MWENDO Association. October The Board of Directors

Transcription

1 MWENDO Association October The Board of Directors

2 Table of Contents 1. History and structure of MWENDO Context OVERALL outlook MWENDO in Tanzania On-going and completed projects ADOPTION PROGRAM WELL-WATER PUMP MICRO-CREDIT for Shidepha KITCHEN and DINNER ROOM in the secondary school Communication and media Page - 2 -

3 1. History and structure of MWENDO The adventure started in 2004 when Stefano Francese, Francesca Tel and Donata Annovi went to Wasa, Region of Iringa (Tanzania), as volunteers for AFRICA OGGI Association. They helped building a new church in Igomini village, not far from Wasa. They met for the first time Francesco Msofu, who was the Father of the Mission based in Wasa until Since then a strong relationship based on trust tied them to Father Francesco. When they left Wasa, they promised to Father Francesco that they would have continued somehow to help the local community living in Wasa from Milan. Two years later on 23 rd December 2006, Stefano Francese, Francesca Tel, Luca Turati, Donata Annovi, and Lorenzo Dottorini established in Milan (Italy) a voluntary Association called MWENDO-CAMMINO INSIEME which set up the main goals to create a direct way of financing projects in Wasa and help needy people in Milan. MWENDO is a Swahili word meaning walking together, representing well the spirit of collaboration between MWENDO and the local community living in Wasa: it is a route we have built and have walked together. Over the last years, the initial board of director have slightly changed: Dottorini and Turati left the association in 2007 and 2013 respectively; Francesca Biraghi, Dario Dilucia La Perna, Stefano Savazzi, Paolo De Martino and Daniele Canè have joined the board of directors. Here below the latest flow-chart of MWENDO, and the network with Tanzania. Dioceses of Iringa Bishop Tarcisius Father Benjamin Village of Wasa Baptist Kiwale Francesco Msofu (from Canada) MWENDO's Board of directors: Stefano Francese (president) Dario Dilucia La Perna (vice president) Donata Annovi (director) Francesca Biraghi (director) Daniele Canè (director) Stefano Savazzi (director) Paolo De Martino (director) Page - 3 -

4 2. Context 2.1 OVERALL outlook Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique on the south. To the east it borders the Indian Ocean. Tanzania is divided into 26 regions (mkoa), twenty-one on the mainland and five in Zanzibar. Ninety-eight districts (wilaya), each with at least one council, have been created to further increase local authority; the councils are also known as local government authorities. Currently there are 114 councils operating in 99 districts; 22 are urban and 92 are rural. The 22 urban units are further classified as city councils (Dar es Salaam and Mwanza), municipal councils (Arusha, Dodoma, Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Morogoro, Shinyanga, Tabora, and Tanga) or town councils. Figure 1: Map of Tanzania and Iringa Region The economy is mostly based on agriculture, which accounts for more than half of GDP, provides 85% (approximately) of exports, and employs 80% (approximately) of the workforce. Industry is mainly limited to processing agricultural products and light consumer goods. Tanzania has more than 126 ethnic groups and each ethnic group has its own language. No language is de jure official, but Swahili is the de facto official national language, used for inter-ethnic communication and for official matters. After gaining independence, English, the language of colonial administration during the era of British rule, was still used for some official issues, and was thus considered de facto official alongside Swahili. Current statistics on religion in Tanzania are unavailable because religious surveys were eliminated from government census reports after Religious leaders and sociologists estimate that the Christian and Muslim communities are equal, each accounting for 30 to 40 percent of the population, with the remainder consisting of practitioners of other faiths, indigenous religions, and atheists. Wasa is located 80 km far from Iringa in the west direction, and its district include 15 towns hosting more than 15,000 people. The economy is only based on agriculture, and most of the people live in thatched huts. There is no electricity, but the water supply is guaranteed by a good hydraulic network coming from a close spring. This project was developed two years ago with the collaboration of some people coming from Germany. Page - 4 -

5 Figure 2: Pictures taken in Wasa There are two small health dispensary, one owned by the Government of Tanzania and the other by the Mission of Wasa under jurisdiction of Iringa Dioceses. These dispensaries are not able to satisfy the sanitary demand of people living in the Region of Wasa. Furthermore, the closest hospital is 70 km far from Wasa, Tosamaganga, and the main hospital is 80 km far from Wasa, Iringa. It is useless to remark that the sanitary conditions are one of the main curse of Tanzania. The main diseases which affect the population are malaria, HIV, dysentery, and tuberculosis. The HIV rate in Tanzania was 6.5% among adults aged as of 2006, and it doesn t seem to decrease. 2.2 MWENDO in Tanzania In order to make stronger the relationship with the local community, better understand the Wasa context, monitor the stage of projects development, set up new local connections, since 2011 MWENDO has been organizing volunteer camp during the summertime on yearly basis. In particular, the Board of MWENDO went to Tanzania in 2004, 2008, 2011 and Followers and friends of MWENDO went to Tanzania in 2013 and. Figure 3: MWENDO in Tanzania Page - 5 -

6 3. On-going and completed projects The projects are financed by donors, membership fees, and events which MWENDO periodically organize. In these two years, MWENDO has been sustaining the following projects in Wasa: ADOPTION PROGRAM STATUS: on-going 24 on-going adopted children EUR 19,000 already transferred Description of the project: The primary aim of the project consists in supporting the children of Wasa with the purchase of food, medicine and clothing, mosquito nets, mattresses and blankets - as well as the attendance of the school year. The visit of the children within the programme is part of the volunteer camps activities which usually occur in August. Figure 4: Children adoption visit 3.2 WELL-WATER PUMP STATUS in operation EUR 1,492 already co-financed in Description of the project: MWENDO has given support to the local communities of Mapela and Heka to improve the water management for their crops activities. The first project commissioned in March 2013 by Father Remo Villa costs 4,632 Euros and it involves the construction of a mechanical pump, and related accessories, to extract water from the well in the village of Mapela, a fraction of Heka. 3.3 MICRO-CREDIT for Shidepha STATUS: suspended EUR 500 already financed in 2010 Page - 6 -

7 Description of the project: The project consists of providing a forgivable loan of 1, to be divided in three tranches from 500 euro each; this sum will constitute the initial cash SHIDEPHA that will manage and use for the provision of micro-loans to its members in favor of income-generating activities in the livestock and agriculture. It was today delivered the first tranche of EUR 500. Figure 5: MWENDO speaks with the Community of HIV positive people living in Wasa However, the project was interrupted because of the difficulty to remotely manage the reporting requirements. 3.4 KITCHEN and DINNER ROOM in the secondary school STATUS: in operation EUR 1,000 financed in 2008 Description of the project: This is the very first project financed by MWENDO in The project consist of a small kitchen and dinner room for the secondary school of Wasa. Figure 6: Kitchen in secondary school Page - 7 -

8 4. Communication and media From December 2007 to January MWENDO has delivered to donors, members, and followers a newsletter on bi-monthly basis called Il Giornale di Mwendo which is now become a periodic. It includes three, four articles about undergoing projects in Tanzania, news from Wasa and IRINGA region, fund raising activities, and press review related to international cooperation, voluntary associations, and news from needy world. Here below the cover of the last number of the newsletter called Il giornale di MWENDO. Figure 7: Cover of the last newsletter Graphics is performed by Mario Celotti who is one of the member, and volunteer of MWENDO. 29 newsletters have been delivered so far. Since 2010, a website is in place where all the relevant update info can be easily found, namely description of the Association, on-going projects, projects completed, newsletters, photo gallery and fund raising activities ( ). Figure 8: Homepage Page - 8 -

9 Official website: For general information: For newsletters and news For children adoption Projects Events and fund-raising