Utete, TZ – Student visitors assist families and children with their projects – Mar 2024

The SM school students raised funds to assist Better lives and KCM to extend and maintain its community projects and programs to benefit more families and their children’s lives over the coming two years.

Families and their children in Kindwitwi have been happy to host school student groups from UK since 2011, and this Easter they hosted a school from Switzerland. The SM students, in collaboration with True Adventures, Better Lives and Community Organization KCM enjoyed a remarkable time working with familes in Kindwitwi village in March 2024. Before the visit, the visiting school students fund raised money to fund sustainable projects that will assist families on their paths to sustainable living. The projects are part of programs that positively impact families’ and children’s lives economically and academically in their communities.

The prioritized hands-on-projects the SM students accomplished using funds, and their energy are:

Garden extension by planting vegetable beds and banana trees for grow own breakfast “GOB” for the kindergarten school feeding programs and needy groups, school supplies, building a store room, and water saving tank stand to support sustainable organic vegetable harvests. Also building children playground climbing frames and painting wall murals in a classroom to create an enjoyable learning space that will help increase attendance and performance at the school.

SM funded sewing machines and material to Juhudi vicoba women empowerment group and Bibi titi girls school, for the reusable sanitary pad sewing program. This program will assist the families and students access to sanitary pads, which will provide a comfortable way to attend school, earn income and grow students attendance and performance. Each month girls’ number drops counted missing class sessions due to not being comfortable to attend school when they’re in menstruation period and their parents’ economy is not able to supply sanitary pads, this means staying at home or else using old clothes pieces to be able attend school.

The SV students’ collaborated with Miriam, one of the Juhudi Vicoba sewing group walked to the community families to supply them with twenty made reusable sanitary pads for trials and mentorship. In this phase, each woman is given four pads and Miriam will be visiting these families to learn more about the pads and any improvement needed for comfortable use before starting to sell the pads. The first phase shows every woman will need on average four pads per day, since one pad lasts three hours to be changed, and it’s made with four layers, and drying depending on the weather for next day use. The pad takes one day to dry on sunny days but takes two to three days to dry during the rainy season. This means that washing and drying machines for a hygienic solution that assists families and children’s health and lives. The plan is to brainstorm possible low total cost to ownership (LTCO) hygienic solutions while learning more by making small sustainable step improvements.
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The second priority list is to donate sleeping mattresses for FRRTL and Siasa Kindergartens, provide mosquito nets to the deserving needy boarding students, build a comfortable kitchen, and provide life improvement loans to community volunteer families to improves their home income for better lives.