Neema defies paralysis thanks to Cedar Tanzania

What would you do?

Have you ever imagined what your life would look like if an accident was going to happen to you? Would you have the strength to keep going on?

Neema surely has. Seven years ago, Neema went to one of the larger regional hospitals to get treatment for typhoid. Unfortunately, Neema experienced nerve damage during her treatment and lost most of the mobility in her legs.

Neema is now 31 years old and lives with her parents. She relies on their help for all her basic needs. Neema also has three younger siblings who all still go to school.

Being dependent of her parents has had a huge impact on Neema’s mental health. She has been struggling with depression and feelings of being a burden to her family. As the family already lives in poverty having a member of the family not able to contribute financially is a huge strain. On top of that, there are all Neema’s extra medical bills.

Finding Neema

Our Outreach Team met Neema in 2019 and has since been working in close partnership with her and her family. This free service has provided Neema with a variety of treatment options for both her physical and mental health. 

With the help of our team, Neema has regained some movement in her legs and has literally taken her first few steps towards independence.

It is Neema’s desire to get to a point where she can support herself and contribute to her family. She is grateful to her family, particularly her parents, for the support they have given her through the difficulty times she has encountered. She hopes she one day will be able to return the kindness she has received.

A new beginning

Neema is excited to start our entrepreneurial training.

She says “I have some basic knowledge on sewing. I learnt a while ago before I suffered from paralysis, and I am confident that I can regain some skills if I will get the opportunity to practice again. It is something am interested about and something I am capable of doing”.

According to Neema’s physiotherapist, the tailoring training will help Neema to re-gain her sewing skills and hopefully help her to earn an income. It will empower and strengthen her emotionally, mentally, and physically. Sewing provides an opportunity to rebuild physical strength and this project also provides her with an opportunity to be surrounded by others who are facing similar challenges. 

What is typhoid?

Typhoid is a bacterial disease spread through dirty water and can be life-threatening if not treated. 

The residents of Nyamatongo Ward do not have access to treated water. The only water source is water collected from the lake. With no sewage systems in place, long-drops or open defecation is the norm and is naturally led to the water. Typhoid, and other waterborne diseases are very common in the area.

In fact, diarrhea, which is often caused by typhoid, is the biggest cause of death for children under five.

Can you help Neema and people like her?

Will you give a tax-deductible gift to help Neema and others like her become agents of change in their communities? 

Your gift can pay for training, material and sewing machines to help people with disabilities learn income-generating skills and challenge social stigma.

Changing Lives begins with you. We can’t do it without you.

How a deaf and mute young man learned a trade in 6 months and now supports his mother and 3 siblings.

Today I am going to tell you about Fred and how our Entrepreneur Program has changed his life.

Despite Fred being both deaf and mute from birth, and growing up in a very poor household, he has been determined to learn a trade and become able to provide for his family. 

In this case study I will show you how our Entrepreneur Program makes a real difference for people just like Fred and his family.

Meeting Fred

Fred is a 21-year old young man living in rural Tanzania. Throughout his life Fred has had to rely on his mother for support. Going to school has been particularly hard for Fred as there are not any special education or help available in this poverty-stricken community. Only with the help of his mother he has learned to write and communicate with some simple gestures.

Fred grew up with his single mother and three siblings. It has always been his dream to be able to contribute to the household and to be able to look after his family. Although societies in Tanzania often disregard people with disabilities Fred and his mother never gave up hope.

Reaching Out

Our Outreach Team met Fred and his family on one of their daily rounds in the Nyamatongo Ward where we work. The Outreach Team provide medical healthcare services to people in their own homes for those of the 30,000 residents who are unable to visit our hospital, Kamanga Health Centre. 

Often the team stops and talks to families about life and the problems they are experiencing. They will share knowledge on a variety of healthcare topics such as nutrition, and treatments and services available. Sharing their own stories and speaking to people on a daily basis has made this team a trusted part of our community service.

After meeting Fred and his family our team instantly offered him a spot in our Entrepreneur Program. They couldn’t help but feel Fred’s determination and eagerness to be given a chance to learn a trade and finally give something back to his family and community.

Earning a living

Fred joined our Entrepreneur Program in October 2020 and now 6 months later he is well on his way to opening his own tailoring business. 

The trainer and Fred’s fellow trainees have publicly acknowledged his passion and commitment to the project and his untiring support of others.

With only a limited number of sewing machines available in our program our students must take turns to practice. This means it takes even longer to gain the practical skills needed to finally be able to live independent lives. Fred is now advocating for more support and funding which could allow us to buy more sewing machines so more people with disabilities can join in the future. 

Apart from the practical tailoring skills our program is also teaching the participants simple bookkeeping skills, market research, project planning, and we offer support and help throughout the program.

Living with a disability in Tanzania

In Tanzania, living with a disability has a significant impact on health, education and work possibilities. More than 50% of children suffering from a disability never gets to go to school.

In Tanzania, having a member of the household living with any kind of disability presents a double burden. Just 3% of people with disabilities earn an income from paid employment which means they are extremely vulnerable to abuse and poverty.

This project provides an opportunity for the participants to gain the skills to reach independence and the chance to get a job or to open their own businesses. 

It also demonstrates, both to the people living with a disability themselves and to the community, that a disability is a barrier that can and should be challenged.

It provides people living with a disability with an important and valued role within the society showing they are equal members of their communities.

Tanzania in numbers:

•  There are about 57M people – 68% or nearly 40M people are living in rural areas and most of these are living in poverty. Life expectancy is 65 years.

• In fact, 49% of Tanzanians (26M people) are living on less than $1.90 a day. This is the international definition of severe poverty.

• Most people, 90%, is living on less than $5 a day. That’s about the amount you spent on that take-away coffee earlier today.  
  
  

Can you help people like Fred?

Will you give a tax-deductible gift to help more people like Fred to become agents of change in their communities? 

Your gift can pay for training, material and sewing machines to help people with disabilities learn income-generating skills and challenge social stigma.

FACTZ & ACTz

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.

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[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! 

https://www.concernusa.org/story/what-is-stunting/