Travel with Us - A Photo Journey Visiting HGWT (Part 1)
(Disclaimer - All photos are published with the specific consent of Rhobi Samwelly and individuals in the photos).
The main purpose of our visit to Tanzania was to visit Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania (hereafter abbreviated as HGWT), a dream that I had since 2020 when S.A.F.E.(a project of Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania) was announced as the 2020-2022 Target Project. The COVID pandemic resulted in a postponement, but visiting Tanzania remained a dream, and eventually became reality during June 2023.
It was important to be informed about cultural issues, avoiding missteps and showing respect for Tanzanian traditions. The country has a conservative approach towards clothing, therefore best to cover shoulders and knees for both men and women. Greetings are important, and time should be given to this. We learned a few Swahili words - shikamoo (a respectful greeting for an older person), to which we would reply marahaba (acknowledging the greeting), asante sana (thank you very much), habari (hello) and polepole (slowly) to name some. People eat using their hands, so washing hands prior to eating is always done.
And so, with all of this information, the long awaited moment, arriving at Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania to a very warm welcome of song, dance, lots of hugs and even more smiles!
Rhobi introduced us to the staff, the dance group, and the girls. Both Graham and I had the opportunity to say a few words, something that we did at all the subsequent visits in the community. The financial support received from FAWCO had an important impact on the work of HGWT, with Rhobi and community members expressing their appreciation on numerous occasions.
Rhobi and her team arranged a very intense program for Graham and I, providing the opportunity to observe and participate in most of the areas of outreach done by HGWT. Girls can arrive at any time during the day or night at one of the safe houses, sometimes just with the clothes they have run away in. The very strong partnership with the communities, Police Gender Desk and Social Services, and the enormous respect for Rhobi and her staff were evident during all our visits.
Meeting Mama Christina M
Our first visit was to an ex-cutter, a woman who stopped doing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and is now an important voice in her community supporting the eradication of FGM, and addressing other forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV). Laying down the tools is a courageous step for a person like this; she may not always be supported by her family and will have to forfeit the income and status of being a cutter. HGWT supports ex-cutters with a small amount as start-up capital to start a business.
We had the opportunity to visit two Fit Persons/Fit Families. The The Law of the Child Act defines a fit person as a person of full age who is of high moral character and integrity and of sound mind who is not a relative of the child and capable of looking after a child, and has been approved by a social welfare officer as being able to provide a caring home for a child. The FAWCO funding made provision for the training of 30 persons as a Fit Family/Fit Person. The children that are allocated to Fit Families often are abandoned or orphaned children.
The partnership with government officials, Police Gender Desk and Social Services are important ones, not only because there are strict legal requirements that define the functioning of an organization like HGWT, but also to support each other in the important message of eradicating all forms of GBV.
Digital Champions play an important role in supporting potentially at-risk girls and HGWT, not only through the mapping of their community, but also to act as a source of information on GBV. HGWT started the Digital Champion program in 2019, The mapping of villages is done on a smartphone into OpenStreetMap, part of the Crowd2Map project, and reporting potential cases is done online using OpenDataKit technology.
The Digital Champions reported 12 cases of GBV during the month of June.
Community awareness and outreach is a cornerstone of the work done by HGWT; these consist of various groups where information is provided by staff of HGWT, followed by performances of traditional Kuria music, dance and drama. We spent an afternoon with a Digital Champion, a group of dadas (a young group of women creating awareness), a newly established widows group and District Officials. One of the gifts to the dadas was a packet of non-disposable sanitary pads, an ideal opportunity to talk about menstrual health and period poverty.
The village chairman (government appointment) joined the meeting, an important person to give support to the flight against FGM. He gave Graham and I new Swahili names - Graham’s name became Baba Mwita (first born boy) and mine became Mama Bhoke (first born girl), names that remained with us until the end of the holiday.
You would have noticed us handing a bag or goods over during our visits, a gift showing respect and gratitude for the support to HGWT, typically consisting of 2 kg rice, 2 kg brown sugar, 1 kg salt, 2 l sunflower oil and a bar of soap. We never went empty handed on any visit.
There is more to share - meeting the girls and listening to their stories and aspirations, the impact of vocational training, a highlight of our visit, observing reconciliation of two girls and saying a teary goodbye!