MDABULO HOSPITAL PROJECT

The most pressing health initiative we are undertaking currently is the construction of a hospital that will stand to serve the surrounding villages.  To date, the supplies, machines, furniture, and some staff have been secured - the only thing left is to find funding for the completion of the actual structure itself.  Literally everything is available and ready to serve the community except for the building in which it will all happen.

The facility will be the only hospital within 30 miles (50km) or 4-8 hours by bus. It will be the main facility for 19 villages, or approximately 45,000 people. It will host medical volunteers from around the world who will share their expertise, and because of this we foresee the catchment area of this facility to increase with more and more people and patients using the hospital as its main health care resource.

Foundations of the new procedures wing
from early 2009

The Hospital will have the capacity for major and minor surgery, x-rays, ultrasound, dental and optometry labs, and other procedures. This will mean that the rural community will finally have the quality health care it needs.

March 2009

The Mdabulo Hospital Project is and probably will be the biggest and most expensive project that the NGO has undertaken. It will also be our most important project in terms of saving lives and ultimately reducing the number of orphans in the area.

October 2010

Fortunately, the NGO has already been blessed to receive funding to complete an impressive amount of construction that will consist of the functioning wing of the Hospital where all procedures will take place. There is still funding required to complete the entire Hospital project and give the community high quality health care for the first time- thus enabling everyone to care for their children, and partake in the positive development of their community.

September 2011

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The entire Hospital project has been divided up into ten development projects. We're hoping through grants and donations to find the funds to complete this project over the course of several years. The following is a brief description and cost of each of the initiatives:

Functioning wing of Hospital- including 2 surgical theatres, an x-ray room, dental facility, optometry room, and doctors’ consulting rooms. - $77,951.56* ALREADY FUNDED AND COMPLETED!!!

This project will define how the Hospital is used, and contains all of the functioning components of the Hospital. The L-shaped extension to the existing facilities include 2 surgical theatres, an x-ray room, dental examination room, optometry room, doctor’s consultancy rooms, storage, toilets, and lockers for surgical gowns and personal belongings of staff at the Hospital. The Hospital will be equipped with medical equipment, supplies, and other resources, from the containers that have been sent to us from the UK and Canada. Now that this wing is completed, the NGO is in a position to invite volunteers from Tanzania and abroad to share their expertise so that this rural area may finally receive the quality health care that is needed.  This project will represent a new possibility in rural health care, and will allow thousands of people to receive quality health care for the first time in an accessible nearby facility.

March 2013

New Toilets / landscaping - $2,091.50

There are several requirements for sanitation and hygiene that are to be considered in hospital infrastructure, and so a budgeted amount of funding is to be used to meet these requirements. 8 new toilets will be built, and a waiting area will be leveled with 3 round shelters for shade or rain cover where relatives and friends of patients can wait as their loved ones get treatment.

New KIOSK - $10,760.39

It is expected of all Hospitals in this country that the facility take part in income generating projects to gain an income for the facility’s many ongoing costs. The most common project of this nature in Hospitals is a small shop or kiosk where patients and visitors can buy small bites, or soda, or purchase a new notebook for keeping patient’s records. The kiosk at Mdabulo will be conveniently located at the entrance of the facility and will be accessible by all potential customers.

New medical records and administrative conference room - $22,761.64

An already leveled section of lawn at the side of the facility is the site for the conference room project. The one-roomed structure will hold medical records, but also serve as a meeting area, and rest area for all of the health professionals on staff. If ever the facility is visited by a visiting doctor, or honoured guest, the facility will have a formal meeting place designed for him or her to give an address to all of the staff in one place. Morning reports may also take place here where patients’ status is updated to all of the staff if there is any progress from the previous night.

Refurbish existing staff housing (one stand alone house for essential staff members) - $7,266.24* Already funded and completed!!!

A modest sized building at the entrance of the compound can be converted into staff housing. Currently the facility’s Nurse Midwife, Paulina Visulu, and the Lab Attendant in charge of running the entire lab including CD4 testing live in this house. These two are vital to the services provided by the facility, and having them live ‘on-campus’ is an added bonus to the project as a whole.

This 'house' was unused before generous donations
came in to renovate it for Hospital use.

The housing is now home to key Hospital staff members

Turn unused building into new kindergarten (enabling space for staff housing) - $19,914.42

As permission has already been granted by the Mission to turn an existing kindergarten into a staff housing complex, this dilapatated unused building could be renovated into a new home for the kindergarten. Just below the nurses’ housing is a complex that has long since been abandoned that was previously used as a facility for relatives and friends of patients to cook food for their friends who are getting treatment at the health facility. Currently, a newer building is used for this purpose, and so this abandoned building remains unused. Fortunately, it is the perfect size for a kindergarten- similar to other kindergartens in the area- and the Mission has already agreed to use this building (when renovated) as a new kindergarten. This would free-up the current kindergarten to be used as a staff housing complex, thus enabling the facility to take on more staff- the lifeblood of any health facility.

This dilapatated abandoned building could be renovated
 to host a kindergarten, freeing up the current kindergarten
 building for staff housing

Build a reception ward (OPD- out-patient department) - $28,217.09

This project utilizes a space that is located right in the heart of the facility that may be used for initial examination of a patient. Upon arrival, the patient may be brought here, so as to let the Doctors and medical staff determine where the patient will be sent immediately. We have labeled this the reception ward for this purpose, but the project could also house the outpatient department as well. Two rooms will be constructed where a current roofed-walkway stands, and these rooms could be used to examine the patients who are requiring only outpatient service. This reception ward will be critical to patient care as he or she enters the facility.

Refurbish existing old in-patient wards - $42,237.09* ($15,000 already raised)

The Mdabulo Mission Hospital was built over 75 years ago. Though some of the buildings have held up quite well over this time, there now seems to be room for improvement. The existing in-patient facilities are a perfect example of this, as the foundations and walls are showing many cracks, and all rooms are need of new paint. The roofing is in need of replacement, as currently the facility is prone to leaking. All of these improvements will help the in-patient wards in existence become more hygienic and will ultimately improve the quality of health care at the facility.

This building (built some 75+ years ago) could be renovated to create a safe, clean, in-patient ward for patients.

Build new in-patient wards - $85,378.19

This project involves plans to replicate the existing wards with a new structure built from scratch designed to double the amount of in-patient capacity at the facility. This will include a new women’s ward, men’s ward, children’s ward, as well as anew toilets. This will be required as facilities improve, and more and more patients are drawn to Mdabulo for health care. Currently the in-patient facilities are in constant use, and more room for in-patient service would be greatly appreciated by patients and staff even today. This project is urgently needed, and will be needed even more and more as resources and services at Mdabulo are improved.

Turning vacated kindergarten into new staff housing block. - $100,567.82

Perhaps the most important component to a hospital is the human capacity to run the operations and procedures on a daily basis. The only way this can be done is through reliable and qualified staff. As per our successful partnership, the mission has agreed to allow for a kindergarten facility to be used as a communal staff housing facility designed to house key staff members at the facility. Currently, no such staff housing exists to lure new staff to the facility. If this project is completed, lab technicians, surgeons, pharmacists, and other key staff members could be hired, and would stay in a long-term basis at the facility, thus improving the quality of health care at the facility in a most important way.

This building is mostly unused but for one 'classroom' that host a kindergarten. If funding is obtained,
this building could be renovated along with a another to create both a safer, cleaner kindergarten, and
 vital staff housing for the Hospital

TOTAL COST Remaining:

$296,928.14USD

Nursery School at Igoda Children's Village

Another project we’re excited about his year is the Nursery School and office construction. This project really grew out of developments from September 2011 when a nursery school program was initiated at the Igoda Children’s Village.

Original graph paper map of
Nursery School plans

The nursery school timetable started a system that kept all of the under-school-aged children engaged and active throughout the day. Staff of the NGO started bringing their children for the day to benefit from the service.

Foundations begin March 2013

The system’s value was shown in the developments the younger children had made as a result of the early childhood education they were receiving.

 In January this year a Kindergarten was opened at the Children’s Village, but the community brought children far too young for kindergarten as parents thought we had opened a nursery. We were thrilled that the community wanted this service, as it is a bit of a unique idea for this rural area, and we didn’t want to push the idea prematurely into the villages. Unfortunately, we had to turn away potential students, as there was no space for the additional students.

Walls going up April 2013

Enter the United States Ambassador's Community Grant for HIV Relief. Foxes’ NGO successfully won this grant earlier this year, and so building has already started with the goal of opening a nursery school for the community in January 2014. We’ve come a long way with this project from running it out of the Children’s Village homes, to having a village-wide community service that will keep children safe while their parents/guardians work or farm their fields.

When completed this project will have a lasting effect on the positive development of this community.

Progress as of June 2013

Igoda Children's Village Heatlh Clinic

Original sketch plan
for Clinic Construction

I always think it is fun to see a building take its shape as it is being built. After funds are raised, and a site is selected, it’s really exciting to see the progress of a project coming to life.

The Health Clinic at Igoda Children’s Village will be the first health facility built in Igoda Village, and only the third health facility ever constructed in the administrative ward of Luhunga- population just over 10,000. It will be the primary health facility for Dr. Leena Pasanen who will be working full-time in Mufindi starting in October this year. 

Site cleared and bricks delivered December 2012

The facility will also be bolstered by Letisia Kitinusa and Sijali Kitalika who are part of our Health Department, and all in all a tremendous service to this side of our project area will be produced.

The 'Yatima' Clinic, as it is known in our area so far (Yatima means orphan in Swahili), is being built from funds generously given from two sources: The Dar es Salaam Charity Goat Race Event, and a greatly successful fundraiser held by Gord Bredyk and Evelyn Voigt in Ottawa, Canada. Our organization depends solely on these types of funds, and we are so grateful for Gord and Evelyn’s efforts over the years, as well as the fantasic healp from the Goat Races!

Foundations completed March 2013

I’ve always wanted to do a ‘follow your dollar’ piece on these building projects, but have never had the time. I picture it would be showing how by constructing the entire project with local materials, and hiring only people form the area, the building projects make a far bigger impact than just the service the building itself provides. The overall economy gets a boost every time a project is put in place.

Walls going up May 2013

Special thanks here anyway goes out to all those who have supported us throughout the years, for the support given to this community that is now in recovery mode from the devastation that HIV caused in the past. The funds given have given much needed resources to this community, but also allowed people to lift themselves out of poverty through employment and hard work. 

Progress as of June 2013

Stiva Mvinge Remembered

Stiva Mvinge

Post Submitted by Jenny Peck:

I write this message with huge sadness in my heart. We need your prayers and thoughts with us in the next few days.

About 2 hours ago, I was called to house #5, where little Stiva, a 16 year old girl who has been in our care for just over a year was living.  The phone rang, and all I could hear was desperation on the phone saying "Mama, come here now.  I don't think Stiva is here on Earth anymore".  Yesterday, Stiva had a stomach ache, but over the past months her health had improved remarkably since she arrived at Igoda Children's Village.
Her hair was now black, as opposed to bright orange.  Her skin was dark and smooth, no longer pale and dry. She was back in school at our sewing vocational training school! She laughed and sang and danced
like noone was watching.  She was better!  

This morning, we got a message while we were in our biweekly NGO commitee meeting that she needed to go to the hospital, that she was sick.  Her stomachache had turned to diarreah and she couldn't control it.  She had two IV drips and was returned home, and looked better, and had no more diarreah. People passed by the house in the evening to see how she was doing.  She joked. she complained about her stomach. She requested special things to eat and drink.  At 850pm, she asked the house mama and her real
mother to help her turn on her side, as her leg was bothering her er turn on her side, as her leg was bothering her and her lower abdomen was sore and she didn't want to sleep on her back. They turned her over, and just like that, she was gone.  Stacey (Peace Corps/Foxes' NGO volunter) and I arrived minutes later, gave CPR, but it was too late.

I am in a bit of a shock as I write this.  Many people who have met Stiva, have been touched by her warmth and sweet personality, and many know what she was like before she came here, and the massive positive
changes that she went through.  Stiva's last years were some of the best, and we can all say they we did everything in our power to help her heal.  

I am walking away today, with a very clear reminder that at anytime, we too, will leave this Earth.  Stiva lived her life to the max- she knew what she wanted and didn't want, she knew who was her friend or wasn't, she knew how to believe in herself.  It's a reminder to me to do the same: Be the person I want people to remember me as,
and be that person every day.

Please, keep Stiva and her family in your hearts, prayers and thoughts
this weekend.

A Week of Fond Farewells

Vicky Ndengela (right) leads the farewell party for Amani, 14, who is moving back to the village to live with his grandmother. Vicky was his house Mother while he was here, and although he will be missed, we are excited that he is headed back home.

A lot happened in the final week of June, and we said farewell to a few guests, as well as a fond farewell to a member of our family here in the Children’s Village.

The week began with Dr. Will Metcalfe, and Dr. Vikki Milne visiting with patients in the remote village of Ihanu. There they met our two Home Based Care volunteers from that village who showed them patients in the most need of attention. These locally trained volunteers have done a great job of connecting community members with medical volunteers, and have also increased overall education about the health system which improves health for all by keeping the few health facilities either less crowded, or getting patients with more serious ailments to the facilities sooner, giving them a more likely chance for survival.

More Baskets were purchased in Ikaning’ombe village on Monday the 24^th as well. A new product (a round floor mat) was all the rage, as the impoverished women in the groups continue to improve their product to create more income that supports them and their families.

A round woven mat completed.
The new product will hopefully breath new income
into the already successful basket program

"Mama Nadrick" with her
round mat in progress

In the afternoon, at the guardians’ weekly meeting, plans were discussed about the departure of a child to occur later in the week. Amani, a 14 year old boy from Ludilo village arrived at our Igoda Children’s Village in January this year, as his very caring grandmother was seeking treatment for him. Amani had fallen into a fire as small child after as epileptic seizure, and his hand had become very deformed. He had no fingers, and no grasping capability with his thumb. His grandmother brought him to us so he could receive treatment for epilepsy, and a plan could be made to get him a surgery, and appropriate rehabilitation before returning home. After a few months of finding the right time for Amani to see a specialist, Amani traveled to Dar es Salaam to be operated on in April this year, and since his return he has had proper care from medical volunteers, as well as staff at Mdabulo health facility. One of those medical volunteers that helped Amani recovery was Dr. Will, who’s own Mother donated the costs of Amani’s procedure. Plans were made at the meeting to have a going away party for Amani to occur later in the week, and everyone agreed that Amani’s story was very indicative of the ideal use of the Children’s Village. Amani has been a kind, polite, and strong young man during all of this, and even though he had only been with us a relatively shorter time, there was no question that the tradition of a going away party was going to be extended to Amani’s departure.

Tuesday Dr. Will and Dr. Vikki went to Mdabulo to help at the Mdabulo health facility during ‘CTC day,’ or the day in which HIV treatment takes place, and over 100 patients arrive for refilling of medication, a progress evaluation, and potentially a test of their CD4 count. Having extra medical professionals on these days helps alleviate the stress on the serverly understaffed facility. Later that day the 'Mama Koli,' or Anna Mhapa, brought her 2 year old son Koli to see Will and Vikki as he had become slightly jaundiced. Will and Vikki have been very busy, and the community has been very grateful to have extra health professionals to go to for various ailments, and illnesses.

This day was spent organizing the logistics of a new program that has started for the older children of having them visit ‘home,’ during their school break. The goal of the Children’s Village is to have each of the children eventually return to the surrounding villages and build the community as future leaders. This extended visit is intended to allow the children to grow even more accustomed to life in the village, or life in the community where they will someday soon live. Life in the Children’s Village is by design not entirely different than from that in the village, but the older children have grown more and more ready to return to the village to start their own lives. The older boys and girls are visiting extended relatives, and helping them during holiday, or if a boy or girl comes from a neglectful or abusive background, he or she has been teamed up with a trusted ‘foster family,’ during this time. We will meet with all of the children when they return in mid-July, and assess their readiness to move-on. We suspect some will be excited to start the new challenge in their lives immediately while other will require more time. Each case is different, and we are fortunate to have a loving environment here at the Children’s Village to help each of the children reach their potential as they re-patriate back to the village.

Later in the evening one of the Children heading to the village during the school break came to visit with Children’s Village/Outreach Manager Jenny Peck to discuss his troubles in school. He was very depressed, and told us he felt he was not smart enough to continue in school, and he knew that money was being spent on him to go to school, and he suggested that it be spent on another project. We have had trouble with the teenagers at the Children’s Village the past year or two, but things have started to turn around, and we were glad that he was able to trust us to help him with his plan. He was advised to meet with a tutor regularly, and he was offered full-support to get him through Secondary school. If things don’t continue well this year, efforts may be made to seek vocational training of some sort, but in the meantime he will be surrounded by caring role models, and supported during his time of doubt.

Wednesday the 26^th featured a meeting between Foxes’ NGO/Peace Crops Volunteer Stacey Droll and management to discuss having another third-year volunteer come to help the projects in Mufindi. The partnership with Peace Corps has been extremely positive for both sides, and Stacey has left an indelible mark on the Home Based Care program, and the NGO as a whole. She plans to leave and start a career in international service at the beginning of August.

In May two infant children from the Children’s Village were tested for HIV (both of their Mothers were positive) and the results arrived today and thankfully both were Negative. Infant testing is a very important resource for extending the life-expectancy of infants infected with HIV, but unfortunately the tests are very sparse. The infants were tested at the district capitol in Mafinga, and then the tests were sent to a regional center several hundred miles away, and then returned to Mafinga all before we know the result. The wait-time for these particular tests was over 6 weeks- a critical time period if these children had tested positive. There have been great strides in access to treatment for HIV in Tanzania in just the past few years, but there is still lots to be done.

Wednesday evening was Amani’s going-away party, and everyone was glad to see his story have a happy ending. His surgery was successful, and he now has grasping capability and more movement. His Grandmother is a tremendous role-model for other guardians and was commended at the party for her compassion for Amani.

Dr. Will Metcalfe with Amani and his grandmother
on June 26th, the day Amani returned home

The 26^th of June is also a day to remember a child who touched all of our hearts three years ago as she battled valiantly against HIV, but unfortunately passed away on June 26^th, 2010. Felista Mpangile from Ibwanzi village was alienated, and stigmatized by her classmates, and she came to the Children’s Village in 2010. She passed away due to an overwhelmed system of treatment that failed her, but she is remembered not only by a life-saving CD4 Machine that was acquired in her name but also by a playground dedicated to her that opened this year at the Children’s Village. The playground provides a safe, stigma-free place for children from around the community to play, and is enjoyed everyday by the Kindergarten and nursery students.

The Felista Mpangile Playground

We had a final visit this week from Sigi Steiner, who has been visiting monthly giving her service of physical therapy to countless patients in the villages around, and also at the Children’s Village. Sigi worked particularly well with our staff on adding exercises that would help with the development of Hezron, a 17 or 18 year old boy with HIV and cerebral palsy. Sigi is moving back to Austria soon, and she will be missed.

Physiotherapist Sigi Steiner working with
a child in Ilasa Village

Over the weekend, Will and Vikki left Tanzania to finish their latest ‘African Adventure’ before heading back to Swansea, Wales. They have visited numerous times already, and have graciously committed to become regular visitors here in Mufindi. Their visits are always anticipated with great excitement, and there is always a bit of sadness when they leave. They have made an incredible difference in so many lives in this community, and we can’t wait for their return!

Dr. Will Metcalfe and Dr. Vikki Milne enjoying some
sugar cane on a village visit!

Doctors Wanted! Making a difference in rural Tanzanian health care

Dr. Will Metcalfe and Vikki Milne with an NGO Home Based Care Volunteer visiting a patient in the village of Isipii in Mufindi District, Tanzania

Week three of June was action packed as well, and had a distinctly health-centered focus.

On Monday (17^th) Charles Mwagala from the Children’s Village attended a meeting at the Luhunga ward office that discussed issues with AIDS, and what issues to bring up when upcoming district guests visit the village the following day. We are being invited to all of these Ward meetings these days held by the government, and we take it as a great sign that the local government wants to include us whenever they can.

Children’s Village/Community Outreach manager Jenny Peck held a meeting with the sewing school leaders (teacher and top students) and discussed a future plan to generate steady income for the school. Things have really taken off since volunteer Annelies Vermeij visited and gave the program a shot in the arm. Jenny then gave a small seminar on HIV education to the guardians at the Children’s Village, and announced the visiting doctors Will and Vikki would be giving a full seminar before they leave. We have a goal that everyone working with our NGO will become a local expert in HIV, so there will be even more education about the disease spread to the community at large.

Will and Vikki then did a round-up around the Children’s Village, and made a check-up on all the children with health issues.

Tuesday brought a trip to town as Nache, an 11 year old HIV+ boy at the Children’s Village, needed an x-ray (available only at the district hospital for now), to diagnose whether or not he had tuberculosis. He tested negative, but a complicated treatment plan was put in place to treat him for Pneumonia. The Mufindi District HIV team came later in the day to visit the Children’s Village. We are located quite a distance from the district capitol, so again it was great to see this inclusion by district leaders. We were able to bring up all of our concerns such as CD4 reagents for the Mdabulo Care and Treatment Clinic for HIV, broad-spectrum anti-biotics for HIV patients, line 2 ARVs, and infant tests for HIV. It was useful to get a voice with the stakeholders at the district level on HIV treatment. We continue to voice our concern that our area is underserved in relation to the high prevalence of HIV in such a rural place.

Wednesday the 19^th featured more health focus, as the NGO health department called a special meeting to discuss the developments of two children at the Children’s Village (Nache and Meshack) who were starting the second line of Anti-Retroviral treatment. This begins when the body builds immunity to the first line, and it is very dangerous as in Tanzania there is no third line. This means that proper health practices such as diet, and strict medication adherence are literally vital concerns now for both of these children.

Jenny and Peace Corps/Foxes’ NGO volunteer Stacey Droll discussed and planned the schedule for remaining week that Doctors Will Metcale and Vikki Milne would be present. They themselves spent the day visiting areas in and around Luhunga village including Mwefu, Kipendaroho, and Igoda, seeing patients. They saw many patients affected by HIV, and who were afflicted with opportunistic diseases such as tuberculosis.

The next day physiotherapist Sigi Steiner arrived and she immediately worked with Hezron, an 18 year old boy living at the Children’s Village who is HIV+ and physically disabled due to severe cerebral palsy. Sigi has been teaching guardians some exercises that will help Hezron feel more comfortable and be more independent in his life.

Stacey brought Doctors Will and Vikki off to Kidete village in the morning as we were fortunate to have a visit from Dr. Schuyler Wood, and his wife Kavisa. Having Schuyler present meant that he could help with Nache’s complicated pneumonia treatment (which included daily injections and refilling of an implanted IV). This allowed Will and Vikki to see more patients. The next day doctors Will and Vikki visited the Mdabulo CTC. It was clinic day, and they were able to help with the abundance of patients (over 100) that arrived on the one day. Sigi came as well so that Stacey could take her on home visits where family members were taught how to help their disabled relatives.

Dr. Metcalfe with Zakayo (in the Dr.'s right arm) and Vasco (on his right) with their family members. The children successfully re-patriated back with their families earlier this year after spending the past four years at Igoda Children's Village

Saturday the 22^nd featured a long day of travel as we checked up on Zakayo and Vasco who had left the Children’s Village and gone home to their far away village of Kilosa to leave with their respective families again. We were overjoyed to see that they are doing very well. This is something that we all love to see as our main goal is to have every child live in the village with his or her family, and successful ‘re-patriation’ back into the village is our goal for every child at some point. We see this as an overall good sign of development for the surrounding community as more and more families are becoming able to take their children back to their village homes. They are gaining the ability to care for their own children as positive development improves their lives. Doctors Will and Vikki made the trip, along with Sigi, and they all saw patients in Lulanda, and Isipii villages.

On Sunday the 23^rd, Will and Vikki gave Nache his last injection/IV refill, and he had shown signs of improvement. We hope for the best for Nache, but he is in a very fragile condition. Just as his cough and pneumonia symptoms were improving, he was diagnosed with shingles. He has medication (left by Dr. Leena Pasanen from her previous visit) and his condition will continue to be monitored very closely.

The week really showed us what kind of impact medical volunteers really can have. Under the right local guidance, medical volunteers can help overall health on a case-by-case basis, but also through educating the masses about better health practices. Our NGO has been blessed with some great medical volunteers in the past, and as the Mdabulo Hospital is ready for its grand opening, we will have the capacity for medical volunteers of all kinds including dentists, surgeons, nursing professionals, physiotherapists, and others. We welcome anyone who would like to make a difference in a very underserved rural population that is on the road to recovery.

Children of Africa Day / Medical Volunteers Making an Impact

The Igoda Community Hall was packed for the big event on Sunday! This is the forth year in a row that the Hall has hosted an event to commemorate the day.

Another busy week in the books here in Mufindi. Sunday was spent organizing the schedule of volunteers for the rest of the month as we will have a full-set of volunteers with over 30 volunteers expected in the last quarter of 2013! Word is getting out about the NGO, and we're happy that these volunteers have something to contribute to the projects here in Mufindi. 

Monday we welcomed Elida Mkolefu back to the Children's Village. She has been studying in the southern area of Songea, where she will be getting her certificate to be a professional child-care giver. Once she has completed her course (end of October) she will be the third certified member of our Children's Village team. She brought her grades home with us, and she urgently sits at the top of her class! She's making us all very proud!

Tuesday, Dr. Will Metcalfe went to Mafinga where he helped two HIV positive children get medication at the district Hospital as well as an x-ray for Meshack who had severe swelling in his elbow. There was no break, so Will will be supervising physio for the next month while he's here. Dr. Vikki Milne assisted Dr. Ndenga at Mdabulo as it was 'CTC' day and hundreds of patients crowded the facility. The extra doctor helped get more people treated and allowed for more health service to the community.

The sewing school, named 'Threads of Hope' held its first meeting since volunteer designer/sewing master Annelies finished her stay with us. She brought some great fresh ideas to the classroom, and she will be back again in October. She has committed to a long-term partnership with the school in hopes of bolstering the school into a profitable entity and thus creating more sustainable growth for the area.

On Wednesday, several guardians met with Boniface, a 15 year old boy who is living with his Mother in the Care Homes Complex while she re-builds her home. Boniface left the Children's Village earlier this year, but is having trouble with the challenges of school. We are happy to have many invested parties in his success, including neighbors and a caring Mother who all want to see him succeed in school. We hope that with continual follow-up meetings his progress in school will improve and we are all putting forth the efforts to help him succeed and become a productive member of society. We are happy that the guardians show such care for the children they've cared for even after they have moved from the Children's Village.

Dr. Will Metcalfe and Dr. Milne then had a busy Thursday and Friday as they visited several villages in the area (Luhunga, Ikaning'ombe, Mkonge) and saw patients in their homes. There were many affected by HIV, and therefore several opportunistic diseases that came about and were treated. Because our community is still recovering from the high prevalence of the HIV pandemic, overall health is gravely affected. Having these medical volunteers come and add their services to the health care system that is lacking in resources will ultimately improve health in the area, and enable the community to care for all of its children.

On Saturday, the Doctors gave Amani, 12, a check up, looking at his hand and seeing how he has progressed since his surgery last month. Amani suffered a bad burn as a small child, and his hand has become enclosed, with fingers infused. He has had surgery to fix his hand, and now he has more grasping capability, and a working thumb. 

Logistics were also organized for Bennett Mwagala to get treatment on his foot. Bennett is an HIV positive man who has worked to get his family's lives back on track. Four of his children lived at the Children's Village for a few years while he worked to get money to build a new house. The children are back with him in the village, they are attending Mwefu Primary School, and their progress is going well by all accounts. Unfortunately, Bennett has recently contracted Kaposi Sarcoma, an AIDS-defining illness, and he has received counsel from the NGO on how to get to Dar es Salaam, who to see for treatment, and how to maintain health after treatment.

June 16th marks Children of Africa Day, and for the 4th straight year an event was held at our Igoda Community Hall to commemorate the event. This event recognizes the importance of Children's rights, and highlights what can be done to improve the lives of the community's youth.

This year we were proud to host the official event for the entire Region of Iringa! Regional officials along with the district commissioner of Mufindi, and other important stake holders in children's rights attended, and it was arguably one of the biggest ceremonies we've had at the Community Hall. It was an honour host so many crucial players in childhood development, and even humbling as many specifically mentioned our NGO as an organization 'worthy of imitation!'

It is not for the thanks and appreciation that we do this work of serving the community of Mufindi, but the recognition is greatly appreciated. We feel the local leadership within the organization stepping up more and more is perhaps the leading cause for this extra attention.

This makes us all very excited for the remainder of the year as we look forward to continued successful cooperation with all members of local and regional government, as well as everyone in the community at large. The event at the Community Hall was a big hit, and we look forward to many more to come!