Child sponsorship update from Zanibar, Tanzania

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Zanibar, Tanzania from Summer 2008

The year 2008 began with economic inflation and devaluation of Tanzanian Shilling as usual. This year we are blessed with adequate rains, but still a further increase of food and other goods prices persist due to many factors which also cause a further rise of cost of living such as clothes and other services (e.g. transport, education, and electricity), which have been unbearable to most community members. We, as part of the community have also been affected both ways, the well-being of the staff and the budget.

Despite of these environmental factors SOS activities continue and projects are in operations. We are extremely grateful to our sponsors and donors who continue to support us in the care of vulnerable children whereby more support to the needy children is still inevitable.

Our children continued to enjoy a family based care with love, respect and security under their SOS mothers. As the year began, we had 98 SOS Children at our Village in 11 family houses under the care of 11 Mothers assisted by 4 Aunts.

In 2007 SOS Children’s Village Zanzibar established a new facility for youth boys in Fuoni area. This facility, which is known as semi-independent youth facility currently accommodates 4 youth boys and few more youths are expected to join in later.

Academic progress of the children was disturbed when the Village Educator left for further studies, the new village educator started immediately picking up with the academic supervision guided by the monitoring and tutoring program. 63% of our children scored 60% and above. The village is planning to further improve the situation.

Providing skills for the future

As usual effort is being made to support the development of our youths in various ways so as to provide them with necessary tools of becoming independent. Three of our youths are still in Universities abroad (two in the US and one in South Africa), nine are in different colleges in Tanzania and one is on vocational training. Four of them who completed their vocational training are employed, two at Hotels at the Zanzibar Stone Town, the third who did auto mechanics in Mombasa is employed by the Barclays Bank in Zanzibar, while the fourth who completed his degree in Business Administration got a reputed post with Tanzania Posts. During this year half two of our youth boys got married in January and March 2008 and became independent. Two of our girls Tatu and Lailat are also doing well with their studies at the SOS International College in Ghana.

Our youth Hashim planned to get married in early 2008. The management always set before him the question where will he take his wife as he was still in the Youth Home. Hashim studied electricity, air conditioning and refrigeration in Dar es Salaam for three years, unfortunately he did not excel in academics. Without revealing his plans, he worked during vacation. He bought a plot of land at a squatered area about 14 kilometers from town. He knew that it will not be easy for him to build a whole house at once. So he started gradually with two rooms a kitchen and a toilet and got connection of water and electricity. This was started in phases during the time that he was training. He later revealed his plans and what he has done out of his savings and the salary he earned for about six months where he was doing electrical maintenance in one of the hotels. He was determined and he succeeded, he owns his house now, married and settled.

Community support in Zanibar, Tanzania

Monthly meetings with District Social Workers of all the six districts of Zanzibar Island and the coordinator from the Department of Social Welfare are ongoing with the main discussion of various social issue. It is during these meetings that we take an opportunity for advocacy as well as for the outreach programme.

The outreach programme (Family Strengthening Program) which is in operation since 2007 has received a positive impact to the community. It is very encouraging to see that there is already a good base of family strengthening experience in some communities through SOS Zanzibar with the support of our friends. The programme is currently providing care and support to 37 household with the total of 259 beneficiaries in 14 different communities.

Besides the support, the programme is now engaged in family capacity building through continuous entrepreneur advice to family caregivers and skills training for income generating activities, as well as psychosocial and health and home care training for family caregivers. Efforts are made to enhance networks and collaboration between supported families and other organizations involved in small or micro enterprises.

The Programme caters for educational support such as Through the Education support that is provided to families’ children who have fallen behind the school or dropped out are offered basic classes to assist them in catching up. Through the support children tend to like school and their performance and attendance in school has gone high as compared to previous situation. This has also contributed to the country mandate to accomplish Millennium Development Goal to educate more children by 2015. The programme provides the children with balanced nutrition needed for the growth and protection of their health once a month which leads to children’s health improvement and development.

Children's education in Tanzania

Apart from FSP beneficiaries scholarships to about 97 poor children have been offered to the children admitted at the SOS School out of which 15 were offered food support at the school. At the SOS Nursery School, 17 poor children were offered scholarships. Education support will be further extended to poor and vulnerable children in the community as part of the outreach programme.

SOS Children Zanzibar as a senior project in Tanzania continues to give trainings to newly recruited SOS Mothers. Another group of SOS mothers’ trainees from Dar es Salaam received training in March on SOS principles, child care, communication in English, mother/aunt job description, nutrition, child psychology etc.

Better future training facilitators from Holland with Dutch Fortis managers (an Insurance company) arrived in March for a one-week leadership programme. The one-week workshop gave an opportunity for further capacity strengthening of our local staff and to work on relevant projects to further improve the well-being of children and youths. SOS Children’s Village Zanzibar’s senior staff took part in the 4 days workshop. The participants were happy with the training contents they received and the workshop proves to be successful.

Our Youths also had a chance in the training session and they received sessions by facilitator Lynn. They practically formed a group of youths to assist other children and the community in need. The youths have indeed in this short period extended services to the community with the help of the Family Strengthening Program Coordinator.

SOS School opened to start academic year in January and seven of our children started schooling in class one as among new students. Three of our children who sat for the National Examinations managed to enter the Advanced level.

The school operates with 45 teachers and additional part time teachers to cover vacant positions. Eight diploma teachers of the SOS School Zanzibar are taking degree courses in education at the Open University of Tanzania.

Nursery School
New school year started as routinely in January and one of our children joined in this year. Other four children advance to second and third year.

Refurbishing and construction of the Social and Medical Center is completed, thanks to the generous support of DANIDA (the Danish International Developing Agency) in financing the social and medical centre.

Routine activities of the medical centre continue well. The clinic is now better than before with the expansion of the social centre whereby the turn out of antenatal, post natal health education and family planning activities and immunization of children under five years cases has been increasing day by day. The free or subsidized services have enabled the low income population of the area as well as the beneficiaries of Family Strengthening Program, the village and school children access to medical services which they badly need.

Among donations received from friends and donors this year were boxes of clothes for our children from the Kempinsky Hotel in Zanzibar. The clothes were distributed to the family houses.

Good friends are like night stars, though you do not often see them, but you know that they are there. Thank you for being a friend to our organisation.

Kind Regards,

Asya M Salum
Sponsorship Coordinator
ZANZIBAR