Together we are stronger

One of Ni Hekima Pekee’s (NIHEP) ways to operate is through parents support. The organization has gathered parents into peer groups. The groups have been formed according to their similar life situations; there are some groups for HIV-positive parents, some for those whose children have been supported with school material. In total NIHEP is operating with seven parents’ groups, two in Butimba ward and five in Lwanhima. Butimba has been NIHEP’s operational area from the year 2010 and the parents’ groups were started there in 2010. In Lwanhima, NIHEP has been operating since 2016 and the groups have been started within the last year.

The idea is to bring people together to share their challenges in general and find their own ways to enhance their financial situation. NIHEP has collected the members and guided the forming of each group and their plan, but the activity should rise from their own needs and experiences. This is why they have created their own business plans and are meeting in their own neighborhood with their own timetable. The groups are saving money in order to be able to start the chosen business, such as poultry or selling nutrient dense flour mix, in the future. 

 

NIHEP visits the groups regularly to see their achievements and to discuss any questions or challenges they are facing. Working with these parents needs a lot of effort and dedication. Many parents have struggled with everyday life for years and therefore have little energy to try to improve their situation. Both educational and financial support is needed in order to keep the groups going. When supporting parents the aim is also to give them more strength to be parents and prevent the social problems from being passed on to the next generation. NIHEP hopes that working in a group makes the parents strong enough to improve their own situation so that in the future they will be able to help other community members around them.

Ida Nyroos & Minna Varho

The writers are Master’s degree social work students from University of Turku in Finland and are currently doing their internship with Ni Hekima Pekee. 

From dreams to plans to actions

During the last few weeks we have been working with education advice in the girls’ group. There is no education advice in public schools’ curriculum so the students have little knowledge on the possibilities they have and the choices they need to make in order to proceed towards the profession they desire. 

We introduced the topic by drawing each one’s future dreams and sharing them together. The variety of different dream professions was very narrow due to little knowledge on career possibilities. The most common dreams were to become a teacher, nurse, doctor or tailor but there were a few girls mentioning other professions such as police, pilot, tourist guide or artist. Many of the girls had been inspired by someone they admire in their living environment, such as a mother or a teacher. Because of this, we decided to have an overview on the most common professions.

Next, we discussed the possible obstacles the girls might have on their way towards their dreams. These were mostly school-related. Many girls lack time or material for studying. Some have dropped out of school. Some don’t know which subjects to choose to reach their desired profession. There are also some challenges with the school environment. The distances are often long and many have to walk even five kilometers one way each schoolday. The schooldays are long and the schools may not have water, let alone meals. The class sizes can be even above hundred students and it’s difficult to get a teacher’s attention. 

 

In order to help the girls to also realize the value of their own actions and efforts, we then discussed their strengths and possible next steps towards their dream. This is where dreams develop into plans. Again, we saw their insecurities in speaking out and expressing their opinions. In this point, the girls mentioned the importance of studying hard, focusing on specific subjects, cooperation with fellow students and praying. These observations were on a rather general level, and thus we encouraged the girls to further think through their own personal strengths.

This topic needs more attention in the future, but we hope that after these sessions the girls have at least a bit better picture of the area of education and maybe some more ideas of the possible career options. At the moment we are conducting home visits with the girls who have dropped out of school to support them to create and reach their individual future plan.

Ida Nyroos & Minna Varho

The writers are Master’s degree social work students from University of Turku in Finland and are currently doing their internship with Ni Hekima Pekee.

Mtoto Afrika – Girls’ thoughts on children’s rights

June 16^th is known as the International Day of the African Child (Siku ya mtoto wa Afrika). It’s a remembrance day of the thousands of students who participated the Soweto uprising in 1976 and defended their right to have good education in their native language. That day, hundreds of demonstrators were killed by the police and this led to more protests and deaths during the following weeks. Since 1991 the day has been celebrated for raising awareness of the condition of life of the African children and the importance of education.

In the girls’ group we approached the same themes. We told them about the day and asked them to think about children’s rights and responsibilities. We also asked them to draw or write down both what is positive and negative in their living environment when it comes to children’s position in their community.

This led to fine observations and interesting discussion. They see a lot of good and valuable qualities in their community such as love, communality, respect of the elderly, family and home. The girls appreciate education and they are happy that nowadays girls are also allowed to schools. However, they pointed out many defects too. They see neglection and even child abuse, lack of food and shortage of other basic needs. Perhaps one of the most important remarks is gender inequality. Girls are given more household duties such as cooking, cleaning, childcare and collecting firewood and water. This leaves them with little free time and energy to study. Boys are still prioritized when it comes to education.

Girls are aware that children have the right to education, quality food, home, clothes, playing and praying and the right to be heard. Girls would like to have more time to meet friends and rest. This led us to think about the balance of rights and responsibilities and to seek ways to better communicate with parents. In girls’ opinion, first the responsibilities have to be taken care of and the negotiation has to be well timed and grounded.

It was great hear the girls’ own opinions and ideas about the topic. Due to gender inequality the girls are usually quite unconfident to speak out and share. They need to get the experiences of being heard, respected and allowed to have opinions.

Minna Varho & Ida Nyroos

The writers are Master’s degree social work students from University of Turku in Finland and are currently doing their internship with Ni Hekima Pekee.