Profile:
Pamoja Children Care is a pre-school, set up by a passionate and charismatic local farmer, which teaches children, aged 3 – 6. Many of the children are orphans and most are from very poor families. The project aims to improve these children’s chances in passing exams to enter the primary education system in Tanzania to give them the chance to make a better life for themselves and their f
amilies. Pamoja Children Care is in its beginning stages having been established only in February 2012. Still, it is already helping more than twenty local children, ensuring they receive a chance for an education. The village:
Pamoja is situated in Mang’ula, a rural village in central Tanzania. The village is set against the beautiful backdrop of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, which brings in tourists in the dry season, most of whom stay in lodges on the outskirts of the village and never enter the village proper. The village is easy to get to if you don’t mind bumpy bus rides on dirt roads, but it is real rural Africa with most of the villagers supporting themselves by growing maize, rice and/or sugarcane. Most of this farming is done by hand as the villagers are too poor to afford machinery. The people in Mang'ula, as in most of Tanzania, are very friendly, welcoming people and you will not fail to meet and befriend many locals. Opportunities:
You will be able to get involved in teaching and caring for the children. There are little resources available beyond the blackboard and chalk. The children know very little English beyond ‘We are fine thank you’. What the school really needs is creative thinking on ways to teach the children to read and do simple maths with little resources. You can choose to either stay with a local family or in a local guesthouse. Staying with the family is recommended as you will learn so much, so quickly about the way of life in Tanzania. You will eat what they eat; wear Tanzanian clothes; get involved in daily chores; buy food from the market; enjoy listening to stories and telling your own in the evenings and attend church. Of course the important thing is that none of these are essential and if you don’t want to do them, hamna shida (no problem). Life is very laidback in Mang’ula and people are very accepting so whatever you want to do is fine. The family have three young children (aged 14, 11 and 6 at the time of writing) and are very welcoming and the whole family has a great sense of humour.
