Changing Lives One Mask at the Time

With COVID-19 getting more prevalent on the African continent and therefore also in Tanzania we are in urgent need of personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep our medical staff safe at Kamanga Health Centre and to continue to provide quality care to the people of Nyamatongo Ward. Most of which have no access to running water or electricity and is experiencing severe poverty.

We do not have the ability to test for COVID-19, nor do we have ventilators, but we will treat people according to their symptoms and refer patients to larger regional hospitals if it is needed.

With the urgently needed Personal Protective Equipment we will be able to safely continue to conduct quality care and lifesaving treatments to the population of Nyamatongo Ward. We will be able to continue to provide a safe environment for women to give birth and for children under five to receive their regular check-ups and vaccinations even during the time of a pandemic.

This will minimise the risks of an uncontrollable spread of COVID-19 in Nymatongo Ward where essential measures as handwashing and social distancing isn’t feasible along with establishing new sanitising routines and an opportunity for us to inform the population about the importance and benefits of sanitation and hygiene. 

It will also assist us in further minimising risk of spreading other waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and typhoid. With a minimised risk factor, we will experience fewer overall COVID-19 cases and fewer severe cases needing transfer to larger hospitals. Transfers in itself poses an added risk factor which is desired to avoid. Pneumonia is one of the most common diseases we see also prior to the Coronavirus pandemic.

You can see a breakdown of the needs on our appeal presented on Australian Communities Foundation website.

By Nina Hjortlund
Founding Director/CEO
Australia for Cedar Tanzania

Three Months of Caring in Numbers

In January, Kamanga Health Centre celebrated its second birthday and we are proud to say that we continue to provide quality medical service to the people of Nyamatongo Ward. To give you an idea of the scope of work of Kamanga Health Centre here are some numbers and insights:

• On average, Kamanga Health Centre sees more than 1,200 patients each month. The most common diseases are pneumonia, upper respiratory diseases, urinary tract infection and diarrhea. The majority of patients is treated in the Outpatient Department while around 200 are admitted monthly. 

• Almost every day a baby is born at Kamanga Health Centre! On top of that, between 50-100 pregnant women attend the antenatal clinic for check-ups each month. Additionally, Kamanga Health Centre offers family planning services. 

• When Kamanga Health Centre is really crowded, we know it’s vaccination day! One of the most popular services Kamanga Health Centre offers is the vaccination clinic for children. More than 200 children get vaccinated each month against tuberculosis, polio, PCV13 (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine), rotavirus, measles-rubella, and pentavalent vaccine, a combination vaccine which includes: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b

• In Q1 2020, more than 400 people made use of the free HIV testing service offered at Kamanga Health Centre. Moreover, between 200 and 250 patients per quarter come to us for regular HIV counselling and treatment. This is a vital service as it provides care to HIV-positive community members and the life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs are administered. 

• To ensure quality health care services and to promote learning on the job, medical staff who have special knowledge and skills in certain areas teach their colleagues in weekly sessions. These are some examples of the topics that have already been covered: critical First Aid care, identification of hydrocephalus in a new-born and, of course, symptoms of and protection against COVID-19.

• Since the beginning, Kamanga Health Centre works with a group of dedicated Community Health Workers who provide information and knowledge via a community outreach programme. They raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, provide information on the prevention of different diseases and regularly check-up on expecting mothers. In Q1 of 2020, almost 600 households were visited!

• We have an ongoing stream of dedicated western trained medical staff who volunteer at Kamanga Health Centre and support our local team. In Q1 2020, we had our first nurse volunteer.  

We are proud to be able to provide such extensive services to a community in which these services were non-existent a little over two years ago. With your support, we hope to be able to expand our set of services continuously which would allow to serve even more people.

If you want to know more about Kamanga Health Centre or have specific questions, please contact us here You can also find out more about our volunteer options here

By Vivian Nordquist
Director of Projects
Cedar Tanzania

Living in Tanzania during a pandemic

Please let us introduce Vivian Nordquist, our Director of Projects. Vivian here tells about her experiences as she has chosen to remain in Tanzania through the pandemic along with our Tanzanian team.

Thank you, Vivian and Cedar Tanzania Team.

By Nina Hjortlund
Founding Director/CEO
Australia for Cedar Tanzania

Bamboo to the Rescue

It’s raining and muddy and you could almost use a canoe to get to the hospital entrance. The rainy season is seems endless this year and the lake has risen to unseen levels. We are struggling with more than just COVID-19.

As everywhere else in the world, Tanzania has enforced restrictions on social gatherings and is encouraging social distancing as well as good hand hygiene. Research is showing that most African countries are about one month behind Europe when it comes to the spread of the Coronavirus.

As we continue to provide lifesaving services to the population of Nyamatongo Ward in the North-Western Tanzania, we are faced with the urgent need to provide our staff with surgical masks and other relevant Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). 

The 30,000 people we serve have no other health facility in the area and no other place to give birth, be treated for malaria, get medicine for an infection or to take their children when sick.

Bamboo Rock Drilling came to our rescue and has ensured the purchase of 500 surgical masks and a full set of Personal Protective Equipment. This means we can continue to provide safe and secure medical services to the more than 1,200 patients we treat every month.

Bamboo Rock Drilling is one of our long-standing partners who regularly provides valuable support to Cedar Tanzania’s work.

Australia for Cedar Tanzania, Cedar Tanzania, and the people of Nyamatongo Ward are immensely grateful for the continued kindness and support provided by Bamboo Rock Drilling.

Thank you!

"Bamboo Rock Drilling Group operates throughout the African continent and is focused on empowering local stakeholders. By creating a network of locally registered businesses, engaging with key local selected partners and backed by our years of experience and wealth of knowledge in the sector, we are perfectly equipped for your every mining and exploration drilling need."

By Nina Hjortlund
Founding Director and CEO
Australia for Cedar Tanzania

Should a Woman Tell?

Since 2015, The Cedar Foundation Tanzania implements SASA! in partnership with the Ugandan NGO Raising Voices. The methodology was developed to spark critical thinking around power imbalances between men and women and gender inequalities. SASA! works with a phased approach; the four phases being Start, Awareness, Support and Action. It engages the community around the prevention of violence against women and HIV/AIDS. As all cultural and behaviour change initiatives, the results are not immediately visible and it can take years before a real change becomes embedded as the new norm in a society.

Our Field Officers and Community Activists have been working continuously in the last few years to start this much needed change in the community of Kamanga. To illustrate these changes, we conduct a community-wide assessment after each phase, including random surveys and focus group discussions. In February 2020, a group of four enumerators, two females and two males, were selected to perform the research in Kamanga village. The month long assignment started off with a workshop on key topics of SASA! as well as best practices and methodologies around the research. The team was introduced to the Community Activists and Village leadership and familiarised themselves with the surroundings before starting with the research.

In total, a number of 370 community members participated in the survey, 187 women and 183 men, and 58 people participated in six focus group discussions. In contrast to the baseline and the first assessment after the Awareness Phase, we can see an overall increase in the knowledge and attitude of the community towards violence against women and power imbalances.

We noticed a huge change over the past couple of years: violence against women has become a matter that is actually talked about! It is not handled in private anymore and became a topic that is publicly discussed in the community. Our Community Activists have worked towards dissolving the stigma around violence against women and have helped victims not to feel ashamed when acts of violence happened to them. Moreover, the community members feel the need to intervene when they see violence happening and have been equipped with the tools to do this effectively. The Cedar Foundation Tanzania and our Community Activists believe that violence against women is not a private matter, but an issue that affects the family and the community as a whole.  It is very encouraging to see that many community members have come to feel the same way and are not afraid to speak out about violence anymore.

In addition to this, before we started implementing SASA!,more than one third of community members were convinced that the woman is to blame for bringing HIV into the household. After a lot of conversations and sensitisation around this topic, only one fifth of the people living in Kamanga believe this, while almost 80% believe that, “No”, it is not women who are mostly to blame for bringing HIV into the household. It can indeed be both partners. In order to deepen the knowledge around HIV/AIDS among the community, we have conducted an awareness campaign which you can read about here.

Overall, the results from the Support Phase assessment are encouraging and a trend towards more equality between women and men in the community is visible. However, much still needs to be done in order to form a truly equal society and to create a long-lasting cultural and behavioural change. Once The Cedar Foundation Tanzania can resume project activities, we will transition in to the next and final phase of SASA! – Action Phase. It is our hope to further promote a positive change for women, men, families and the community at large.

By Vivian Nordquist
Director of Projects
Cedar Tanzania

When Things Go Wrong

When visiting Tanzania, as a woman you may be told never to wear trousers, and as a man you may feel out of place when wearing shorts.  During your visit you may notice that queues hardly exist and time seems to have lost all meaning. All of these cultural differences can become very infuriating to a foreigner who is visiting Tanzania for holiday, let alone foreigners who are living and working in Tanzania. This is also true for Tanzanians; they often feel the same way when interacting with foreigners.

On Friday, March 6th, in an effort to mitigate some potential conflicts in our workspace, Cedar Tanzania took time from their busy schedules to participate in an internal cross-cultural training. The training, facilitated by Paulina and myself, Dylan, involved all the Cedar Tanzania workers in Mwanza. It covered a range of generalities and specifics about culture, cultural differences, cultural clash, and ways to prevent this type of conflict.

We started the day off with just a short discussion to remind ourselves what culture is and where it comes from.  From this it was clear that culture refers to just about everything in our lives, it is abstract, and engrained within us so deeply we can hardly ever notice it.  To exemplify this point, we watched some videos of different cultural dances from within and outside of Tanzania. Dances that seem normal to one but may be strange to another, because they are abstract. Corporate culture was also discussed in this introduction, meaning the culture which is created within an office or cooperation.  The goals and values of the cooperation need to be incorporated into the work and office space. 

From here, we started to look at the iceberg model of culture.  Through this model, it is easy to see the cause of culture clash showing that the D.I.(V).E. model could be used to prevent conflict between cultures. Describe, Interpret, Verify, and Evaluate are the steps which, if taken when interacting with a foreign culture can reduce the likelihood of conflict.  While these are good steps to take to prevent cross-cultural issues in general, they do not prevent all conflicts. Therefore, we began to discuss the components of culture and the specific issues which we have dealt with in Tanzania or at Cedar Tanzania.

Finally we did an activity to get an understanding of the cultural differences between each of us.  This activity allowed members of the team to express and explain their views on some cultural questions. Hopefully, this allowed the team to get a better understanding of how to best work along-side others in the office.

Of course we know a few hours is not enough time to learn all of the nuances of differing cultures, but we do believe this training will start conversations that will continue to unfold and improve operations at Cedar Tanzania. Overall, the hope was that this training will help all of Cedar Tanzania’s workers to be more prepared to work and interact with people from different cultures. 

By Dylan Parkin

Peace Corp Volunteer/Teacher

Cedar Tanzania

I Was The First Nurse

Hello Everyone!

My name is Lucia Melloni, I’m 26 years old and I’m originally from Italy. I studied nursing in Italy and after graduation, I moved to England to work. I have been living and working in the UK for four years now.  

How long was your volunteer placement at Cedar Tanzania?

I worked at Kamanga health Centre for nearly 3 months. From mid-January 2020 till the end of March 2020.

What was your volunteer role at Cedar Tanzania?

I was the first volunteer nurse at Kamanga Health Centre, before me only doctors volunteered for Cedar Tanzania at the health centre. During my time at Kamanga Health Centre, I mostly worked side by side with the nurses in the health centre helping improve their everyday practice. 

Please mention a couple of highlights of some of the activities that you were involved in whilst you worked for Cedar Tanzania?

For three months, I have been working with the staff at Kamanga Health Centre and everyday was a highlight in my opinion. What I most liked though, was that everyone in Kamanga was grateful for my efforts and time spent to help improving the running of the health centre. 

What things did you find challenging either in your work or living cross culturally?

Work and living within another culture can be challenging in many ways. What I found the most challenging was the language barrier. Working in healthcare and being able to communicate with your patient is essential. Not being able to communicate properly with my patients and particularly with the little ones was very frustrating.

What things have you found enjoyable or surprising about Tanzanian culture either socially or at work?

What I like the most of Tanzanian culture is the community living. Since the very first day I was in Tanzania, I felt welcomed. Same thing at the health centre, since the very beginning I have been welcomed as part of their family. I really felt home in Tanzania. 

What would you say to anyone considering a medical volunteer post with Cedar Tanzania?

I think it is a very good experience and a good starting point if you are interested in humanitarian medicine. It is also a chance for professional and personal growth.

How did the corona virus outbreak affect your time at Kamanga Health Centre?

The corona virus outbreak did not affect me that much to be honest because I was meant to come back home anyway. Two of my flights to come back to the UK were cancelled, but I managed to come back home in the end!

Get to know Our Team

This is Daniel Samwel, our Occupational Therapist. Daniel is passionate about his job and we enjoy working with him. The people of Nyamatongo Ward benefits from his creative solutions to provide Occupation therapy that is accessible and affordable.

HIV Awareness Campaign in Nyamatongo Ward

In Tanzania, like in most Sub-Saharan African countries, HIV/AIDS is a major public health concern. The worldwide majority of 68% of HIV-positive people live in Sub-Sahara Africa with the highest prevalence in East and Southern Africa. In Tanzania, 1.6 million people are living with the virus, whereby women are more affected than men. In order to address this severe health issue, Cedar Tanzania implements a number of projects in Nyamatongo Ward. Read more about Tackle Africa and our annual event commemorating World AIDS Day

After several community members as well as local leaders approached us to further support the education of the community around HIV/AIDS, we have developed and implemented an awareness campaign from October to December 2019. In collaboration with the Community Health Workers, our Field Officers Jacqueline and Consolatha conducted interactive community dialogues in 14 locations across the whole ward, covering all hamlets. Our aim was to demystify the virus, inform about the transmission and prevention of HIV and offer free testing on-site, provided by Dr Neema from KHC. This should contribute to the overall goal of a more informed and open society which empowers people living with HIV/AIDS.

In total, 547 community members attended the dialogues whereby 325 received Voluntary Counselling and Testing services. In order to understand the increase in knowledge after the dialogues, baseline and endline surveys were conducted.

One of the highest increases were found for the question “Can breast-feeding transmit HIV from mother to child?”. Before the dialogue only 67% of participants knew that indeed, breas-tmilk is among the fluids that transmits HIV. After the dialogue, 89% knew the correct answer. Additionally, the community learned that HIV cannot be transmitted through mosquito bites, saliva, shaking hands or kissing. Another focus of the dialogue was the prevention of transmission which can be supported by condom use and Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision. Before the dialogue, only 61% of participants knew that Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision reduces the risk of contracting HIV. After the dialogue, this number increased to 87%. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision is offered at KHC and is proved to reduce the risk of female-to-male transmission by 60% (Source: unaids.org).

Moreover, the community was informed about the fact that, once infected with HIV, it is more likely to contract other diseases. The scores increased from 77% to 89%. The community learned that antiretroviral treatment can increase life expectancy of an HIV-positive person significantly and that the treatment is available free of charge at KHC.

All in all, the results were really encouraging as, on average, 84% correct answers were given after the dialogues. The knowledge of participants increased significantly in all areas: transmission, prevention, intimate partner relations as well as HIV-positive status. Nevertheless, we need to continue our efforts in the fight against HIV and are currently exploring additional methods to reach even more community members. If you want to support us in this endeavour Take Action

Being the New Biology Teacher

Teachers, in government school, rely on the government to pay their salaries. When there is a teacher shortage at a school, they have to wait for the local authority to allocate them the relevant teacher; if or when governmental funds become available. “Volunteer teachers” are a common feature in schools. These are teachers whose salaries are paid by the monetary contributions of parents from the school community. Often this is the only way that teachers can be secured for such specialty subjects such as the sciences and mathematics. This is why Dylan Parkin’s volunteering at the Nyamatongo Secondary Schools, for free, means so much- because for the first time this year the secondary students are being taught biology on a regular basis and because his interactive approach contrasts starkly with the lecture style of teaching and rote learning that is prevalent in most of the other classrooms. Cedar Tanzania is proud to partner with Nyamatongo Secondary School in this way. Here Dylan tells us more about his experience of teaching in a Tanzanian school.

What motivated you to get involved at the local school?

As background information, I was previously teaching biology at a government secondary school in Tanzania for two years. Upon arriving in Kamanga and visiting Nyamatongo Secondary School, it became obvious to me that volunteering some of my time at the school would be beneficial for all parties involved. First and foremost, the school is understaffed, and without me volunteering it would be very likely that the first year students would not be taught biology. Secondly, by me spending time at the school I can help to build up relations between Cedar Tanzania and the local education system. It is my hope to identify a few dedicated educators, and start up a collaboration with them to improve the quality of education being offered at Nyamatongo Secondary School. By working along side the teachers, I also believe they may see the techniques I use in the classroom, ask me questions, startup dialogs, and possibly implement new methods of teaching into their own lesson plans. Lastly, I have really missed being in the classroom. I am very happy to be back teaching at a school. So really, my motivation was threefold, for the school/students, for Cedar Tanzania, and for myself.

What are the challenges of teaching in a local school?

Whether it be a Westerner or a Tanzanian, the first thing everyone thinks or asks about is the language, and yes the language barrier does create a challenge. Even though I am fluent in Swahili, there are times when it is difficult to find a good translation (especially in biology class). Also, many people don’t realize, but the medium of communication in secondary school in Tanzania is English. This creates a totally different challenge, when do I use Swahili and when do I refrain from using it. The students need to learn English, but if I only use English they will not understand and if I translate into Swahili, the translation might be the only thing students are capable of remembering two weeks later. I have to talk slow, be wise in my word choice, and make sure when new words are introduced all students understand. Outside of language, the biggest challenge is definitely the class size. My classes currently range between 50-60 students. As with any class, all of the students have different abilities, personalities, and learning styles. This makes it very difficult to keep everyone focused and learning throughout the entire 80-minute double period.

What do you enjoy most about teaching there?

As cliché as it may sound I really enjoy teaching and seeing people learn. Whether I am teaching a student directly or working with a fellow teacher to help them better their craft, I love to see it when that light-bulb goes off in someone’s head, and they do not just know what has been taught to them, but they understand it. For me personally, I love biology and it is very simple, but I know that is only because I had a very good teacher in high school. The challenge of trying to figure out how to teach the students so they can see and understand the simplicity of biology is the other thing I enjoy the most. Biology was not meant to be learnt as facts being presented in a classroom. It was meant to be seen and understood through many simple observations in our daily lives. Trying to put together a lesson plan which will best help the students to understand a topic is very similar to putting together a puzzle.

What is Cedar Tanzania’s future plans in regards to their collaboration with the school?

This question is very difficult to answer at this point in time as I have only been volunteering at the school for a month now. As with any community development work, it is crucial you find the point when your interests and skills intersect with the community’s interests and needs. This is exactly how I became involved with the school in the first place. They had an interest and a need of getting more biology teachers, and I was both trained and interested in teaching biology at the secondary school. As of now it is too soon to know exactly how Cedar Tanzania will collaborate with the school in the future, because many of these variables are still unknown. Currently there are ideas of what could happen in the future. For example, there is already a dormitory under construction at the school, when completed it could reduce some students’ travel time to and from school by as much as 4 hours. Or maybe teachers would like to receive some refresher training on modern teaching techniques with an emphasis on English being taught as a second language within other subject lessons. Again, this will all depend on what the school and its staff need and are interested in pursuing. There are still more discussions that are needed to be had before Cedar Tanzania will know the best way forward in their collaboration with the Nyamatongo Secondary School. 

by Dylan Parkin, Cedar Tanzania.

The Magic of Mirror Therapy

Access to rehabilitation services has not been a priority in Eastern Africa, but things are slowly changing. I have been working with The Cedar Foundation Tanzania in the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) project for several months now. Most families cannot afford to buy therapy equipment. So as an occupational therapy practitioner in the villages of Nyamatongo ward, my main challenge is to bring affordable therapy to the village level. One way I do this is by adapting local materials, such as rocks, sand, mirrors and boxes, to make equipment that can be used for therapy. And my vision for the Community Based Rehabilitation project is to promote the use of adapted therapeutic equipment for the benefit of my patients in order to give them the highest chance possible to retain their existing skills and to develop new skills too. In this way the patients will increase their daily activities and therefore enhance their levels of independence in the community.

As part of the outreach program I encountered Issa* - a 59 year old male patient, who had sustained a right hemiplegic stroke in 2016 (paralysis of the muscles of the lower face, arm, and leg on one side of the body), due to hypertension. On our first meeting, I conducted an initial assessment and found that Issa had contracture in his right arm due to being in a flexion pattern for such a long time. The right hand had grade 1 muscle strength and the motor skills were all intact (both fine and gross motor skills). His cognitive and sensory abilities were all fine with the exception of his vestibular system (the sensory system that provides the leading contribution to the sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance.), which was weak and thus affected his balance. My two month objectives with the patient were the following;

• To achieve full passive range of motion to the affected arm

• To increase muscle strength and to activate motor skills to the affected arm

At the end of one month’s therapy, the patient was able to achieve full range of motion passively, without experiencing pain. It was at this stage that we introduced the Mirror Therapy box, for motor activation. I had designed and constructed the mirror box by using local materials. I found that the patient really enjoyed this therapy, and soon began to improve in his fine motor skills in the affected arm.

MIRROR THERAPY EXPLAINED

The mirror therapy theory is the use of a mirror to create a reflective illusion of an affected limb in order to trick the brain into thinking movement has occurred to the affected limb. It involves placing the affected limb behind a mirror, which is sited so the reflection of the opposing limb appears in place of the hidden limb’ says G. Moseley.

A mirror box is a device that gives opportunities to the therapist to easily create this illusion. It is a box with one mirror in the centre where on each side of it, the hands are placed in a manner that the affected limb is kept covered always and the unaffected limb is kept on the other side whose reflection can be seen on the mirror. The activities that are mirrored are those performed by my patients in their daily lives, for example writing, grooming, eating and even catching a ball.  

This theory is based on the neuro-plasticity mechanism/principle. It activates the brain’s mirror neurons, to create a mind illusion that then activates the motor ability of the patient’s missing limb and aids in pain management.

The patients that benefit most from this technique are those who have had amputations. This technique has been found to reduce phantom pain sensations in amputees. Stroke patients also benefit greatly from the mirror technique to reactivate motor skills.

Take Action and be part of the drive to bring occupational therapy to Nyamatongo Ward.

* For privacy, the name Issa has been used but it is not the patients real name.

by Daniel Samwel, Occupational Therapist, Cedar Tanzania.

Visit from Australia

My name is Nina Hjortlund, although most people in Mwanza know me as Mama Nina; a combination of a surname that is next to impossible for non-Danish people to pronounce and cultural respect in Tanzania. I lived in Tanzania for 13 years and Tanzania still has a part of my heart and soul. I am a mother of four children and a crazy puppy.

I was born in Denmark but have always enjoyed traveling and besides Tanzania, I have also lived in Egypt for a number of years. I now live in Perth, Australia, since August 2018, which is where I founded Australia for Cedar Tanzania, ACT!

Australia for Cedar Tanzania is working to raise funds, awareness and attract volunteers for Cedar Tanzania. Our aim is to enable Cedar Tanzania to continue current projects, and potentially expand into new areas as well.

We do this through grant applications, social media, fundraising campaigns, events, communications, networking and partnerships.

In the short time we have existed, we have achieved quite a few milestones: We have conducted three crowdfunding campaigns securing lifesaving medical equipment for Kamanga Health Centre, secured partly funding for our TackleAfrica project and we are able to provide funds for our upcoming Clean Water project.

We have also received a grant in social media marketing and been shortlisted to UK Aid Directs Community Grant – we are holding our breaths as results are coming out any day now.

Currently, we are developing a partnership with Western Australia’s Department of Health to conduct an up-skilling training programme for our midwives and nurses. The project is called GHAWA (Global Health Alliance Western Australia) and was formed as part of a partnership with World Health Organisation (WHO).

GHAWA will provide Australian midwives to teach a midwifery programme that is tailored to the needs of Kamanga Health Centre’s staff. This will ensure that the health centre is able to provide the highest level of service and care to its patients.

Many new projects and events are on the schedule for 2020 – make sure you are signed up to our newsletter to be the first to know.

What are your main roles as Director of Australia for Cedar Tanzania!

Australia for Cedar Tanzania is still a small entity and I am the only employee so far.

This means I get to wear all the hats! – CEO, bookkeeper, marketing, report writing, fundraiser, writing grant applications, secretary, stall holder, web designer, and everything else in between.

As a Founding Director, I am ultimately responsible for ensuring that the company adheres to the laws of Australia and that all reporting is done in a timely manner. It is also my responsibility to ensure Australia for Cedar Tanzania is financially sound, and that all taxes and fees are being paid.

Australia for Cedar Tanzania is a not-for-profit, which means all profits we make goes straight into Cedar Tanzania.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Although it can sometimes be stressful, I enjoy wearing all the hats and the diversity that comes along with it.

In one day, I can be keeping books and attending a webinar in the morning, updating social media and our web page in the afternoon, and meeting politicians and stakeholders by the evening.

I find much satisfaction in knowing every little thing I do has the aim of helping the Nyamatongo community to be stronger and more self-sufficient, and that they will gain more opportunities and improve their overall living standards.

I enjoy being my own boss, setting my goals high and aiming for the stars. I work alone, which takes lots of self-discipline and organisation but it also has many benefits. One of them is that I can move my hours around my children’s schedule. This often means that many of my work hours occur in the evenings after my children have gone to bed.

What do you find most challenging about your role?

Working alone. As I mentioned above it has its benefits,but it also has its downfalls. Being well aware of them makes me able to counter them before they become a problem.

Luckily thanks to today’s technology I can stay in daily contact with our team in Tanzania – WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime and Messenger make communicating easy and accessible.

Linking with other similar businesses here in Australia is another important aspect of my tasks, which helps to know how to go about running a business here. Meeting with like-minded people for inspiration and collaboration on a regular basis is vital for growth and overcoming challenges.

Oh, and bookkeeping is just not my favourite thing to do…

Tell us about your most recent visit to Cedar Tanzania

I have just returned from a three weeks visit to Tanzania. Needless to say it was AMAZING!

I loved being able to see the Cedar Tanzania team face to face and it was a pleasure to spend the first week both in the office in Mwanza and with the team in Nyamatongo Ward.

All our projects look fantastic and I am so proud of all the achievements our staff has accomplished. I am humbled and impressed with the dedication and passion every single member of the Cedar Tanzania team shows every single day. It truly warmed my heart to see.

The project manager for the GHAWA project, Sally Dawit, came from Dar es Salaam to inspect Kamanga Health Centre and was highly impressed with the level of standards we deliver every day.

I also met with a couple of our long-term Corporate Social Responsibility partners such as Sandvik Mining and Construction Tanzania and Bamboo Rock Drilling. We are proud to have a well-functioning and positive CSR approach where all involved benefit from the partnership.

I miss Tanzania every day – and I feel very lucky being able to have both Australia and Tanzania in my life all at once.

How can people take action?

There are many ways you can be part of our journey.

First and foremost, sign up to our newsletter to know about our projects, the amazing people we meet on a daily basis and learn how changing lives happens every day.

We have a donation option on our website – in Australia all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

You can volunteer with us – send me a mail and hear how.

Does your company have a CSR or workplace giving programme? Contact us and hear how we can collaborate.

And something as simple as commenting and sharing our posts on social media (find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter) helps us enormously. So next time you see a post: give us a shout and share it on!

Beena - Beautiful, Brilliant, Bighearted

This year, we will, every month, introduce you to one of our passionate and amazing members of our team.
You will learn a little about themselves and their day-to-day jobs at Cedar Tanzania.

Please meet Beena. She is our amazing Office Manager. She is efficient and organised, and always has a smile for everyone.

Match day in Kamanga!

After the holiday break Cedar Tanzania started sporty into the new year. On the 18th of January 2020, we hosted the Cedar Tanzania-TackleAfrica tournament for all our coaches and young players who are participating in the initiative which combines football with sexual and reproductive health and rights education.

The Cedar Tanzania team was off to an early start: crossing Lake Victoria from Mwanza to Kamanga together with tents, chairs and a sound system. Some coaches and their teams were already on the pitch warming up when we arrived. You could feel already that the teams were keen to start playing–and eager to win. To make it easier for the teams who live far to reach the field, a small bus was hired to pick them up and bring them to the pitch. Due to heavy rains and soaked soil, the bus got stuck next to the pitch – fortunately, the driver managed to pick up all teams before he got stuck.

When all 14 coaches had registered their teams with 20 players each – a total of 280 participants – the first of 18 matches of the group phase was kicked off. Throughout the day, the Cedar Tanzania team raised awareness on the importance of knowing one’s HIV status. Because once someone knows that she or he is HIV positive, they can receive proper follow-up care and benefit from life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment. To that end, a dedicated team from Kamanga Health Centre offered free voluntary counselling and HIV-testing services all day long. It was a huge success with 218 people tested, mainly young people participating in the programme.

The whole Cedar Tanzania team participated in the tournament, everyone was involved in one way or another. Our Accountant Steve and Project Manager Dylan demonstrated their skills (and stamina!) as referees, our medical volunteer, Dr. Vasanth, was able to follow-up on his regular profession by supporting us as First Aider and most importantly, our Field Officers, Abdul, Wakili and Mussa, did a great job in coordinating the event from linesman to lunch.

After 18 matches the group phase was over and eight teams remained in the fight for the championship. The games were only interrupted by a herd of cows and goats that were led to their respective feeding grounds – with a shortcut through the playing pitch. Whilst the matches were being played, the bus was still stuck in mud, even after multiple attempts to pull it out by various other vehicles. And as the day went on, the poor driver managed to dig the bus even deeper into the ground.

In the late afternoon, the two finalists were determined: Kamanga A United against Mkolani FC. We saw a thrilling final that was only over after penalties and won by Mkolani FC. The winning team was rewarded with brand-new football shoes from adidas who generously donated them to Cedar Tanzania. The players accepted their prizes with proud smiles and celebrated their win with loud chants. After a long day, Cedar Tanzania’s Field Officer Abdul, who was the man in charge of keeping the ball rolling that day, concluded: “It was exhausting, but everyone seemed to have fun and to enjoy the day. So it was absolutely worth it.” 

In the end, even the bus driver managed to get his bus out of the mud, with the kind support of a community member and his truck, and was able to return all the kids back safely to their homes.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

January 18th 2018 was a very special day for Kamanga Health Centre and the whole Nyamatongo Ward. Two years ago the Regional Commissioner Mr. Mongella together with the Country Director and Founder of Cedar Tanzania, Mark O’Sullivan, stood shoulder to shoulder with Chris Eskdale, Friends of Cedar Tanzania board member, and declared Kamanga Health Centre ‘Open!’ The health centre soon after began serving the community of Nyamatongo Ward, with an approximate population of 30,000 people.

In the last two years Kamanga Health Centre has experienced many joys, such as the acquisition of the neonatal resuscitation table which was purchased with donations from Cedar Tanzania supporters, the installation of solar power panels, and the establishing of Kamanga Health Centre as a volunteer destination for European medical staff.  Paulina Urassa, the Director of Health Programmes is still at the helm, and the biggest challenge she faces is working within the line of the private-public partnership between Kamanga Health Centre and Sengerema District Council. But in spite of this challenge the figures coming from Kamanga Health Centre over the last two years are encouraging indeed. By the end of 2018, 4,607 new patients had registered at the health centre for the first time and exactly one year later in 2019, 6,546 new patients had joined the health centre. This was an increase of 142%. By the end of 2018, 201 babies were born at the health centre and by December 2019 517 babies were born resulting in an increase of 257% of births in the last two years. The top three diagnosed illnesses changed slightly from upper respiratory infections, UTIs and non severe pneumonia in 2018 to non severe pneumonia, UTIs and a surprising increase in severe cases of malaria in 2019. The reduction of governmental disinfection of high mosquito populated agricultural lands has been suspected to be the reason for such a high rise in figures of severe malaria cases in 2019. 

Cedar Tanzania is proud to say that two years on Kamanga Health Centre is still striving to bring high levels of heath care to the villages in Nyamatongo Ward.

Cedar Tanzania goes green

It took only two days to transform the electricity grid of Kamanga Health Centre (KHC) to a more reliable and greener option. From unreliable electricity and costly back-up diesel generator to freshly installed solar panels powered from the sun, of which there is plenty of in Tanzania, most of the year round.

Paulina Urassa, Director of Health Programmes at KHC, recounts a harrowing story of what happened one evening in a neighbouring village of Karumo. Eleven people were injured in a suspected revenge attack, in which a group of men targeted a few households and brutally hacked the occupants with machetes. The injured were rushed to KHC, only to find it in the dark. The village electricity had switched off, and the back-up diesel generator was due to be fixed the following day, as the technician had to make his way from Mwanza town via the ferry. But the dedicated staff got down to work and tended the injured by torch light. No lives were lost, but this situation was far from ideal and Cedar Tanzania knew that a far more reliable power source had to be implemented at the health centre and soon.

Three solar companies were approached of which Chloride Exide was chosen. They promptly undertook an onsite visit and diligently calculated the electrical load needed based on the identified equipment and appliances which were supposed to be powered by the solar system.  It took just two days for Chloride Exide to install the 6 solar panels on the roof of KHC. The 7,336 Watt electrical load generated by the solar panels means that the maternity ward’s neonatal resuscitation table as well as other essential equipment will continue to be used when the electricity inevitably goes out in the village of Kamanga.  The solar system is designed in such a way that it can produce power for twenty-four hours a day. And on the days that the sun does not shine and the rains come there is a back-up system which enables batteries to be charged from the village electricity grid. In this way, it is hoped that the health centre will always have power when it is needed.   

It is thanks to the Irish Embassy’s generous donation together with Friends of Cedar Switzerland’s gala donation that secured the funds needed for the new solar system in KHC to be installed this November.

And are there any plans to install any more solar panels in the future at KHC? Caroline Bernard, Executive Director, says  “We would ideally like to equip the entire health centre with solar panels and completely “go green” since it is not only cheaper and more reliable, but also better for the environment. However, we are conscious that completely switching the power supply from electrical to solar power is an expensive exercise, so we will start looking for funding opportunities in 2020.”

Join us as we transform Kamanga Health Centre completely green!

The one thing you don't think about

Keflen’s life has been changed. She lives in Nyamatongo ward, and is visited regularly by the Community Based Rehabilitation team from Cedar Tanzania. She has a disability that means she has to walk on her hands and knees. Last year Cedar Tanzania brought her a tricycle. But this year they brought her something less glamorous, but nonetheless meaningful. A toilet.

You see for Keflen, going to the family toilet means going there on her hands and knees. But in a village without running water or indoor plumbing, using an outside latrine, come rain or shine, is the only option. Until now.  Jackie Mantandiko and the CBR team, with the funds from Kamanga Health Centre, became creative. A ‘mobile’ toilet was crafted, together with steady handle bars that could be secured to the floor. This new unit has a removable bucket which can be emptied, disinfected and replaced. This means that Keflen can use the toilet in the comfort of her home, in private and with dignity. It’s a small change but it sure means a lot.

Another patient, with similar disabilities to Keflen, receives a ‘small’ gift, that also means a lot.

We are spreading the message

At the end of October, the Community Based Rehabilitation team started training community health workers about the best way they can educate the community on issues of HIV/AIDS. Spreading the right information about how the virus is contracted, spread and treated, is vital in communities where misinformation and prejudice is rife.

During this same meeting 50 of the health workers decided to get tested for the virus and to find out their status too. They were able to experience firsthand what it is like to be counseled, tested and told the results in a respectful and dignified way. Now they are ready to spread the word to the rest of the community about what they should expect when they come to get tested at Kamanga Health Centre.

And across the school fields, football coaches were doing a similar thing, informing young people about how HIV/AIDS can be contracted, spread and treated. Cedar Tanzania, in partnership with TackleAfrica, continues to use football drills to educate young people about this disease. We are spreading the message and slowly but surely breaking down misinformation, stereotypes and prejudice.