War on Want Northern Ireland — Fighting World PovertyWar on Want NI initiated it’s programme in Tanzania in 2007. There are 10 partners in Tanzania and a further 33 secondary partners. Here are some examples of the programmes being supported.
Maheyo Centre
Children with learning disabilities and special needs are particularly vulnerable in poor communities. The Maheyo Centre in Tanzania is one of the few centres in the country that provides the specialist care such children require.
Established in 1995, the Maheyo Centre provides accommodation, medical care, food and skills training to 45 children and young people, aiming to ensure that each child will reach its full potential. The centre also strives to create greater public awareness of the needs and rights of children and young people with learning disabilities and special needs, working to address the problems of exclusion encountered by the children and their families.
To ensure its sustainability and its ability to accommodate the needs of more children and the current children as they reach adulthood, a new initiative being supported by War on Want NI is the creation of a sheltered farm where the older children can live with some independence and grow and sell food to support themselves.
Dar ul Muslimeen Centre
This centre was established by a philanthropic couple in Morogoro town to look after children who have no one else to care for them. The centre cares for 27 boys, some of whom lived on the streets and some whose parents have died. The project enables the children to attend primary school, second level school and receive vocational training. At the centre the children’s physical and emotional well being is looked after by two full-time staff.
With the support of War on Want NI the centre has started a poultry rearing project and fruit and maize growing from which it will derive an income to help fund the care of the children.