HURUMA ORPHANAGE
Located in amidst the many rural banana plantations in Usa River outside of Arusha, it was established in 2003 by the kindly Mr. Zakaria who began caring for streetkids and orphans in his home. The orphanage house has 4 bedrooms, a playground, and one classroom. The 15 resident children range in age from 4 to 16 years old. Care is provided by 3 well-trained and loving adult guardians. The orphanage is currently in the process of building 5 more bedrooms. The children are educated in a nearby primary school and, when they excel in their 7th level studies, they continue on in secondary school which also near the orphanage. Volunteers can assist the guardians with daily household chores and also help the children with school homework, games, sports, etc. The climate of the area is very comfortably cool. They also have two milk cows and a chicken ranch to help with their daily food needs.
CRADLE OF LOVE
Established in 2004, this center specializes in helping to care for newborns and infants who were abandoned by their mothers, and for street orphans up to 2 years of age. The center currently cares for about 35 infants and needs lots of funds to support to cover the numerous expenses that infants require. They also need volunteers to assist the staff in its round-the-clock activities such as feedings, changing diapers, bathing, and just spending time talking to and playing with these helpless little angels. When the infants reach the age of two, new homes are found for them. Many are reunited with their families and some are adopted or taken to into another orphan center. Cradle of Love cares for both HIV-positive and non-infected babies. Volunteers will spend the whole day with the babies and infants.
FARAJA ORPHANAGE AND NURSERY SCHOOL
This center was launched in 2006 by Mr. Mbughi, who was once himself and orphaned child. He wants to provide these parentless children with a better life and the loving attention they crave and deserve. Faraja is caring for more than 40 children on an everyday basis providing them with food and shelter. About a quarter of them are receiving whole-day care. The center also operates a small kindergarten in one of its rooms for kids from 4 to 7. It is staffed by a kind and helpful teacher. Volunteers can help the teacher with some instructions. They could also develop various teaching aids or bring some with them since they are sadly lacking and other educational materials. They can also assist the children with their homework in the afternoons. At the moment, the center lacks the funds to pay rent and provide enough food so Mr. Mbugi is personally attempting to cover these necessities. They definitely need your help!
TUMAINI DAYCARE CENTER
It currently hosts about 25 children from the neighborhood and has one local teacher. Many of the students are from very poor families and Swahili is their primary spoken language. The school facility is provided by the Protestant Church. Volunteers willing to begin teaching them English would be a marvelous contribution.
EBANEZA DAYCARE CENTER
The center currently cares for about 30 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old and enrollment is increasing. Children are taught and play games in the mornings from 8 AM till noon. Most of them are from poor families, including some affected by HIV/AIDS. Only one local teacher is presently educating these children in the nursery school. The school has few resources although the children typically receive hot porridge in the morning. Volunteers could assist in educational and game activities and in teaching English.
TUPO NURSERY SCHOOL
Tumanini Positive Test Club was founded in 2001 by Mr. Richard Daudi when he discovered he was HIV positive. In 2005, TUPO opened its nursery school which is currently attended by about 30 children. The parents and/or the children in attendance are all affected by HIV/AIDS
SHEPARDS JUNIOR DAYCARE CENTER AND PRIMARY SCHOOL
This large center is home to about 140 children between the ages of 4 and 10 years old. This is an English medium facility which has the capacity to host upwards of 6 volunteers. There is a lot of enthusiasm in this well-organized and well-run center. Local teachers are well-trained and the programs available allow the children to learn and experience more than at many other schools.
UHURU PEAK PRIMARY SCHOOL
This is an English medium school with an attendance of about 30 children between the ages of 7 to 9 years. Founded in 2007 by a former secondary school teacher, Mr. Sarungi, school attendance is growing rapidly and is currently staffed by four teachers. Volunteers will assist in teaching basic math, English, Science, and oversee recreational activities.
MEDICAL VOLUNTEER PLACEMENT
Healthcare in urban areas and the surrounding rural areas is neither easily accessible nor affordable for many Tanzanians. Poverty creates and enormous barrier to the acquisition of health services, and is particularly difficult in rural areas. Our volunteers work in a number of medical clinics and hospitals in both urban and suburban Arusha. These dispensaries and hospitals have very basic facilities and equipment. Volunteers are placed in these facilities according to previous medical training and experience. The key requirements for a medical volunteer, in addition to relevant training and qualifications, are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances such as a surgery with minimal equipment, an understaffed hospital, or a clinic for leprosy or tuberculosis patients. N.B. for Medical Placement, volunteers must be trained and qualified and are required to present a copy of their qualifications and certificates to our program partner in Tanzania.
CENTER FOR THE PROMOTION OF EXCELLENCE
This is a new attempt and approach to the provision of care and support to orphans and vulnerable children in urban and rural communities. Its rationale arises from the fact that the care provided in orphanages, in the long run, tend to alienate the children from their roots. Orphanages separate them from the fiber and attachments of their extended families and they forfeit their rightful position in terms of their late parent’s properties that are most often taken by other family members.
It creates unrealistic dependence on local and foreign support for achieving their goals in their future lives. Since donations provide an unrealistic easy way out of their current situations, their creativity is stifled in trying to cope with the demands of donors and the orphanage. Sometimes this results in socially undesirable behavior, especially when support has not been combined with an appropriate life-skills curriculum that helps shape desirable behavior. At times, such children have grown up in very difficult conditions without unconditional love, proper guidance, or council from people close to them culturally. As a result, they tend to become hostile to members of their families and society in general. Lack of a warm and loving environment in many orphanages due to high caretaker to child ratios, causes some to harbor bitterness and inability to perform will in life.
This new program hopes to achieve, among other things,
• Provision of support and loving shared-care fro the 50 identified and registered orphans and vulnerable children with the facility.
• Mobilize the communities in and outside these divisions for placement of foster families and hope home visit teams for regular visits with children.
• Support the foster families to take care of the children and see them through school, along with nurturing their talents and teaching them life skills.
• Train the foster families and hope home visit teams to build their capacity for child participatory care and support and for their homesteads in Kaloleni and 300 in Ilkding’a Division of Arusha Municipality and 80 in Manyara District.
• Mob networking as stakeholders.
• Implement a life-skills curriculum beginning with the schools in the divisions.
• Implement a faith-based ABY program with faith institutions and communities within the divisions. The program plans to mobilize the community and institutions within, care- givers, the foster families, and the hope home visit teams by empowering them for the t ask of helping these OVC’s cope with their growth challenges in the era of HIV/AIDS.
• Involve the children in creative works, sports, games, etc.
• Provide micro-financing for self-help projects for the widows and caretakers.
Located in amidst the many rural banana plantations in Usa River outside of Arusha, it was established in 2003 by the kindly Mr. Zakaria who began caring for streetkids and orphans in his home. The orphanage house has 4 bedrooms, a playground, and one classroom. The 15 resident children range in age from 4 to 16 years old. Care is provided by 3 well-trained and loving adult guardians. The orphanage is currently in the process of building 5 more bedrooms. The children are educated in a nearby primary school and, when they excel in their 7th level studies, they continue on in secondary school which also near the orphanage. Volunteers can assist the guardians with daily household chores and also help the children with school homework, games, sports, etc. The climate of the area is very comfortably cool. They also have two milk cows and a chicken ranch to help with their daily food needs.
CRADLE OF LOVE
Established in 2004, this center specializes in helping to care for newborns and infants who were abandoned by their mothers, and for street orphans up to 2 years of age. The center currently cares for about 35 infants and needs lots of funds to support to cover the numerous expenses that infants require. They also need volunteers to assist the staff in its round-the-clock activities such as feedings, changing diapers, bathing, and just spending time talking to and playing with these helpless little angels. When the infants reach the age of two, new homes are found for them. Many are reunited with their families and some are adopted or taken to into another orphan center. Cradle of Love cares for both HIV-positive and non-infected babies. Volunteers will spend the whole day with the babies and infants.
FARAJA ORPHANAGE AND NURSERY SCHOOL
This center was launched in 2006 by Mr. Mbughi, who was once himself and orphaned child. He wants to provide these parentless children with a better life and the loving attention they crave and deserve. Faraja is caring for more than 40 children on an everyday basis providing them with food and shelter. About a quarter of them are receiving whole-day care. The center also operates a small kindergarten in one of its rooms for kids from 4 to 7. It is staffed by a kind and helpful teacher. Volunteers can help the teacher with some instructions. They could also develop various teaching aids or bring some with them since they are sadly lacking and other educational materials. They can also assist the children with their homework in the afternoons. At the moment, the center lacks the funds to pay rent and provide enough food so Mr. Mbugi is personally attempting to cover these necessities. They definitely need your help!
TUMAINI DAYCARE CENTER
It currently hosts about 25 children from the neighborhood and has one local teacher. Many of the students are from very poor families and Swahili is their primary spoken language. The school facility is provided by the Protestant Church. Volunteers willing to begin teaching them English would be a marvelous contribution.
EBANEZA DAYCARE CENTER
The center currently cares for about 30 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old and enrollment is increasing. Children are taught and play games in the mornings from 8 AM till noon. Most of them are from poor families, including some affected by HIV/AIDS. Only one local teacher is presently educating these children in the nursery school. The school has few resources although the children typically receive hot porridge in the morning. Volunteers could assist in educational and game activities and in teaching English.
TUPO NURSERY SCHOOL
Tumanini Positive Test Club was founded in 2001 by Mr. Richard Daudi when he discovered he was HIV positive. In 2005, TUPO opened its nursery school which is currently attended by about 30 children. The parents and/or the children in attendance are all affected by HIV/AIDS
SHEPARDS JUNIOR DAYCARE CENTER AND PRIMARY SCHOOL
This large center is home to about 140 children between the ages of 4 and 10 years old. This is an English medium facility which has the capacity to host upwards of 6 volunteers. There is a lot of enthusiasm in this well-organized and well-run center. Local teachers are well-trained and the programs available allow the children to learn and experience more than at many other schools.
UHURU PEAK PRIMARY SCHOOL
This is an English medium school with an attendance of about 30 children between the ages of 7 to 9 years. Founded in 2007 by a former secondary school teacher, Mr. Sarungi, school attendance is growing rapidly and is currently staffed by four teachers. Volunteers will assist in teaching basic math, English, Science, and oversee recreational activities.
MEDICAL VOLUNTEER PLACEMENT
Healthcare in urban areas and the surrounding rural areas is neither easily accessible nor affordable for many Tanzanians. Poverty creates and enormous barrier to the acquisition of health services, and is particularly difficult in rural areas. Our volunteers work in a number of medical clinics and hospitals in both urban and suburban Arusha. These dispensaries and hospitals have very basic facilities and equipment. Volunteers are placed in these facilities according to previous medical training and experience. The key requirements for a medical volunteer, in addition to relevant training and qualifications, are initiative, enthusiasm, and readiness to work in unfamiliar circumstances such as a surgery with minimal equipment, an understaffed hospital, or a clinic for leprosy or tuberculosis patients. N.B. for Medical Placement, volunteers must be trained and qualified and are required to present a copy of their qualifications and certificates to our program partner in Tanzania.
CENTER FOR THE PROMOTION OF EXCELLENCE
This is a new attempt and approach to the provision of care and support to orphans and vulnerable children in urban and rural communities. Its rationale arises from the fact that the care provided in orphanages, in the long run, tend to alienate the children from their roots. Orphanages separate them from the fiber and attachments of their extended families and they forfeit their rightful position in terms of their late parent’s properties that are most often taken by other family members.
It creates unrealistic dependence on local and foreign support for achieving their goals in their future lives. Since donations provide an unrealistic easy way out of their current situations, their creativity is stifled in trying to cope with the demands of donors and the orphanage. Sometimes this results in socially undesirable behavior, especially when support has not been combined with an appropriate life-skills curriculum that helps shape desirable behavior. At times, such children have grown up in very difficult conditions without unconditional love, proper guidance, or council from people close to them culturally. As a result, they tend to become hostile to members of their families and society in general. Lack of a warm and loving environment in many orphanages due to high caretaker to child ratios, causes some to harbor bitterness and inability to perform will in life.
This new program hopes to achieve, among other things,
• Provision of support and loving shared-care fro the 50 identified and registered orphans and vulnerable children with the facility.
• Mobilize the communities in and outside these divisions for placement of foster families and hope home visit teams for regular visits with children.
• Support the foster families to take care of the children and see them through school, along with nurturing their talents and teaching them life skills.
• Train the foster families and hope home visit teams to build their capacity for child participatory care and support and for their homesteads in Kaloleni and 300 in Ilkding’a Division of Arusha Municipality and 80 in Manyara District.
• Mob networking as stakeholders.
• Implement a life-skills curriculum beginning with the schools in the divisions.
• Implement a faith-based ABY program with faith institutions and communities within the divisions. The program plans to mobilize the community and institutions within, care- givers, the foster families, and the hope home visit teams by empowering them for the t ask of helping these OVC’s cope with their growth challenges in the era of HIV/AIDS.
• Involve the children in creative works, sports, games, etc.
• Provide micro-financing for self-help projects for the widows and caretakers.
ARUSHA VOLUNTEER PLACEMENTS