Hello!
I’m a student from
Finland studying social work and now I’m here on my internship as a volunteer
for Ni Hekima Pekee organization.
Me and my
supervisor Kennedy work in a ward called Butimba. When I first came here I
started with registering the deaf and mute kids who aren’t in school. It was a
big project because it was difficult to get the names of the deaf and mute kids
from the community and it was a lot of children involved.
I started to
collect the names and their attendance for all children at Iseni Primary
School, at the Unite for deaf and mute kids. After that we started to do family
visits to those who weren’t in school to know the reason why. Here we also
faced some challenges because we didn’t find some kids, so we literally went
looking and asking around for them on the streets where they have lived in hope
to find them. Some of the families had moved and shifted schools but there was
no documentation about that in school. Some families didn’t afford the school
uniforms and school supplies so their children couldn’t therefore go to school.
Some children hadn’t even been in school for many years and are now teenagers
without a degree.
Kennedy and I have
also worked with many other different and individual cases. For example we had
one malnourished kid, a two year old girl who only weighed 7,2 kg. We took her
to the organization FOREVER ANGELS who helps with this kind of problem. There
she got information about nutrition and peanut butter to put in every meal so
the kid will gain weight. We also had one kid who was beaten at home so we took
her to another organization called KARIBU FOUNDATION TANZANIA in order to help
her and get treatment from the hospital and she will stay there a few months
until she is better and after that Ni Hekima Pekee will make sure that she can
stay at her relative instead.
Last week we
worked with a family Ni Hekima Pekee started with a few years ago. The father
is an alcoholic and alone with five children. The oldest girl, 16 years old
were sent to Arusha to work as a house girl and the organization has tried to
get her from there but without result. On Monday we got information about her
and that she was back in Mwanza, so we visited the family, reported this to the
chairman and he directed us to the police station. There have we been all week
with all the involved ones and we went from there with a good result. The
children’s uncle is going to take care of the youngest children and the oldest
girl will continue school.
This week we are
planning to take a few children to the hospital and check if they have HIV.
It’s free to get checked but the children don’t have the opportunity to go
there themselves. So sometimes like this they just need a push in the right
direction and someone who is taking responsibility and goes with them. We are
also doing family visit to discuss two of the deaf and mute teenager’s future
plans, help one with starting her new job and make sure she has everything she
needs for that, and pay a visit to the tailor and shoemaker for the school
uniform.
Sunny greetings from Tanzania!
Elin Kamis
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