So … after five years deeply involved in Tanzania,
finally I am asking directly for some money to empower women’s groups in remote hamlets
to tackle the awful rates of maternal and child mortality. I have waited, and now is the time for your fiver ... or even ten crisp fifties! But please read on, even if you do not want to donate!!
Despite being a peaceful and relatively incorrupt country, death in childbirth is 100 times more common than in the UK.
Despite being a peaceful and relatively incorrupt country, death in childbirth is 100 times more common than in the UK.
One in ten children do not reach their fifth birthday in
rural areas, and girls from a young age spend their childhood fetching
dirty water to drink:
In response, we have learnt that good-willed foreigners
air-dropping solutions, then disappearing, does not work. Instead, we have
helped the people set up eleven women’s groups in eleven hamlets, and the young
and middle-aged women have now become the engine for progress.
FGM has stopped in some hamlets. Children are being
immunised. Women are seeking safe childbirth. Communities are working together
to produce enough crops and food to fight off malnutrition. Suddenly there is
an energy about making things different. Women have a voice. The women’s movement
is called ‘Tushikamane’ – ‘We stick together’.
The top priorities, however, are water and sanitation.
The majority of rural women spend their girlhood and adult life fetching dirty
water five times a day, and scratching a living for the family for the
remainder of their time. Few have ever used a toilet. Many rural girls are
denied education – their main escape route – because they are needed for hard
labour.
We still have the problem, however, that solutions must be
locally developed if they are to be sustainable. Step forward ‘SAWA’ –
Sanitation And Water Action: http://sawatanzania.org/.
These are highly skilled Tanzanian professionals, who work for no profit,
educating and activating rural communities to understand water hygiene and
water pump maintenance. Using the skills, resources and manpower of the
community, they supervise the constructions of sustainable water and hygiene
solutions.
Before SAWA:
After SAWA:
Working through SAWA and women’s groups, we have been
able to deliver such profound change as this pump, for just £500. Our charity –
‘Mission Morogoro’ – has no overheads at all, and works with the women of these
remote hamlets to change their lives for ever.
We have three more pumps to install, and then they would like us to begin to
help them update their primeval agriculture. Again, we will be using local partner non-profit organisations, of Tanzanian professionals who really care.
Please help! Donate here:
Or buy the story: The blog is now a paperback:
Kindle version: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MZ9MQFN
And tell your friends – especially book clubs – about the
book! It is written as a diary, trying to inject some Bryson-like humour, and
entertains at the same time as gripping you with the unfolding story of Tushikamane.
Or why not buy a well for Kipera?!!!
£500 to transform the lives of those whose daily water supply is this:
Or why not buy a well for Kipera?!!!
£500 to transform the lives of those whose daily water supply is this:
Thank you!!!
