Parents had their micro financial loans

Parents just received their microfinancial loans.

Butimba executive ward  officer giving loan to the parent

It was a grateful moment to the few parents who were empowered to start small business as a way forward to reduce poverty within the poor families NIHEP working with in Butimba ward.  These parents will be able to look after their vulnerable children and their family as whole. Also this support will help them to meet the requirements of financial institutions to be able to get loans from them because parents will have experience and skills from entrepreneurship training offered to them before this support.

NIHEP thanks the Executive ward officer and other ward officers for their moral support.
Also NIHEP wants to thank most vulnerable children committees  and volunteers  who have been playing a big part to make this project active by visiting families, visiting schools, making discussions with families. All these bring a positive impacts to these disadvantage families.
Special thanks to our main supporter Mwembe, who is making things in NIHEP to move forward.

The importance of information and informing

Hi, it is volunteer Saara writing here again. I have now passed half of my time with Ni Hekima Pekee. Five weeks has gone and five weeks is still left. It's amazing how fast days go by when you have interesting and inspiring work to do!

As an volunteer I'm interested about social questions: how to reduce poverty and social exclusion in the world. These are crucial issues also in Finnish society which I'm coming from. In my home country I study social services now, but formerly I worked as a writer and photographer. So, concerning to this, I think information, informing and story telling are good ways to improve things and make the world little bit better place.

For organisation like Ni Hekima Pekee information and informing are also very essential issues. Lately we have been developing these things. Now we have our own Facebook page and also this blog has experienced some changes. For example upcoming volunteers can now find updated information and photos of the accommodation. Furthermore, on Facebook we have group page for friends of Ni Hekima Pekee.

I still have some assignments to do for NIHEP. For example I am planning to do brochure for the organisation. Also basic work, family support in the community is one of my tasks for the rest of the time. With local volunteers I will visit families in Tambukareli and Kambarage. We still have many follow up discussions to do in these streets.

My weeks in Mwanza

Primary school in Iseni.

Time has been flying so fast. I have already been here over three weeks and I will go back to Finland on Friday. My name is Madeleine Sandström and I am studying to become a teacher. My subject is special education and I have one year left of my studies.

My journey to Tanzania started the 18th of April. First I went to Iringa. There I did a teaching practice for five weeks. The 25th of May I arrived to Mwanza and I have been volunteering for Ni Hekima Pekee. I have been in the primary school Iseni and also visiting families. Me and Saara (she introduced her self earlier) have also been trying to think how we can develop the current system within Ni Hekima Pekee. So we have also been doing some office work.

The school Iseni is a government school and the also have an unit within special education. I spent my time at the school in that class. I learned a lot from the teacher Kristina, mostly about deafness. Teaching deaf pupils was something new for me and very interesting. We both shared ideas concerning education and we talked about challenges in both Finland and Tanzania.

The pupils got vacation the 7th of June so then I started with new tasks. The two last week I have been visiting families in the area Tambuka Reli and Kambarage. Ni Hekima Pekee is supporting families in the areas and the goal is that the families would get money to start some small business so that they can support them self. Some families have already got the support but some families are still waiting. For the moment we need more sponsors to be able to help all the families.

Preparing cards to teach sign language.

Ni Hekima Pekee is also arranging support meetings within the families. They meet once a week and discuss different problems that can accure within a family and they try to solve them together and support each other. Some of the families have a child with some kind of disability. In Tanzania there is a big shame for the whole family if a family member has a disability. Many children stay at home and they never get the opportunity to go to school. Ni Hekima Pekee tries to change these attitudes and I have been visiting some of the families and trying to support them concerning their child's disability. I have also been teaching sign language to one family.

I can't believe my time here is already almost over. I have really enjoyed my time here!

Greetings, Madeleine