FACTZ
Seeing poverty on a daily basis cannot but leave an impact.
Of Tanzania’s 57 million people, 49% (26 million people – the same as Australia’s population) are living on less than $1.90 a day. This is the international definition of severe poverty.
Most Tanzanians, 90% of the population (more than 51 million people), are living on less than $5 a day.
That’s about the amount you spend on a take-away coffee.
When you are poor, education is an expensive investment. Research shows us that often families chose to focus that investment into one child.
That one child is most often a boy. Since he is the one you have betted on, he is likely to be the one who gets to eat first. This is an important fact as 38% of children under 5 in rural areas are stunted[1] due to malnutrition, prolonged and repeated infections, and untreated worms and parasites. Children, who doesn’t get enough food to grow, and who has to share this scarce nutrition with worms and parasites, are not likely to be able to focus on learning and schoolwork.
More than 90% of Tanzanians rely on ‘unimproved sanitation facilities’. That means no access to a bathroom or a toilet but a hole in the ground or nothing at all. ‘Doing your business’ behind a bush or in a lake is therefore not uncommon. This is the main reason we see continuous infections of worms, parasites and other waterborne diseases such as typhoid. In fact, something as simple as diarrhea is the biggest killer of children under 5.
Tanzania has a law banning teenage girls from continuing education should she fall pregnant. This rule remains also after she has given birth. Teachers will lose their jobs if they are found teaching pregnant girls leading to compulsory pregnancy tests at school.
Abortion is also illegal and therefore not an option. Even so, 42% of girls aged 15-19 living in poverty have already had a live birth or are currently pregnant.
On top of that, 11,000 Tanzanian mothers die during childbirth every year. That is one woman every 50 minutes.
ACTz
Australia for Cedar Tanzania is creating sustainable positive change for the residents of Nyamatongo Ward.
We built a hospital from scratch.
We bought the land, we constructed the buildings, we sourced the medical equipment needed and now we run the day-to-day management and quality assurance.
We service 30,000 residents and tend to over 1,200 patients every month. Every month we vaccinate and give free health checks to 200 children and babies under 5. A baby is born at our hospital every day.
To be able to deliver healthcare to every single person in our area we taught a group of medical professionals to ride off-road motorbikes. Our mobile medical team are focusing on people with disabilities, children and community education.
Through educating and engaging community activists speaking to fellow residents about the benefits of equality and equity we have seen a decrease in violence against women and in new HIV cases in married women.
We teach local members of the community to deliver our youth project. Through soccer we are giving teenagers, both girls and boys, a space where they can discuss subjects like sex, puberty and gender roles freely. At the same time provide education on HIV prevention and offer free voluntary testing.
As I mentioned before, young women who fall pregnant can no longer go to school. They are caught in a poverty trap and often also ostracized by their families. We are providing them with basic skills such as sewing, basic business management and market research. This gives them an opportunity to earn a living and to have a social network in each other.
Actually, “we” didn’t do all of this.
YOU did. YOU made all of this possible. YOU changed lives. YOU built a hospital. YOU are delivering mobile healthcare. YOU are making sure women are safe in their own homes. YOU are teaching teens about HIV/AIDS. YOU are helping young women to support themselves.
YOU can make sure these projects continue and getting many more projects off the ground in 2021.
This is how Changing Lives Begins with You.
[1] Stunting is when a child has a low height for their age, usually due to malnutrition, repeated infections, and/or poor social stimulation. The World Health Organization categorizes children who are stunted as those whose height is lower than average for their age, and at least two standard deviations below the WHO’s Child Growth Standards Median.
The real-world impacts of stunting ripple well beyond linear growth. A stunted child may also have a poorer immune system, brain function, and organ development. Performing below average in these areas may also limit their future productivity and threaten the health of their future children.
Stunting cannot be reversed but can be prevented!