5/5/09

Regardless of not moving into my home stay, we were still sticking to the original plan for the induction week. I visited Sister Felicity and Theresa; they are based in a rural village 30 minutes outside of town. For this week both Kate and Leonard, assistant country manager for the org, have arranged to take us and introduce us to the projects we will be working on. So today Kate assisted me, although the start of the day was a tad rocky. Especially as it was my first day on the dala dala, these are the local means of transport within the area and are minibuses which are charged by the seat but filled to the point whereby no man can even squeeze in! This ride was insane as I was seated next to Kate and 2 men. The one next to me decided to pull out his pen knife and work at my bag whilst it was on my lap…just as well I had a mango in there for lunch huh! Firkin nerd trying to get to my valuables, he tried getting through the side after failing to get to anything 1st time round and that’s when I noticed! By the time I could say or do anything the bus randomly stopped and off he flew! so yes an experience which freaked me out but made me realise how desperate some of these people are and the extent they would go to. Nothing like a settling in experience eh! This project in the village is called ‘The FAWE’ Faraja Women Empowerment and aims to empower and support Tanzanian women infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS by enabling them to support themselves independently. The organisation offers financial loans, counselling, and business advising as well as HIV’AIDS information and support, allowing women to live healthy and sustainable lives. My role with this project is to try and fundraise using the local businesses, look further a field for national and international support. I need to get cracking with this in terms of researching big enterprises in East Africa and maybe even consider international aid. I spent most of the day with Sister Felicity in terms of accounting for the 300,000 Tsh (£150) that she receive from ‘The Arusha Project’ an American NGO who support HIV affected Widows. We have also looked at which areas require urgent aid and finances and prioritised the needs of the centre, home care service and the pre-school for the children of the women.