Support Youth Development in Tanzania

Support Youth Development in Tanzania: A Crowdfunding Campaign for Elle Peut Naidim

 

Originally, I came to Arusha in June of 2021 with the plan to help address period poverty and high-dropout rates of schoolgirls by providing reusable sanitary products. Thanks to your support (my last fundraiser), I was able to raise nearly $7,000 for reusable sanitary pads. However, I have learned that merely distributing resources is not enough. To create a sustainable impact in these young people’s lives, education is necessary.

 

That’s why early on, I partnered with Elle Peut Naidim (EPN), a non-profit organization operating in Arusha, Tanzania. They provide young people between the ages of 9-24 with material resources and educational campaigns about the issues most likely to keep Tanzanian students from completing school: menstrual health hygiene, mental health, early childhood marriage, and violence against women and children.

 

I joined EPN as a strategy and finance volunteer in June, and have been accompanying them as they educate over 2,500 young girls and boys in the rural Arusha region. The EPN team in Tanzania is composed of 17 local women–women who have grown up in these rural areas and have experienced the challenges that these children are facing.

 

Our team has been traveling to public schools that are in desperate need of materials and education related to the issues listed above. These schools are isolated, invisible to most NGOs, and have some of the highest dropout rates in the region. These schools are often 2-4 hours away from Arusha and require renting all-terrain vehicles that are able to drive through the rocky, unpaved roads. Because EPN is a new nonprofit, they are using their personal vehicles to travel to these schools. These schools are not even on the map, and in order to reach them, we have to meet a local in the village and follow them for directions.

 

Goal:

Raise $20,000 for Elle Peut Naidim to address:

 

• Period Poverty: Support 5,000 young girls in remote, underserved communities around the Arusha region by supplying them with reusable sanitary pads (that will last each girl up to three years) and providing them with a 90-minute “Mimi ni Tai ” Menstrual Health Hygiene & Management program provided by EPN’s leadership team:

          • Full-stack “Mimi ni Tai” Programming: $7,200 ($7.20 / child). Provides 1,000 schoolgirls with a pack of WomenChoice reusable sanitary pads, and our 90-minute Mimi ni Tai educational campaign.
          • 90-Minute “Mimi ni Tai” Programming, in partnership with a community-based organization: $9,840 ($2.46 / child). Provides 4,000 schoolgirls access to our Mimi ni Tai educational campaign. with our program

• Mental Health, Early Childhood Marriage & Violence Against Women and Children: EPN is among the first organizations in Tanzania to prioritize mental health education for young people, and to address the role that power, consent, and shame play in young people’s lives. With these funds, we would be able to educate 1,000 young boys and girls about mental health, violence against women and children, early childhood marriage and pregancy, healthy relationships, and how to safeguard their futures by completing their education.
          • $2,460 ($2.46 / child) to educate 1,000 young men and women with our “Last Kilometer ” anti-dropout campaign

 

• Organization sustainability: $500 to hire a grant writer to underwrite traditional, large-scale grants to expand EPN’s impact around other regions in Tanzania and to make these programs more economically sustainable.

 

The Pinky Promise: The Story Behind the Cover Photo

 

During my first week in Arusha, I met Anna at Cheti School and Orphanage. She is 14, shy but brilliant, and an orphan who lives at the hostel at the school. After the school day, I caught her leaving the orphanage on a school bus. I ran up to her and asked her where she was going— she said that she was “sick” and could not stay at the orphanage, so she was going to her uncle's house. I found out that her “sickness” was associated with her menstrual cycle. Anna told me that the girls at the orphanage do not know much about the changes that have been happening to their bodies and that they do not have trusted female role models. Before she left on the school bus, I made a pinky promise to her that I would come back and teach her.

 

Three weeks later, I returned to Cheti with the EPN team and 200 packs of reusable pads. We held a 90-minute MHHM program, distributed pads and had the “girl talk” that many of the girls needed. After the program, Anna ran up to me and thanked me for remembering our pinky promise.

 

Anna is one of thousands and thousands of young women in Tanzania whose futures are radically impacted by a lack of access to menstrual materials, and education about menstruation. For such a small amount of money, we can change the course of her future. Anna inspired me to start this campaign, and create more promises and stories like this.

 

More About Me!

I am a recent graduate from Indiana University and prior to starting my full-time position as a Management Consultant at PwC, I have dedicated my time to pursue my passion of service and humanitarianism by volunteering in Tanzania.

 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/victoriagnat

 

Photo Gallery:

 

August 8, 2021: EPN’s founder's personal car stuck in the road on the way to school

 

 

Anna on the school bus leaving the Orphanage.