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.