Thrive-ing in Geita

After a busy few weeks full of moving house, visitors and holidays, life is slowly returning to normal for us in Shinyanga. Paul has been busy in work and Alice has been back in Buhangija – and caught a bit of the ‘Buhangija cold’ that strikes when your immune system is hijacked by 400 sick children who want to be as close to you as possible! Alice also managed to fit in a trip to Geita with Whitney, who also happens to be the real reason Ian extended his stay in Tanzania!

Whitney works for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and is a programme officer based in Mwanza. Part of her work has involved monitoring and evaluating CRS’s ‘Thrive’ – A Positive Parenting Project. Last week Ian, Whitney and Alice set off to a village between Mwanza and Geita (the place we moved to for a week and a half in May!) to visit a community that has been participating in Thrive. The project is centred on teaching parents how to care for their children’s safety, nutrition and developmental needs by CRS trained volunteers.

This particular village has had some struggles mobilising themselves in the past. Lack of community leader support meant they were behind in construction of a centre to meet together. Undeterred, the women in the village met under a tree. Further inspired by the project’s nutritional teaching, they contribute a small amount of food each and cook communally so their children can eat while they gather to learn. Since then, a simple centre has been built for the local community to meet together.

We arrived to help with one of the final aspects of the project – the murals. In a country with low literacy rates, a picture is often the best way to convey a message. So an enjoyable day was spent in the sun promoting healthy childhood development, early stimulation, proper nutrition and health monitoring...pretty heavy topics considering the giant giraffe and caterpillar we ended up with! Click here for more photos.

Swahili word of the Day: Afya ya Mtoto ni Pamojana… (A healthy child needs…)