November 2010 update from Umivita

We're really pleased that Umivita is doing so well. Here's their November update. December will follow soon.

UMIVITA provided advice for four (4) young deaf people live in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma Region to solve their employment and personal problems in their families wrote letters to 15 young deaf people seeking employments, business license and certificate of births.

Benefit: Advisory support helped three deaf people who wanted to neglect their employments due to what they said low salaries. Advice was that they should continue with their current employers until they get other good jobs. Writing letters had helped Mr. Bakari Ally to get a temporary business license to sell goods between Dar and Dodoma regions. Also has helped two deaf people to get a certificate of births from Government Agency.

Forum:

After last month interaction with other Disabled People Organization (DPOs) to formulate key agendas for Disabled Women Forum in order to ensure all the important issues related to deaf women were included, UMIVITA was among seven DPOs attended the five day forum organized by Action for Disabled Development (ADD) to discuss disabled women position in the country. At the end of the forum, the participants established a network for disabled women involved various women from various DPOs including UMIVITA.

Benefit: Participation on the forum has been able to make the voice of deaf women be heard on the matters of national importance; increased UMIVITA professional image and collaboration with other stakeholders with one of its staffs, Miss Tungi Mwanjala being elected into newly established disabled women network’s executive board.

Scientific Conference:

Chairperson attended the 28^th Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting. The conference which held at the Corridor Spring Hotel in Arusha from Novembers 29^th through December 1^st was organised by the Tanzania Public Health Association (TPHA) which most of UMIVITA executives board members are its members.

Benefit:

The conference was very enriching and the knowledge acquired during the event is now being shared with other UMIVITA members. UMIVITA was also able to present a note on Impact of Global Climate Change on Disabled which promoted it among scientific stakeholders.

Evening classes

During five days stay in Arusha, UMIVITA Chairperson met with group of UMIVITA members based in Arusha town and Karatu district where he had evening discussions with them on how to become self reliant citizens who can contribute to social, economic and cultural life of the nation and about establishing a UMIVITA branch in the future.

Benefit: After questionnaires, 13 among 20 deaf young people attended four day evening event showed to full understand how they can be self reliant people and has got strategy on lobbying ana procedure for a loan from microfinance organizations based in the Arusha Region.

And other activities as may be done from time to time

EDUCATION PROGRESS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2010

Classroom activities:

As it was an end of the year where schools are expected to be closed for a long holiday, tests were focused on all standard five and six pupils prior to their annual examination in their respective special units.

Benefit: most of the pupils were well prepared to face annual examination at their respective schools due to the tough tests they were given by their evening classes’ teachers.

VETA enrollment

Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA) Head Office accepted UMIVITA requests to secure dozen of deaf young people who completed standard seven this year a place at some of its training centers in Der es salaam, Iringa, Kagera and Zanzibar where UMIVITA is working on partnership with Zanzibar Association of the Deaf (ZAD).

UMIVITA submitted 62 numbers of deaf young deaf people from the regions.

Benefit: Due to a careful selection process, UMIVITA is expecting most of the recommended deaf young people would be selected to join for the VETA courses in various fields.

Meeting with deaf parents

During provision of hearing Aid to young deaf people at Buguruni School for the deaf, a project by Starkey Hearing Foundation of the USA, UMIVITA got an opportunity to describe its activities and had met with many parents with deaf children who later visited UMIVITA office.

Most of these deaf parents were seeking assistance for their children to further education including secondary schools.

Benefit: Advice provided by UMIVITA gave a light to the parents for future of their children. Some parents opted for private secondary schools including Kongowe Secondary School at the same time access evening classes. The meeting was also made our above selection exercise for young deaf people to join VETA be simple as one third of the submitted names were listed from these meetings.

Location, attendance and hour spent:

The evening classes’ was held at Temeke and Twiga units; average attendance was 54 pupils and hour spent was 15 per week.

Update from BSD via Matilda

We were all really pleased to get this update:

School Activitivities, Std V11 were prepairing for their National Examination. In their Mock Exam,out of 16 pupils who sat

for the Examination 9 pupils did very well. We do expect that is things go well in their final Examination more than half will join Secondary Education we pray for that.

Also local donors came along after receiving the new Heaqdteacher. City Bank gave school learning and teaching books, also tea cups for all the pupils and staff.

African Bank gave decorating colours which has really changed the school environment. And also they gave cleaning facilities.

They also gave food to the pupils.Which meant that Ramadhani this year was a big blessing for those who were fasting.

Musllim Community gave dressing materials to all the Boarding pupils.

UNDP gave to the school Cleaning materials and play things.

Mlamleni Farm: In August more weeding activities were held and the fruit trees are in good condition.

Report from Umivita, August 2010

TANZANIA UNITED PROJECTS FOR THE DEAF

UMIVITA's women groups based in Dar es Salaam attended one week workshop on how to start and run small scale generation projects.

After enabling six deaf people get business rooms at Machinga Complex Building in Dar Es Salaam, UMIVITA in collaboration of other pressuring groups for Albinos, Blind and Mentally Disabled people formally presented complaints on the unequal distribution of business rooms where by Physically Impaired people got a large number of rooms set aside for disabled people in total.

The discussion on the issues is continuing.

Benefit: We are optimist these discussions will produce better results for making an additional number of deaf people with business place in the buildings where is far from City militants’ harassments and hence increase their income.

SOLVING DEAF ORPHAN PROBLEM AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

UMIVITA did community outreach among three families with deaf orphaned including Anthony Daudi who suffered so much from social exclusion, lack of education and exploitation due to his disability.

Apart of these outreach activities among three families organized during the weekends in order to look a right path for these isolated children, UMIVITA managed to find a vocational training place for Mr. Anthony.

Benefit: The initiatives will help their family to discover more about deafness and important of educating and caring them as well as enable deaf children themselves to consider ways to fulfill their potential and reach their goals. Also supporting vocational training for Mr. Anthony will empower and equip him for a better future.

EDUCATION PROGRESS REPORT

PREPARATION FOR NATIONAL EXAMS

In Classroom:

As standard seven students did their final national examination at the end of the month, before the event evening class’s staffs were focused to prepare children for such first important education events among these children.

Staffs did also make sure that children were not left with any portion of the curriculum unprepared, organize them the timetable in such a way so as to cover all subject thoroughly, deal with exam stress and concentration on the subjects.

HELPING TO ACCESS HIGH EDUCATION LOAN

UMIVITA helped Mr. Philemon Kisinini, a deaf student of Ruaha University in Iringa Region who also is UMIVITA’s chairperson for Iringa to access loan for its university tuition fees after dialogue with Higher Education Student's Loan Board in Dar es Salaam.

Mr. Kisinini’s failure to pay tuition fees denied him his first year examination results which prevented him to proceed to second year.

Benefit: This process enabled Mr Kisinini to access loan and hence his examination results were released.

SECURING A SECONDARY PLACE

UMIVITA helped Miss Amida Khamis move to Jangwani Girls Secondary School in Dar Es Salaam from Mtwara Technical Secondary School in Mtwara Region .

St Columba's get to work at BSD

We were totally delighted that Nigel and Judith's church, St Columba's in West London,http://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/ , made Tanzanear the subject of their Lenten Appeal. They raised more than £9000 and a team from the church is in Dar es Salaam right now, working hard in the heat to redecorate the boarding children's dormitories and make them into a real home for the children. These had been in a very sad state, and were not really a welcoming, homey place, especially for the tinies.

They are a joint team with Dar es Salaam Rotaractors, led by Willbard Kassian. Willbard is a long-term friend of the school, and his construction company did the prep work for the mission group at a great rate for us.

St Columba's are paying all their own expenses and giving up their holiday time to do this.

We are so grateful to everyone with a paintbrush in their hand!

Extracts from an email from Willbard below, plus photos:

"Nigel arrived safely and Judith together with the rest of the advance team arrived on wednesday morning. They joined the Roraractors the same morning and were immediately thereafter very busy despite the long hours of flight behind them. They are a very self motivated team and eager to accomplish. Despite the fact that for some its the first time to do this kind of work, they are fast learners and they have done a commendable work already in the first day.
In terms of performance, the top floor is almost done and the sedcond floor is advanced. This morning the team is wothout the rotaractors but they are doing work on all floors .....

.............The ladies are doing a very good work.
Judith is of the opinion that she has now qualified to become a gainfully employed painter. Probably Nigel might consider this as an option for early retirement if she can earn enough as a painter......

......Water is now flowing although the power situation is yet to be resolved.
We are hooking up a small genset that belongs to the school to pump the water into the overhead tanks."

Thanks again, everyone. This will make a huge difference to the school.

PHOTOS

Breakfast....

REAL WORK

Always the tall person's role....

Judith still looking glam despite the hard work.

more to come soon!

Report from Umivita, May 2010

Hello - we thought you might like to see what Umivita were up to last month. Your very kind donations fund their salaries: they are young deaf people in Tanzania helping people like them. This report is in their own words, although summarised.

Progress Report for May, 2010

Searching for job opportunities for the Deaf People

After deaf people Salma Kassali and Idd Mohamed emerged among more than 100 applicants to be interviewed by Ministry of Labour and Youth Development in the post of Office Attendants, UMIVITA meet with authority about need of availability of sign language service during the interview which was accepted.

Their emergence was a result of last December lobbying and advocacy meeting with the ministry in which UMIVITA presented three names qualified for the post. We hope all or one of these two guys would win the post because of government assurance as well as new policy approved recently securing disabled in employment.

Letter writings

Writing letters to companies and institutions to keep us informed whenever employment opportunities arise for young deaf people.

Purchase orders

Mwenge Deaf Carpentry Group got order of making and supplying tables and chairs for newly constructed Johannesburg Hotel at Sinza, in Dar es Salaam after Umivita Secretariat meet with the Hotel’s Management on early of month.

Education Report for May, 2010

Activities

Most of the works in class were preparing students for terminal examination which included tests

Benefit : That Preparing the children on the next terminal examination and to assess their ability in understanding their subjects .

Education

HIV /AIDS counseling training

Two UMIVITA education staffs with HIV/AIDS counseling and testing skills were among several teachers who went in Mbeya region to provide one week HIV/AIDS training among deaf children of six units in the region at the end of the month.

The programme was prepared by Ministry of Education.

Benefit: The training would benefit the deaf children in the region which is the one of with high level of prevalence in Tanzania and hence decrease deaf children who affected/infected and made vulnerable to HIV.

Hours and attendance

Average students’ attendance at evening class was 49 with 18 hours spent per week.

Hope this was interesting - love, Lucy

Maggie Harvey - goodbye

This is to say that Maggie Harvey, a stalwart member of the Tanzanear committee, has finally resigned after many years of marvellous advice and help. She is hugely experienced in working in developing countries, and we are very sad to see her go. We hope she enjoys retirement and having a bit more of a rest, and wish her much happiness.

Lucy and the rest of the Committee

New headteacher at Buguruni School for the Deaf

We had a lovely email from Matilda to say that the new head teacher has already started! We are really happy about the potential for new motivation and fresh life in the school. Matilda said, in an email to Judith Roberts:

"Love from Buguruni School for the deaf. Thank you for greeting me through the mobile phone. Things are starting to change. One nice thing that the new Headteacher is chasing around ,is cleanness. In the Domitories, everywhere around the school.The Boarding girls have labbled her { mama msafi} meaning a clean mother. That is a very nice start for her.

Her name is Winfrida Jeremia"

It's such good news that the new head seems to have so much energy and that the children already see her as a mother. Judith and Nigel are going to Tanzania in a few weeks and are looking forward to talking to her about how we can work together, and what sort of help she would like from us.

Lucy