International Womensday - event 2020

On Sunday 8.3 we visited the Women’s day-event with the girls from Luchelele primary school the event was at  Furahisha stadium where the guest of honour was district commission of Nyamagana  The guest of honour  walked from tent to tent and the organizations got to present their work and their demands. We had provided the girls with matching T-shirts, and we also had a banderol that displayed our demand.

Afterwards there were many different performances. Mostly speeches, dance-performances and sketches. For NIHEPs performance the girls had prepared a sketch that concerned our demand: that everyone needs to work to prevent pregnancy among young girls. The performance went very well, we could notice that the girls had improved a lot since the first times that we had rehearsed. They spoke very clearly and expressed themselves well, it seemed like they enjoyed the experience. Both the audience and the guest of honour seemed very impressed, the girls even got a price for their performance.

New program for children with function variations

Karibuni to read about new program that Ni Hekima Pekee has started in the primary school of Lwanhima. Program is working in the class for disabled children in Mwanza in the ward of Lwanhima. At the same time that program where taking it`s first steps, new volunteer Pihla from Finland jumped in to the work of Ni Hekima Pekee and will participate also in new program.

New programs need always planning, meetings, discussion and creativity. First step was to visit the Lwanhima primary school to introduce Ni Hekima Pekee to the headmaster and teacher of the class. In the meeting we discussed about the coming program and how Pihla will be working in the classroom with teacher.

The aim of the program is to support disabled children in the Lwanhima ward to have equal possibilities to access school and to get education. The challenges that disabled children and their families experience are various.The class where Ni Hekima Pekee is working has just started in January, and it is still trying to reach families with disabled children in the ward to get access to the school. Children in class has different challenges and disabilities from physical to difficulties with communicating, learning and concentrating. Program aim is to support children to learn and have a education and that way to have possibilities to build up their future and reach their dreams.

The journey to the school takes time. Volunteers and workers use public transport which means one hour ride to the field. In the class is eleven pupils, but six of them are able to attend school at the moment.First thing is always getting to know each others as children felt a bit shy when Pihla started to work in the class. The aim with the school visits is to understand what kind of challenges children have in the school which are affecting their learning and evaluate the circumstances together with the teacher. Teacher is the one who is with the children everyday and have priceless information about the situation in the school.Pihla has visited school now four times. Together with the children she has been playing football and trying to learn letters and numbers. Some children in the class have been also included to other classes after one year studying in the class.

Beside that Ni Hekima Pekee is also doing home visits together with two teachers of the school once a week; Fridays. Conditions in family and home have great affect how child can concentrate and access to the school and learning new things. The purpose is together with the teachers and parents find the way to support children to get education and learn life-skills. So far Ni Hekima Pekee has participated six home visits. In the visits important thing is to respect family`s home and privacy as well as their knowledge about child`s needs, challenges and strength. Plan is to visit families that are in the class, as well as children who are not attend to school yet to see how we can support them to start studying.

In the picture volunteering student Pihla with children at school, parents and teachers.

Ni Hekima Pekee is using needs assessment as a tool to find out what kind of challenges families, children and communities have and how those challenges are affecting child's possibilities to have education. Ni Hekima Pekee is doing evaluation together with families, school, community and other organizations and policymakers to find the way to support children with disabilities to have future where to accomplish dreams.

MSICHANA THABITI SESSION 17th January

Last Friday 17^th of January Nora and Ellen, volunteers from Finland, joined the session for the first time. As it was the first time we met we only started with a basic introduction. First Nora and Ellen introduced themselves with their names and what they’re doing here and where they are coming from. After that it was each girls turn. They seemed a bit shy and talked pretty slowly and silently. Most of the girls introduced themselves in Swahili. One of the girls hid herself under a table. We wrote her name up and we’ll do a follow up on if there’s something that caused this behavior, or if she’s only shy. Amalath and Jani who also attended as mentors have met the girls before on earlier sessions, and they saw an improvement in most of the girls’ confidence.

After the introduction Nora and Ellen asked the girls a few questions. One was “what do you want to become when you grow up?” Everyone was very eager to answer. They did repeat each other pretty much, and we noticed that it seems like the girls don’t know much about which kind of career possibilities there are. Some of the answers were doctor, teacher, pilot, engineer, nurse, sister and so on. One of the girls wanted to become a president. Another question was “What is your favorite food?” some of the answers were banana, meat, rice, chips, pilau, cake and ugali. This can be used in upcoming sessions as questions to them why they should eat more of some foods and why they should avoid others. Nutrition is a significant part of a healthy lifestyle and it can be good for the girls to questions their own habits. In that way it is easier for them to get an understanding of nutrition, when it comes from their own perspective.

The last question was “What do you like to do in your free time?” Many of the girls answered that they enjoy playing different sports, as football and netball. Someone also answered reading and playing. Then it was the girls turn to ask Nora and Ellen questions. They were curious to know about how old Nora and Ellen are, where they come from, what they do, what university they go to and where they live in Mwanza. We noticed that the girls were much more confident when the atmosphere was more freely. It is more out of their comfort zone to one by one stand in front of the other girls and speak. But the best way to keep developing and improving is to get out the comfort zone again and again.

There weren’t many challenges during this session, except for that there were other children who would have liked to attend too, as boys and girls who were younger than 10. It is a pity that everyone can’t attend, but the reason to this is that there are topics that aren’t suitable for girls younger than 10. It is also good for girls to have an environment where there are no boys, so they can talk about things they wouldn’t talk about in front of the boys. It is also more usual that boys get more attention than girls, so that’s another point on why it is good for the girls to have a space only for girls.

MSICHANA THABITI PROJECT

Msichana thabiti is a project for girls in the age of 10-14 who are in school. The projects main aim is to help the girls develop an understanding for what is needed for a healthy life. Confidence is important for girls, as they aren’t encouraged as much as the boys. When they’re confident it is also easier to know what is good for them, and they can make decisions of themselves. It’s important for them to know how to make good choices in life, and understand what kind of consequences each decision has. One of the biggest risks for young girls is that they get pregnant or married early. There’s also a risk that they get mentally, physically or sexually abused. That’s why the project is also focusing on educating the girls on reproductive health and what their rights and responsibilities are.

The project has been going on since September 2019, and will go on until August 2020. We’ll be meeting the girls once a week in Luchelele ward. During the sessions we bring up different topics that are important to the girls. It is also important to highlight topics that are interesting to the girls. It could be something that they have experience or have seen that someone else has experienced. It is of great value that the girls get the feeling that it is okay to communicate about things that aren’t very nice. To break down taboos of different problems is of big value, so that the girls can reach out reliable adults when they need to.

Something that is of great significance is to break down obstacles that can occur in the girls life, and give them tools so they better know how to handle situations. They might have a dream but for some reason something can come in the way so that they drop out of school. It is also common that the girls don’t know how it is possible to reach a dream. So this is why this project is of much value. The girls need to get information and the confidence to keep coping in life, so that they can get independent and well-educated.

 

Ward meeting during project introduction in September 2019