Regional level International Women’s Day event in Mwanza  2022

On the 8th of March NIHEP participated the regional level International Women’s Day event in Mwanza centrum. The students from Sahwa primary school arrived at the event by private transport with teachers and NIHEP staff. We gathered in Mwanza Central Park and from there we started to march towards the Nyamagana stadium, where the event was held, together with the other participants. We had poster with message “Kizaz cha haki na usawa kwa maendeleo endelevu”, which means”A generation of justice and equality for sustainable development". We also had t-shirts for the students and for the teachers and NIHEP staff with the message “Kwa maendeleo endelevu tuzuie Ukatili wa Kingono” which means” protect sexual violence for Sustainable development

There were a lot of different speeches at the event, a lot of dancing and different kinds of performances. Because of the event’s limited timetable not all planned performances were held. Luckily two girls from Sahwa’s school had time to perform a poem to the entire audience and it went great. The students were excited to take pictures at the event and take part in the dancing. Particularly the girls were very eager to take part in the dancing and showed to have amazing dance moves. After the event we ate lunch together. The day was entirely successful.

The atmosphere in the event was very encouraging. Women were supporting each other’s and the music was great. One of the most popular songs of the day was “Superwoman” by Tanzanian Women all Stars. The girls enjoyed themselves as well as the whole NIHEP stuff. We want to thank Global Social Work Finland for supporting NIHEP financially so that it was possible to be part of this beautiful day.

written by
NIHEP trainees/ Sonja & Fanni

 

Our work in NIHEP

We started the week in Ni Hekima Pekee by passing through what we had done last week. Our office had a weekly routing which is called Monday discussion. On Mondays, all the office workers can share their thoughts freely and can talk about the ideas and share different stories with each other. On this discussion we talk about what happened during the last week and what is going to happen in the coming week. Also, we got a new worker in the office, a trainee Marietha who is studying project management for community development in Tengeru university in Arusha. Last week NIHEP participated to the regional level International Women’s Day 2022 and this event was a topic we talked a lot. During the week there was also a school visit in the Luchelele school.In Msichana Thabiti project we meet young girls between 10 – 14 and talk with them about different topics and challenges they are facing. The coming themes will be puberty, sexual violence and other things which comes up

One thing, which we have noticed during these weeks in NIHEP, is that the work we do need patience and we take small steps with the girls. It is important to understand that the process with building the trust and have some discussion with the girls takes its own time. Our mission as social work trainees is to gain experience on field work and also plant “small seeds” to the girls minds so that they can be empowered to create small changes by themselves. We know that we are not able to make huge change, but at least we can try to create an environment where the girls can feel free and participate in different ways. Pole pole.

Kila la kheri

Sonja & Fanni