a birth control procedure that currently is unavailable in the village. This included vasectomies, IUDs, and depravera shot. In a way, the sustainability of this program comes in education. In the long term if more people are educated through programs like these, the need for such interventions will drift away over time, as people are armed with the tools to prevent further infections of HIV, and are better equipped to make more informed life decisions. Income Generating Projects Income Generating Projects have long since been the most sustainable part of our NGO. We are all excited about the possibilities of these projects for the future, and we may even be in the process of starting a program that could make sustainable income beyond just covering the incidentally costs. Namely, this is the Sewing School that has started at Igoda Children’s Village. We suspect a loss in terms of profit the first year, but so far this project has shown signs of success. 8 women are already paying 15,000Tsh per month to attend the school, and items that the students have made have already been sold in the village. The end goal is for the students to start their own businesses upon graduation, and in the meantime the goal is to get some quality product produced that may be sold to not only support the class, but possibly even generate an income to help supplement donations to the NGO. Sewing machines were donated by a connection with a local cell phone carrier company, and materials for the class have been provided through the last container sent through Orphans in the Wild from the UK. We’re still at the early stages, but it looks like we may have a winner on our hands with this project! HEALTH CARE Mdabulo Hospital / Mdabulo CTC Of course no health care system is intended to be purely sustainable, but even at our health facility this month our partnership between the government and the private mission has yielded a bit of benefit for all potential patients in the area! This year the government of Tanzania, spearheaded by the new District Medical Officer in Mufindi, has brought a frequent supply of CD4 reagents, which has bolstered the supply produced by funds from African Book Box and Mufindi Orphans Inc Rotary connections. The government has also pledged this month to take on the salary of our nurse midwife Paulina Visulu, who has been sponsored by Orphans in the Wild donors since April 2008. This partnership is starting become closer and closer, and each faction, our NGO, the government, and the mission, is doing its part to contribute to the success of the Mdabulo Health Facility. EDUCATION Igoda Community Hall Titus Nyunza and Treda Pius have now been in charge of organizing events at the Igoda Community Hall for almost two and a half years. Recently they have started to take some ideas for income generation at the hall to help pay for the events that take place. Ideas that have come up include renting the hall for weddings and other events, or running a retail store, or small guesthouse near the hall for visitors. The two ‘events coordinators’ put in action this month a small plan to sell maandazi (a local biscuit or doughnut type pastry) at the community hall to earn the hall an extra sum of money to be used to help fund the various events. The profits are small for now, but still the initiative is there, and generally throughout the organization there is a feeling of desire to stand on our own sometime in the future. We have a long way to go, but with everyone on board with the idea of sustainability, there’s no telling how far the development of this community can go!

March and April 2012

Pictured: Physiotherapist Dr. Cathy Jansen works with children with disabilities at the Igoda Children's village The following is a description of what has been accomplished by the NGO during the months of March and April 2012. CHILDREN’S VILLAGE At the end of March, Hezron, a 14 year old boy with HIV and cerebral palsy, benefitted from a week-long intensive care visit organized by an Italian organization called Inuka (to rise up) that works with children with disabilities. This visit had been organized since a most recent visit by Physiotherapist Annie Gibbs, who suggested the visit for Hezron could be very useful for his development. The Community Based Rehabilitation Center in the village of Waning’ombe is about 175km from Igoda village, and is run by some very professional Italians, who have been in Tanzania for years now. The week of intensive care included visits by virtually all of the physiotherapists in the entire regions of Mbeya, and Iringa, and from elsewhere as well- 7 doctors in total. This is a profession that is lacking throughout Tanzania, and we are still considering the correct course of action as to how to continue with Hezron’s treatment as he grows older. He is happy at the Igoda Children’s Village- even taking on the role of ‘Assistant Teacher’ during pre-school each day. The suggestion from the professionals at the Inuka center was to have Hezron stay at the Igoda Children’s Village, and continue to be an integral part of the lives of the children there. COMMUNITY OUTREACH Milk Powder Program This month we received some very good news for the Milk Powder Program in the form of funding that should sustain the program for possibly the next two years! Funding from the Goat Races Charity Event started this program off, and then start up funds from UK (Orphans in the Wild) and Canada (African Book Box) kept it going, and now we’ve had several donations come from the US to keep the program going for quite some time to come! The program is the only way to prevent HIV transmission from Mother to Child after the child is born, and it has been very successful in terms of improving overall health of all of its children. The education that has come along with this program has also decreased stigma of HIV for HIV+ Mothers, and has educated vast parts of the community about HIV prevention methods. Home Based Care Dr. Cathy Jansen, from Holland, has visited us again in March and April. She is a physiotherapist that has not only helped with our two physically handicapped children at Igoda Children’s Village, but she also has met with our home based care volunteers to teach them exercises they might be able to share with relatives of people with physical disabilities in the area. This visit, Cathy saw patients in the villages of Mlevelwa and Ludilo, and many families were taught exercises that will get these previously neglected patients off the ground, or physically mobile. The Home Based Care volunteers continue to give services to the families in their communities, and are really spreading the word about health education, and getting people more accustomed to using the health care system. This is perfect timing ahead of the completion of our Hospital project in Mdabulo. If the community is more accustomed to using the health system, it will be all the better for the overall running’s of the Hospital. Health Care Mdabulo Hospital We have a ceiling frame in at the ‘procedural wing’ of the Hospital now! Next will come the veranda, and then when window shutters and doors are complete, electric wiring, and plumbing will go in and with it, sinks, toilets, etc. and then furniture, and donated medical supplies! When this projects is complete, the government has said it will immediately have an opening ceremony for the facility upgrading it to a health center.

February 2012

A bit of an unorthodox monthly report this month, as we look at one family/neighborhood, and how they have been effected by each part of our organization. CHILDREN’S VILLAGE: The house guardians at Igoda Children's village have a very familial job title. They are called Mothers. To the children living here, whether for a temporary time, or permanently, that's what they are. These mothers have been witness to quite the spectrum of human existence in respects to living in poverty. Each of these Mothers is from one of the villages that our NGO works with, and each has seen a lot of suffering, and a lot of successful perseverance that has come out of hope and hard work. On Feb 8th, 2012, two children from the village of Mlevelwa joined the family here at the children's village. Their names are Kastory and Kaizer. On this day, our Mothers were stunned to see what poor condition the children were in, and some could not find the words for their thoughts. Those who could were humbled. Mama Ene thanked God that we were all here and able to help these children. Ada said she never knew children lived like this. The Mothers fed them and took the children in, and within moments the two kids were part of the family- playing with the other children, and enjoying life as kids. This is what the children's village is all about. There may not be every convenience available to these children, but they are able to be children here. Underprivileged children in this area don't get to be kids. By giving children their basic rights, food, shelter, and a right to school, the children's village allows these kids from the roughest of backgrounds to enjoy life, and to take back their childhood. COMMUNITY OUTREACH Home Based Care These two kids were found through our Home Based Care program. In Mlevelwa village there are two volunteers: Maria Mtunge, and Ibrahim Chunga. On the first of February, they organized a meeting at the village office to talk about these children and another family who lived next door. Present at the meeting was the chairman of Mlevelwa village, the village executive officer, the para-social worker from Mlevelwa, the Mdabulo Ward health officer, the head of the orphans and vulnerable children committee, and the head of the people living with HIV/AIDS committee. Each one present was member of the community, and each a concerned adult truly caring about the well-being of these kids. Each of these leaders from the community pleaded with the family to let the children stay at the children's village until they reached a more stable point in their lives more appropriate for child-rearing. Each family agreed and allowed for the children to move to the children's village and join the family here. With the intervention of these Home Based Care volunteers, we are certain these children's lives were saved. HEALTH CARE Mdabulo CTC Each month the Home Based Care volunteers meet at the Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) to discuss the issues that have come up in the previous month, and the goals of the upcoming month. The CTC gives them a platform to discuss their common issues, and the volunteers are able to share their ideas, and hear from their colleagues who have similar problems. One issue that comes up is the refusal to be tested by HIV. Kastroy and Kaizer’s family and neighbors have been a very big problem on this front. There is a lack of knowledge about the issues, and unfortunately, for some, alcohol seems to increase ignorance and stubbornness. A breakthrough happened this month, where through support from her fellow home based care volunteers, Maria Mtunge was able to get Aloyse (Father of Kastory and Kaiser) to agree to be tested, and on a CTC day he tested positive for HIV, and started treatment straight away. Without the readily available treatment supplied by the CTC, this effort would have proven much more difficult. To be able to tell someone that you will walk with them to the clinic to get treatment, that you are together with them, is worlds different than asking them to get on a bus for half a day, only to have to do the same each month for your treatment. We’ve come a long way in the past few years with treatment, and with the increased accessibility, there has become less stigma, and more education about the disease. We hope Aloyse will set a great example, and be an agent for change for the family of Kastory and Kaizer, and the entire neighborhood in the village of Mlevelwa may have a chance to start there own positive development. EDUCATION Igoda Community Hall It is also possible that this agent of change may come from the community as a whole. The Igoda Community Hall so far has served as a fantastic educational resource for education for the surrounding area, and has enabled the community to educate itself about the issues that it finds important. This month the community hall hosted two seminars. The first was a women’s conference, and the other a conference centered on girls’ rights. These conferences are designed by Tanzanians to give their women and girls to stand up for the rights of women everywhere. It is from conferences like these that women learn to get the confidence that Mama Toni, mentioned in last month’s report, showed this month. She comes from the same neighborhood as Aloyse, Kastory and Kaizer’s family, and she appears to be more confident as she has since confronted her family about the lack of caring for their small children, and has tried to educate her family about the dangers of ignorance towards HIV. With events such as these educating the community about vital topics, the problem of this knowledge void is slowly evaporating. People are feeling comfortable enough to talk about issues that for far too long were kept in secret, which prevented new knowledge about the topics to come to light. This mass-education happening in Igoda village, and affecting the surrounding 15 villages or more, must be the only way in a long-term sense that issues as big as stigma and the spread of HIV can be beaten once and for all. There is still a ways to go for treatment accessibility in greatly forgotten rural areas such as ours, but the Community Hall in Igoda village gives the community a powerful weapon for the fight against HIV. These two children, Kaizer and Kastory, come from one group of households from a corner of a village that has been reversing the trend of positive development in our area. Due to bad choices, and ignorance, this small group of people are setting themselves in the opposite direction of positive development. This must be as bad as it gets in this world. As harrowing a thought that might be however, it's what keeps us all going. We know a difference is being made by all of the work being done here. The people who are benefitting from the services are the absolute most in need. When a community comes together to help it's most in need, it highlights what is needed for everyone in that community, and slowly from the very bottom up, an impoverished community is lifting itself up, creating it's own positive development.

January 2012

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE For the past two months a 17-year old girl named Jasia has lived at the Children’s Village while she waits to berth her first child. At the beginning of January doctors here said Jasia was seven and a half months pregnant. Jasia is mentally disabled, and is HIV positive. Jasia’s older sister (Eliza, 20) is taking care of her now, as their parents have thrown both of them out of the family for having children out of marriage. This is a sad reality for girls in their situation as both of them have been taken advantage of by men in the village. On January 20th Jasia went into labour, and was ready to deliver. Children’s village manager, Jenny Peck and Eliza took Jasia to Mdabulo where they met Nurse Midwife Paulina Visulu, and the three of them delivered Jasia’s baby together! Jenny is the mother of two, and Eliza has one two year old, but this was the first birth for them to witness in person. Communications with Jasia during the labour was difficult, but after about an hour, Emily was born at 2.3 kilos, and has since been taken care of by Jasia and Eliza, with help from the mothers at the Children’s village. Eliza was so grateful for a healthy birth, and has been thanking God since Emily came into this world. Eliza is planning on building a house in Kidete village where she can live with Jasia and their children. We are happy for this family that they get some joyous news at the end of the otherwise difficult path they have lived. Toni is a 4-month-old boy from the village of Mlevelwa. He joined us as well this month, along with his 19-year-old mother. Mama Toni (Justina Mtende) is currently taking sewing lessons from our resident seamstress, and we hope this will be the catalyst for a full sewing class that could start this year! Mama Toni is sewing with her teacher every day, and eventually will start her own business, which will help her support her child. We’re glad her story will have a happy ending. The children at the children’s village continued their community service this month. It was sad to see the passing of Seti Mdalingwa this month. Seti was an HIV positive man who was suffering from debilitating cancerous sores. The home based care volunteers in the area cared for Seti in the last few months of his life. Hundreds of people came to Seti’s funeral, and many gave their appreciation and thanks to the NGO, and to the volunteers for caring for their community. Construction of House number one (the final orphans’ home) is going on really well. All of the exterior walls, and most of the interior walls are now complete! We are nearly ready for the ‘ring beam’ level, and after that, roofing will begin. We are hoping for construction to be complete by the end of April. After completion, all housing will be finished and a major accomplishment will be achieved! COMMUNITY OUTREACH Milk Formula The Milk Powder Program is going strongly and our example case, Shamira, is up to 3.86 kilos. This month 6 new babies joined the program, and we now have 37 families enrolled in the program. We received some good news regarding this program as well- funding has been found that will give some security to the program for the next few years! We are excited about this development, as we will get to see the impact of the program now without worry of becoming unable to continue due to lack of funds. Bibi’s Houses (Care Homes) The Bibi’s houses project has been a bit quiet recently, as construction has been complete for some time. Decisions on how the facility will be best used have taken quite a while to be realized. Everyone wants this to be a valued resource to the community. Three homes have been built on land donated by our very own Treda Pius (Mama Ivan) and the community will decide who will live in these houses. They will be selecting those most in need of shelter. This month, the NGO took its final steps in turning over this project to the community. A meeting was held at the Bibi’s house complex to discuss forming a committee that will manage this project for the village of Igoda. The Village Executive Officer (VEO), the Chairman of the village, a house guardian from the Children’s Village, Geoff Knight and Jenny Peck from the NGO, and members of two existing committees all attended the event- 15 people in all. The leaders from the orphaned and vulnerable children committee, as well as the committee for people living with HIV, brought local experience to the meeting, as each member has first hand experience in caring for those most in need. The attendees have formed a specific committee to decide how the Bibi’s house complex will be used, and each member has ideas of who can benefit from this service right away. It was decided that it may not necessarily just be the elderly who live in the complex, but the service may be extended to others who may need temporary emergency shelter. The committee is coincidentally made up of many people whom the NGO has helped get out of poverty, and now they are wanting to ‘pay it forward’ and help others who are in need of assistance. EDUCATION Igoda Community Hall The village itself used the Igoda Community Hall a number of times this month. First, the district representative in Parliament, Mendradi Kigola, came to address the village of Igoda and surrounding area, and promised to help the development of the community by donating pieces of iron roofing to primary schools in the area. Secondly, the two committees for people living with HIV/AIDS in Igoda village (total 62 people in the committees) met for three days at the Hall to receive education supplied by leaders from a private Hospital (Lugoda) on how to manage money as a registered group through savings and loans. The lauded Bibi and Babu chai events happened on the 2nd and 25th of the month, and the big event this month organized by Titus Nyunza and Treda Pius was a seminar on proper food and medication for those living with HIV. Two medical professionals from the area came to teach about proper foods, and adherence counseling to over 300 people who attended. This seminar further helped the community learn more about this disease, thus banishing stigma even further from our community. We are happy to see the community make use of this great resource!

Mufindi Today 'CTC day'

Today was "CTC day" at Mdabulo. 8 times a month the Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) at Mdabulo Health Dispensary holds a clinic for people who are HIV positive. These people living with HIV receive full treatment at the clinic on these days. The patients receive ARVs here in Mdabulo, they have their CD4 checked periodically here in Mdabulo, and they receive full counseling and psycho-social services right here in Mdabulo. All of the services for HIV treatment are available in the village! This availability of services hasn't always been the norm, but the progress made in just the past few years has been astounding. Just five years ago, in 2007, things were drastically different, and comparatively bleak. The closest Hospital to our project area is over 50km away (30 miles) in the district capital of Mafinga. This was also where patients had to travel in order to even be tested for HIV in many cases, or to receive treatment of any kind. In July of 2007, Foxes' NGO volunteers Patrick and Kate Ney, organized a fund that helped patients receive free transport to Mafinga for HIV treatment. Previously, people living with HIV would have to pay around $9 to travel to Mafinga and back for treatment. This cost was prohibitively too high for many who survived by subsistence farming, living off of less than a dollar a day. The transport itself was an arduous marathon, where one was required to meet the bus at 4:30am only to take four hours to travel the 50km to Mafinga during the dry season, and up to eight hours or more during the rainy season depending on the condition of the roads. Even as a private car was hired to go to town more regularly, the cars were crammed with people, and the journey no less taxing. After only two months of this service being available, over 200 people were registered for free transport to get treatment for HIV. While it was encouraging to see the stigma of HIV lifted from the community now that treatment was more accessible, transporting 200 people monthly was no longer a practical, or sustainable option. On April 21st, 2008, Mdabulo Health dispensary hosted its first CTC day. The staff from the district (Mafinga) Care and Treatment Clinic came to the village to administer HIV treatment. On that day in April, 171 patients received their treatment including anti-retro viral treatment, without having to travel to the district capital. Twice a month the staff from Mafinga came to serve the patients in our area. Within weeks the CTC day had over 400 people coming each day, and in a very short time over 1000 people were registered for treatment through the Mdabulo site. This too became overwhelming, and plans started to build a Care and Treatment Clinic in the village, for the village, that would give treatment more often and improve quality of care. In January of 2009 we broke ground on a new building to be placed next door to the existing dispensary at Mdabulo. 18 months later the Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic had an official certification number from the government, and was therefore able to run independently, and as often as needed. The staff from the district CTC from Mafinga continued to help in the beginning, but by October 2010, the Mdabulo CTC was a stand-alone facility run entirely by local staff. Sadly just months before this breakthrough, one of our children from the Igoda Children's Village fell through the cracks of the overwhelmed system and hadn't had her CD4 examined even as her health was declining. The over-worked staff  from Mafinga repeatedly forgot to bring her treatment file to Mdabulo on CTC day, and her condition worsened. When she finally went to a private hospital to have her CD4 tested for the first time, her count was 2. It was all too much for her system, an she passed away on June 26th, 2010. In her honour Canadian friends of ours, Don and Ruth James, began the process of equipping Mdabulo with its very own CD4 machine. This would allow for full treatment to take place at the facility in Mdabulo, thereby virtually eliminating any chance for another patient to fall through the cracks. In March of 2011, the machine was purchased and delivered along with 1000 reagents for testing, and the Mdabulo CTC had its final crown jewel in place. Now, the Mdabulo CTC has over 2,000 patients getting their CD4 tested at the facility. It has been a fast evolution from virtually no treatment available, to full treatment completely accessible in the village. From virtually no one being tested and treated to thousands of patients being served at the facility. From an incredible stigma bringing down any talk of HIV awareness, and preventative education, to a community coming together to teach each other about how this disease can be beaten. Last year over 1000 people attended our World AIDS Day event where the message was surrounding the goal of having no new stigma, no new infections, and no new deaths from HIV. With the advancements made in just a few short years here in Mufindi, one starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the possibility for those goals to become reality.

December 2011

Pictured: Peace Corps/Foxes' NGO Volunteer Meredith Pinto has her picture taken with the older boys at the Children's Village. Meredith was with us for a year, and her service was a great success!

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

The following was a story Children’s Village manager, Jenny Peck, wanted to share:
As the children get older, the challenges we face become different- previously, it was ‘do we have enough nappies for the babies? ‘ ‘Are there enough caregivers for the amount of young children’ to now, where the challenges are more about behaviour, and what to do about teenage children discovering who they are and who they want to be, and acting out. As our young children grow into young adults, we have seen a trend as they ‘test the waters’ to see just how much they can get away with! The rule here at the Children’s Village is that all children need to be in their homes at 6pm, just to make sure everyone is safe and sound, but also if someone is missing, we have time to find out where they might be or if something is wrong. One evening, as the boys were coming home from school, they stayed out past their 6pm curfew, and arrived home at 730pm, causing worry with all the guardians. Motorcyles with search parties went to find them, and phones were being called in all corners of our village. The boys had just been at the bicycle shop, fixing up their bikes, and didn’t communicate with home to tell the guardians they were late. It was decided from the guardians that the boys should have some sort of ‘penalty’ to pay for breaking the house rules, so it was decided that the next day (Saturday), they would perform community service work. What resulted was better than anticipated! The boys were sent to the village of Mlevelwa, where we have two home based care volunteers. There is a very sick man with cancerous sores on his legs, Seti, who is being looked after by these 2 HBCV and his mother, but to take care of him is very difficult. His wounds are smelly, and as he is unable to walk, getting to the bathroom is difficult-causing further smell in his house. His mother can’t afford soap to wash his clothes, and is elderly herself, so keeping his room tidy, his clothes clean, his wounds sterile and well tended, just doesn’t happen. Because of the smell, people don’t visit, and it was harming Seti’s mental health. We sent our boys, armed with bandages, brooms, buckets, food and soap to Seti’s house where they cleaned his house, aired out his bedding, washed all his laundry, fetched water for his mother, found a week’s worth of firewood for the family, and cleaned the flesh eating maggots our of Seti’s wounds without any complaints. In fact, while they were busy helping Seti, the Village Executive Officer (VEO) and other village leaders just happened to be nearby. They asked the boys who they were and were shocked to hear that they were ORPHANS! How could it be that orphans, that need help themselves, were giving back to the community?! They were shocked, and humbled by this, and as the boys left, said to the guardian that went with them “ You have all taught us something today. Thank you!’. This warms our hearts, and gave us more ideas. Now, our children in secondary school are going into the communities once a weekend to help serve the less fortunate: the grandmothers who need help fetching water or firewood, blind people that might need assistance farming, and other people who need a temporary helping hand. The children are enjoying the lessons learned through this service learning, and they have said that they are happy they are able to help those the way they have been helped.
One major HIV prevention method that has received a lot of international attention recently is male circumcision. It has been said by major AID agencies that this intervention can prevent the spread of HIV by up to 60%. There has been a major campaign in Mufindi and across Tanzania, encouraging men to be circumcised, and in fact there was a two-week seminar at the Mdabulo CTC just as it was beginning to be used in October 2010. Five of our boys decided- on their own- to have this procedure earlier this month. They were given all proper education about the procedure and its effects before –hand, and were not encouraged or discouraged by our organization to go-ahead with the procedure. At the very least, it is encouraging to see the boys thinking about their future, and about HIV.
Construction work on the Igoda Children’s Village Social Center has continued well this month. The kindergarten classroom/social hall has been built up enough that it is already in use! A ceiling is in place, electricity has been installed, and all mason work is complete. Only plumbing and carpentry such as window shutters, doors, and furnishings remain. The space has already been used by some kindergarten students during the December school break. Cornelia, the Igoda primary school teacher, is teaching during the day, and all of the kindergarten-aged children at the children’s village (and some children coming from the nearby area) are all getting some valued tutoring during their holiday break. The room was also utilized for Christmas celebrations. The children of the children’s village sang songs, opened presents, ate food, had candy, and put on a performance of the nativity scene for themselves and guests visiting the Lodge for Christmas. We are excited to see this facility already in use, and it looks as though it will be a very valuable resource.
Finally, construction at house site number one got a chance to progress as well this month! There had been some delays with transport, but mason workers were able to complete the foundations of this house, and things should really take off in the new year. We feel our final house will be ready for use by the end of June of the coming year. With that, all children’s housing will be complete!

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Milk Formula Project

Our Milk Powder Program continues to show encouraging results, as we now have 32 families enrolled, and each and every child enrolled has had overall health improvements. The general weight of the children has risen steadily under the program, and there have been no problems of diareah or dehydration as of yet with any of the children. Our case study- Shamira- had a December 7th weight of 3.66kg and has been a very healthy baby. In the new year we plan to collate all of the data we’ve collected for this program and have a presentation ready explaining the successes, challenges, and processes of this program. It appears as though more and more this is an example program that could be replicated elsewhere where HIV prevalence is dangerously high.

HEALTH CARE

Dr. Leena Pasanen

Dr. Leena brought some more guest volunteers with her this month. Andreas Harmsen and Johannes Edström were here in Mufindi during Dr. Leena’s latest visit. They are each medical students, and expressed interest in returning to Mufindi one day as doctors. They only stayed a short time with us, but were very impressed with the projects here, and have since kept in contact about how to help the organization from their homes in Sweden. Dr. Leena’s positive impact on the community and the projects doesn’t just include her own services, but she has continually brought professionals to Mufindi, thus improving the overall health care of the area.

EDUCATION

Igoda Community Hall

For the third year in a row, the Igoda Community hall was host to a World AIDS Day event on December 1st. This year’s World AIDS Day global message was a focus on zero stigmatization, zero new infections, and zero deaths from HIV. This message accompanied an ambitious goal of a generation without HIV by the year 2015! The message in Kiswahili was posted in colourful banners around the Community Hall, and was written on t-shirts that were given to all performers and volunteers. The event featured dozens of performances, speeches, and messages all highlighting the importance of prevention and protection from this disease. HIV testing was again available for all throughout the day, and the event had an extra air of importance as the District Commissioner arrived – on time- and took part in the festivities, including sharing her own story of how HIV has affected her family this past year with the passing of her brother who died from AIDS. This now annual event is something the community seems to really get behind and support, and it seems like each year people are even more comfortable talking about their status, and talking about preventing others from contracting the disease. Once again the community hall is being used by the community as an educational resource that the surrounding area uses to educate itself about the issues most important to its people.

VOLUNTEERS

Meredith Pinto was a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years teaching at Mdabulo Secondary School from 2008-2010. She decided to extend a third year through Peace Corps, but with our NGO here in Mufindi. Our connection with U.S. Peace Corps went really well, and Meredith’s service to the projects in Mufindi made an indelible impact. During Meredith’s time with Foxes’ NGO she helped organize several girl’s conferences at our Community Hal, she held several seminars at the Hall for women’s rights, and women’s health, and she contributed in many other ways to the overall management of the Children’s Village, and the NGO as a whole. Perhaps her biggest achievement during the year spent with us was starting a Home Based Care program that gave us a big step in the ever-evolving community outreach program. Meredith hosted a 21 day training for ten volunteers who were taught how to be proper volunteers under the government of Tanzania guidelines. The volunteers were taught basic first-aid, how to give proper HIV education, and how to educate people in this rural area on how to use the existing health facilities. Meredith coordinated monthly meetings to initiate and manage the program, and she made frequent visits to the five villages currently involved to see the work first-hand. The Home Based Care program has given us a further insight to the problems of our area, and it has improved Dr. Leena Pasanen’s work as patients are shown to us by the program’s volunteers. We were fortunate to have Meredith with us for 2011, and we wish her luck as she has gone to the United States to seek a graduate degree in public health. She will be missed, and we all hope to see her back in Mufindi before too long!

submitted by Jenny Peck and Geoff Knight

November 2011

Pictured: Ruth James and Anne Pearson from african Book Box, with Mufindi District's Executive Director, Shimwela L.E.S., who came from Mafinga to help celebrate the opening of Luhunga Secondary School's new Library.

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

Enida Mkolefu came to the children’s village in September when her older sister passed away leaving a newborn child orphaned and in need of a guardian. Enida has since been the primary caregiver to Shamira (now three months old, getting healthier, and gaining weight rapidly). This month Enida went to Songea to take an entrance exam to enroll into a child-care college. She passed with flying colours and will join the school in January. This is another step towards getting more certified caregivers at the children’s village, and we are glad to find a caregiver from the area that will give the whole facility more expertise and professionalism.
This month, we had a visitor from another organization come by to see the condition of Hezron, a 13-year-old boy staying at the children’s village who has cerebral palsy. Stefano runs a Community Based Rehabilitation program in the village of Waning’ombe near Dr. Leena’s Ilembula Hospital. Stefano gave us lots of advice and ideas on how to improve Hezron’s quality of life here at the children’s village, and we have also arranged to have Hezron visit Stefano’s site in the New Year to receive a week of intensive physiotherapy. Once again we were blessed this year to have Annie Gibbs give her services, and work on new exercises that can help in Hezron’s physical development. These exercises, and this added experience for Hezron will all help to improve his quality of life.
Near the end of this month all of the older boys from the children’s village traveled to Mafinga to take part in a 3-day boy’s conference as hosted by some U.S. Peace Corps volunteers from around the Mufindi district. The boys learned about trust and communication, as well as life skills, and health lessons such as learning more about the dangers of contracting HIV. We feel that the conference, and the experience will benefit the boys as they reach an age of self-discovery and expression.
Finally, construction of the Children’s Village kindergarten/social hall is continuing nicely with floor and ceiling frame already in place. We hope to have our Christmas celebration in this space, and we’re hoping sometime in January or early February this room will be complete and ready for regular use.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Home Based Care

A memorable visit was made this month to see the home-based care program in the village of Ludilo. The two home based care volunteers in Ludilo, Shida and Michael, had arranged for Dr. Leena to see many patients who were either too sick to reach a health facility, or were in need of special assistance that was otherwise not available in the area. The HBC program in this village, and indeed in all involved villages, is really doing a wonderful job in spreading health education and basic health services. We were slightly disheartened this month however, as two patients were sent to the regional Hospital in Iringa (over 125km away) only to get insufficient or no service at all! This further exemplifies the need for a rural Hospital in our area that can serve the community’s health care needs. Without proper health care, the community is struggling to care for all of its orphaned and vulnerable children. People living with HIV/AIDS are in specific need of such health services, and without such advances, progress will be a growing challenge for this area’s people.

HEALTH CARE

Mdabulo Hospital

The need for a proper health facility has never been more evident than it has in recent months with the Home Based Care program giving us a full-picture of the health problems in the area. With such a high prevalence of HIV in our area, there is an even greater need for health services as opportunistic infections afflict more people due to the HIV pandemic. Improving health care in this area is a vital development goal in enabling the community to get back on its feet and ultimately care for all of the orphans in our surrounding villages.
This month we have completed all mason work for three rooms at the Mdabulo site- two for doctor’s consulting, and one x-ray room. Once these rooms are complete, we will continue on with construction of the functioning part of the Hospital. In the coming year, the facility will be ready to host professional health volunteers, thus bolstering the site and getting quality health care to this rural population.

EDUCATION

Igoda Community Hall

This was a busy month for Canadian volunteers Anne Pearson and Ruth James. The pair worked predominantly at Luhunga Secondary School on this five-week visit, but they also worked on some learning exercises at other local primary schools, as well as the production of a play. On the road to Market was performed on November 17th to an audience of excited and enthusiastic secondary school students. Luhunga Secondary school students performed the play, and it was very well received by their peers. The entire performance really showed what the community hall is all about- an entertaining, educational, resource that can be used to bring the community together.

Luhunga Library

The following day, November 18th, was the official opening of the Luhunga Library. An honoured guest from the district offices- the District Executive Director – was on hand for the festivities, and the students and teachers really showed appreciation for the project. The Secondary school library will house computers for the school to use for IT classes, and to furnish the library, there have already been several substantial purchases of books from African Book Box, to go with books sent from Orphans in the Wild. The library will be a tremendous educational tool for the school, and it is already being used every day.

Ikaning’ombe Primary School

The NGO received another honour this month as Geoff Knight and Jenny Peck were invited as the honoured guests at Ikaning’ombe primary school graduation. As part of an address to the school, Geoff and Jenny congratulated the school and the community for helping themselves with a few recent developments. African Book Box Society contributed some cement, and new school desks to the school, and the community has since come together to build-up and refurbish a classroom that will be used for a kindergarten, and school library. The village of Ikaning’ombe has shown some strong initiative taking control of its own projects and contributing as a community for the betterment of its children. We are hoping this type of self-reliance will reverberate throughout the entire area as the devastating effects of the HIV pandemic subside with better treatment options, and healthier people.

October 2011

Pictured: Sekela Mwamdemele, who returned to her family this month after a successful stay at the Children's Village.

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

Two and half years ago three woman, all carrying babies, arrived at the children’s village to talk to us about a problem they had. With them that day was a 9-month old child named Sekela Mwamdemele whose mother had just passed away. The three women were all sisters of Sekela’s mother and they all had small children of their own under the age of one. They had said they needed assistance in carrying for Sekela as none of the women had the ability to care for her at the time. The plan was made for Sekela to live at the children’s village for a temporary time period until the aunts could care for her again in their homes. This month Sekela returned home. One of her aunts found employment in Mbeya region, and Sekela will live with her and be raised in her own family at home. About the time of Sekela’s arrival two and half years ago the children’s village welcomed several cases like hers of children needing a temporary shelter while their families get their lives in better shape to care for them. Over the next year we expect several children to be re-united with their families in the village, and we are excited to see how this stage of the children’s village project will progress.
The children’s village has a new house constructed and in operation this month! House number 2 (the fifth house constructed) will be home to children right away as the children’s village was over capacity with 54 children and only 4 homes. Now the children are more appropriately spaced out in each of the homes. The newest home will have boys and girls of younger ages, and the lead housemother will be Rehema who has been registered through a college for child-care, and has been with the children’s village from February this year. The new house is the second last house remaining for children’s housing at the children’s village, with the final house to be constructed with a donation from a Dutch foundation.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Home Based Care

The Home Based Care program is continuing nicely with each of the 10 volunteers visiting over 50 homes. This month some volunteers that came in a group divided themselves up and all visited volunteers in their village and made some home visits to observe the program in action. The villages of Kidete, Ludilo, and Mlevelwa were all visited, and all were working to prepare patients with serious health problems for Dr. Leena Pasanen’s upcoming visit. The home based care volunteers are promoting good quality care for the sick in the community, and will inevitably encourage others to care for their neighbours, as is the cultural tradition in this area.

Milk Powder Program

Each month the milk powder program seems to be running more consistently and successfully than the last. 28 families are enrolled in the program, and each child involved is showing improvements in health and overall weight. The child we are reporting on monthly, Shamira, has gained weight again this month. Up to nearly 3 kilos after joining the program only a short time ago weighing less than two kilos. Shamira is now a healthy looking child with chubby cheeks, and is gaining strength by the week. She is in the good care of her 20-year-old aunt who is planning to go to school to become a professional child-care giver at the children’s village.

HEALTH CARE

Dr Leena Pasanen

This month saw the much-awaited return of Dr. Leena! She was kept very busy on her two-week visit to Mufindi and had a filled itinerary this time around. She held clinics at Mdabulo and Luhunga health dispensaries, as well as helped at Mdabulo during one of the busy Care and Treatment days now occurring twice a week. She also held a clinic in Ilasa village where over 80 people were waiting for her services. She made home visits to the patients that the home based care volunteers had found, and her work has become exceedingly more important as a component to bringing quality health care to the community.

Mdabulo Hospital

We have received some very generous donations recently that will enable us to continue construction at the Mdabulo Hospital. This month we started construction on the first three rooms of our L-shaped functioning wing of the hospital. We plan to finish these three rooms completely first, and then continue working on other rooms going forward. The rooms will be two doctor’s consultancy rooms, and one x-ray room. If construction continues without any unexpected delays we expect to be done with these three rooms by the end of January. These three rooms will be constructed with funds from a Rotary club from Hong Kong. Then we will be using funds collected this year from a fundraiser completed from March-August when four friends of ours hiked the Appalachian Trail to raise funds for the hospital. Their funds will hopefully be enough to complete the next three rooms of the facility- a medical equipment store, a dental operations room, and pre-surgery waiting/preparation room. Finally, this month we received a donation from a fundraiser hosted by Gord Bredyk in Canada that will give us enough funds to build and hopefully complete at least one of our surgical theaters, and surgical prep rooms for the surgeons and hospital staff. This project will leave a lasting mark on the community giving the community the quality health care it needs to stay healthy and care for all of its children.

EDUCATION

Luhunga Primary School graduation

The NGO was honoured this month with an invitation for Geoff Knight and Jenny Peck to be the honoured guests at the primary school graduation ceremony for Luhunga primary school! As guests we gave a speech in Kiswahili expressing our gratitude about the honour, and we congratulated the graduates, and the parents for getting to this level of education. We took the opportunity to mention the importance of good health for the parents and guardians, and encouraged all to educate themselves about the harms of HIV. We concluded saying this is just the beginning of education for these students, and we encouraged all to come together to help the children of this community to get educated.

Igoda Community Hall

Conferences

There were two conferences held this month at the Igoda Community Hall. At the beginning of the month, Peace Corps volunteer Meredith Pinto hosted a girl’s conference where girls from the secondary schools learned about women’s rights, were educated about HIV, and participated in activities that encouraged gender equality. On the 20th and 21st, Anthony Kipangula, the district Lutheran pastor, together with his wife and a team of professional facilitators gave a marriage seminar at the community hall. The seminar taught over 30 couples from the surrounding villages about the importance of communication, and poignantly discussed the different cultural customs that may be harming marriages here based on negative interpretations. The team brought HIV tests, and each couple was invited to test for HIV, and a variety of other items were discussed, by Tanzanians for Tanzanians, about improving the quality of marriage in this culture. These conferences mark the continuation of the community hall being used for educational purposes. We are excited that the community hall is being used by the community as an educational resource for the community to teach itself about issues important to the area.

VOLUNTEERS

This month we saw the return of our favourite Canadian ladies, Anne Pearson and Ruth James from African Book Box Society. They are with us until the end of next month, and have brought a bevy of books and educational resources with them again, as well as their time and efforts volunteering at our village schools. They were honoured at the Igoda primary school graduation on the 25th, as the school wanted to give special thanks for all of their contributions to the community.
October was a busy month with visitors, as a group from an organization called Carpe Diem sent 13 short-term volunteers who took part in some ‘service-learning’ and had an indelible impact made upon them. One volunteer has made a personal financial contribution to the community outreach program already, and others are planning fundraisers for when they return home. We are pleased with our first experience with groups of volunteers even if we had some initial reservations.
Annie Gibbs visited us for the third year in a row again this year as her visit coincided with Dr. Leena’s visit to Mufindi. Annie brought her physiotherapy skills again, and worked as well with Hezron, a 13-year old boy with cerebral palsy at the children’s village who has received treatment from Annie upon her visits each year for the past three years now. An exciting advance in Hezron’s treatment occurred as we discovered a rehabilitation center nearby that Hezron would be able to attend to get intensive treatment. Annie has helped teach the staff here some exercises and proper management of Hezron, and her contributions these past three years in the villages as well have been tremendous.

submitted by Geoff Knight

September 2011

Pictured: Pouridge (Uji) time at the Children's Village! The new day-care style schedule gives the children a nice routine and structure to their day.

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

This month a program has started at the Children’s Village that will revolutionize the way the children go through their daily lives. A pre-school or daycare system has been started that has given everyone at the children’s village a daily schedule of events to follow. The children will benefit from having an early education program to follow, with a routine, and guidelines leading them through each day. The program is being introduced here to keep the children of younger ages (pre-school aged) more active and to get them early experience with education. The house guardians are enjoying the program as well as it gives them a structure as well. Everyone knows what is expected of them each day, and everyone seems to be taking on their roles perfectly.
It has worked out well that two of the house guardians have certificates to teach at the lower levels of primary school, so they make the perfect ‘head-teachers’ for this program. Each teacher has another guardian as a helper and so the ratio of student to guardian never exceeds 1:5 in 1 to 2 year olds, or 1:7 in 3-4 year olds. The children will benefit from this direct care, and they will be even better prepared for school when they reach the age of going to Igoda primary school for kindergarten and standard 1.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Milk Powder Program

September 7th was a busy day at the children’s village as 22 mothers visited to collect their monthly allotment of milk powder. This month we wanted to tell the story of one child on the program to highlight the good work this program is accomplishing. One baby on the program comes from the village of Ikaning’ombe, and has recently lost her mother due to HIV. The baby has been named Shamira and is enrolled in the milk formula program. The baby’s aunt, an 18 year old recent secondary school graduate named Dorcus has been assigned by the family to now care for the child. This month Dorcus and Shamira are at the children’s village learning proper child care, and how to raise an infant on the milk formula. This family has really impressed us, as they all have shown respect to the workers at the children’s village, as well as they have contributed as much as they can to upbringing of this infant child. Each milk powder day the guardian of the child receiving milk is required to bring the child’s clinic card so we may see if the child’s health is improving. After just two weeks on this milk program Shamira’s weight has shot up from a very dangerous low of 1.98kilos to a healthier 2.26! We are excited to see how this family will progress through the program in the coming months.

EDUCATION

Igoda Community Hall

This month saw the return of a popular event at the Igoda Community Hall- Oral history day. This month’s history day was the first to include elderly men and women who shared stories from the past, and explained about the history of this area of Mufindi, and the Wahehe people. Students from Luhunga Secondary School together with students from Madisi Secondary School attended the event, and the students had great questions prepared. Students were asked to submit their questions ahead of the event, and our events coordinator Titus Nyunza played emcee getting the questions answered by the elders. Everyone on hand seemed to enjoy this educational experience.

VOLUNTEERS

This month we bid farewell to volunteer Justin Dominguez who has been with the NGO for almost a year, and has just returned home to continue his studies. With his background as an emergency medical technician he was very helpful not only following up with Dr. Leena’s longer-term patients, but also when any health issues arose with the children from the children’s village. Justin helped us accomplish quite a bit as he became part of the management by the time he ended his stint with us. He was instrumental in securing a grant from a Dutch organization for over 17,000Euros that will enable us to build our final orphans’ home. His contributions will be missed. He has gone back to Texas, and has plans to possibly attain a medical degree and would like to return one day to assist the Mdabulo Hospital project or home based care program.

August 2011

Pictured: August's Women's rights seminar at the Igoda Community Hall. The hall has been host to a bevy of events that have helped the community educate itself about the issues most important to them.

CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

Edison is a three-year-old child that came to the children’s village after Dr. Leena Pasanen discovered him on a village visit early this year. Edison was severely malnourished and was unable to walk even at the age of 3. Since arriving at the children’s village he has been completing exercises to help him develop and he has been wearing shoes that assist him in walking and standing. Today Edison is walking, running, and is getting stronger everyday. We are very excited about his progress, and feeling that his development will continue at a very encouraging rate. Edison will eventually return to his family when the doctors and local government both agree it is time to return.
Construction of House #2 (the fifth house) is continuing well. This month all plastering was completed and a lot of the carpentry work was finished. Doors, window shutters, cupboards, and most of the beds have all been completed. The next steps on this project are the floor, and the pebble dashing of the exterior. Our goal is to have this house completed by the end of next month. At that time we hope our proposal to a Dutch foundation will have been successful and we can immediately start work on the 6th and final house!
The garden at the children’s village is continuing really well, and has expanded to twice its size this year. Since it is dry season, the children currently enjoy fresh vegetables from the garden three times a week. Soon the children will have vegetables every day as garden expansion has taken place and a system installed whereby there will always be vegetables for the children each day. The caretakers of the garden are various members of the community found through the community outreach program. One is a Father of four children at the orphanage, another is a Mother who is having domestic difficulties in her home, and another is a woman from our chicken banda income-generating project. We are happy to find employment for these inspiring people, as well a source for good nutrition for the children here. This has turned into a very successful project all around.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Home Based Care

Volunteers Meredith Pinto and Justin Dominguez followed up this month with some of the home based care volunteers and visited them in their villages to see first hand the work they are doing. Meredith and Justin visited the villages of Ikanga, Kidete, and Ilasa. In those villages they visited the homes of the sickest patients that each of the home based care volunteers have been visiting. This will mean that upon Dr. Leena Pasanen’s next visit we will have a good idea about the types of patients she might see. All the volunteers are doing great job after their training, and it appears that overall health care in the area will be improved by this program.

HEALTH CARE

Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic

The CTC is running very smoothly these days with over 1000 patients regularly attending the ‘CTC days’ at the facility. The building functions each day, seeing patients on regular follow up twice a week. A great system is in place these days improving patient flow and making the facility run more efficiently. The CD4 machine is in regular-use and the lab attendant, Catherine Mbata, is doing a great job not just with the CD4 machine, but also with all lab testing at the entire hospital. Plans are to have the laboratory in the Care and Treatment Clinic act as the laboratory for the entire health facility. Catherine will help make this transition happen.

EDUCATION

Igoda Community Hall

This month Titus Nyunza and Treda Pius were at it again planning a great event at the Igoda Community Hall. The community hall hosted a women’s rights seminar this month that helped to educate women in the area about what they are entitled to in the village. The seminar also opened a valuable discussion in the village about how gender equality can be reached through cooperation and education. Men and women from the various surrounding villages attended the event that was hosted by our home-based care volunteers, and several other special guests. We are encouraged by the use of the Community Hall as an educational resource that the villages are using to educate themselves on topics that are pertinent to their everyday lives.

Submitted by Geoff Knight

July 2011

Pictured: Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) Home to comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment for this rural area in Mufindi District, and now the headquarters of the home based care program.


CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

Construction of house number 2 (the fifth house at the Children’s Village) had a slight delay this month as we were on a desperate search for sand. The right sand is needed to continue in our plastering efforts, and after it was found we were able to continue with the cement walls of the interior of the home. We’re excited that this project is only a month or two away from completion, and we should have children staying in the house very shortly. This is the second to last house that will be constructed, as plans have always been to build six homes around our valley. Plans have already begun for getting the village involved in alleviating the pressure of caring for orphaned and vulnerable children. We anticipate the completion of the homes to coincide with a healthier more educated community in the surrounding villages that will be more capable of caring for its own children in the village. This month we had a visit from Loe Koppejan who is from a Dutch foundation. We are hoping that our proposal for funds for a construction of the last house will be accepted by his foundation. If we are successful, all housing construction will be complete.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Home Based Care

The number of patients visited by our home based care volunteers has risen dramatically in one month. The first month’s total was 112, and this month they are now seeing 215 patients in the village. This month volunteers will be instructed to help the Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) at Mdabulo. The goal will be for the volunteers to follow up on patients that have missed appointments at the CTC, and to encourage these patients to continue treatment. The volunteers will try to find these patients, discover why they have stopped following up on their treatment, and then educate them on the dangers of discontinuing treatment. Finally, the volunteers will highlight the benefits of coming back to treatment, and continuing a lifelong treatment plan.
A generous donation came this month from some visitors at the lodge. The Kraniak family, Rick Laurie, and Ty, donated and delivered 10 bicycles to the home based care program. This enables all volunteers to do their jobs more efficiently. The home based care program will greatly benefit from this donation as volunteers will be able to visit more patients, and will be able to hold more meetings.
Milk Formula Program
35 families are enrolled in our milk formula program. HIV positive mothers help prevent transmission of HIV to their children by using milk formula after the child reaches the age of 6 months. The NGO has supported these mothers by funding the costs of this milk formula. This month the program changed whereby the mothers are set to arrive on the same day each month. Prior to this month the Mothers were arriving on separate individual days creating a lot of work for NGO staff. This new system mimics the CTC day program at Mdabulo, so the mothers are already familiar with the system, and the program now runs far more efficiently.

HEALTH CARE

Mdabulo CTC

This month we had the pleasure of the presence of short-term volunteer Holly Harding from the UK. Among other projects, Holly helped at the Mdabulo CTC. She worked on getting the facility running in a more efficient, more user-friendly manner. She helped organize the files of over 1000 patients that are registered at the facility. This created a better flow to the facility on “CTC days” where patients come for treatment of HIV.
The facility has been running really well since its opening in October. The CD4 machine has been the vital instrument of the facility and has enabled the CTC to offer comprehensive treatment of the disease. The 1000 reagents purchased in March are still going strong with just about half of them remaining. The NGO is actively writing grants and proposals for more reagents to keep this treatment going.
EDUCATION
Luhunga Library
Volunteer Holly Harding also helped this month in organizing and setting up the Luhunga Library for use. The library is now ready to be a learning resource for the school. This past month, Leudi has been bringing in all
the students in the school to teach them the rules of the library and
how to find the books they need. The program is starting very slowly, as the concept of a library is quite new for most of the students. For
now, the students are allowed to come and visit the library
during their off-periods, and are able to use any of the resources in the library during their visit. Slowly but surely more services will be provided through the library, but in the beginning stages students are being taught simply how to use a library. The library is also being used as a quiet place for students to study their subjects.

Igoda Community Hall

Titus Nyunza and Treda Pius organized an event on their own this month at the Igoda Community Hall that focused on proper nutrition for children. More than 90 people from 10 villages came to learn how to improve their family's lives through improved nutrition. Community leader Kibuga Fute volunteered his time and gave a speech on the topic, and he helped to educate his fellow villagers. It was a great event, and we are proud of the job Treda, and Titus have done!