Tanzanian women's empowerment
Donation protected
This is now a permanent fundraising page for Perfect Vision Women's Group. All donations are received with the deepest of gratitude.
Just 20,000tzs (£6.65/ $11.76) could pay for the materials and the women's labour for a resusable pad set which can be used for several years. It shouldn't be underestimated what a difference this can make to girls attempting to get an education while living in abject poverty.
While 30,000tzs (£9.63/$12.94) could feed a family struggling to find food for weeks and bring much-needed hope to keep them fighting their illnesses.
Or you might like to make a donation directly to the group to help us expand into new areas. Please do contact us if you would like to discuss funding a particular project.
.............
September 2020
I have just started volunteering for three months in Arusha, Tanzania with a women's empowerment group called Perfect Vision.
While I tried to prepare myself there was no way to be truly prepared to face just how blessed my life has been.
Perfect Vision is a group of women with some truly heart-breaking backgrounds, from being shunned for being HIV positive, to rape, abandonment and levels of poverty I don't think we can ever really understand.
The mamas work together to help each other progress and support themselves but there is still so far to go. They learn from each other to make beautiful clothes and jewellery etc, but without foreign visitors during Covid the market has largely dried up.
Currently the mamas are handmaking paper bags to sell to chapati shops now that plastic bags are banned in Tanzania at a rate of 100 for 5000tsz (£1.66).
But some have stopped coming because they can't afford the bus fare, which I worked out costs half a pound a day at most.
They come from very limited education, so volunteers like me help teach them things we learnt in school and help with whatever specialities we can, alongside English lessons.
The Mamas readily share their stories to foreign audiences where they do not face the same stigma, so I will have the honour of sitting down with each of them and writing up their stories, hoping to do them some kind of justice.
I plan to make a website for them and re-set up social media channels which future volunteers can continue. While I am no expert, being able to use a computer at all makes me an expert to them! But while electricity is unreliable (it's out right now) you can get decent internet here! Mad world.
But in the end, the things that will have the biggest impact mean spending money. One of Perfect Vision's main projects is handmaking reusable pad sets so local girls don't skip school while they have their period and can't afford to buy sanitary items.
Volunteers like me can buy pad sets for 20,000tzs (£6.65/ $11.76) which pays for the materials and the women's labour which we then get to distribute to local schools and the community without charge. Each set contains two of the 'holders,' six re-usable pads, a pair of underwear, ziplock bags the used pads go into, soap to wash their hands and a pretty carrier bag. I'm told girls can use one set for two years.
I can also buy food so that the Mamas can take me to visit local people who are too unwell to leave their house and provide them with rice, beans, oil etc.
I am very lucky that I can afford to contribute, but I am the only volunteer at the moment and I have been overwhelmed by it all. If you would like to put a little money forward I would be very thankful – as will the Mamas whose love and appreciation for us is boundless.
There is so much need in the world, and so many places for your donations to go, so I totally understand if you don't choose this cause – but every little bit helps. We can't change the world, but we can help improve some people's lives and being able to be part of that first-hand is an amazing thing.
This is not a registered charity – this is a hyperlocal group helping those around them, but it also means I can tell you exactly where the money is going and that it won't be on admin. In many cases you can even see the faces of the people you will be helping, which I think is very special. Although of course I recognise that being the one on the ground, I am the one to benefit the most from the experience! While money donated will go to my account – I promise all of it will be spent directly on projects. Of course I am paying my own costs and travel opportunities while I am here.
If you would like to purchase handmade items instead, I can arrange that, although I can only bring back so much. (Sadly I have already checked that international postage is prohibitively expensive).
A big thank you to anyone who chooses to contribute, it means a lot to me.
I will make sure to keep you updated with more photos and information when my batteries won't run out!
Elise xx
Just 20,000tzs (£6.65/ $11.76) could pay for the materials and the women's labour for a resusable pad set which can be used for several years. It shouldn't be underestimated what a difference this can make to girls attempting to get an education while living in abject poverty.
While 30,000tzs (£9.63/$12.94) could feed a family struggling to find food for weeks and bring much-needed hope to keep them fighting their illnesses.
Or you might like to make a donation directly to the group to help us expand into new areas. Please do contact us if you would like to discuss funding a particular project.
.............
September 2020
I have just started volunteering for three months in Arusha, Tanzania with a women's empowerment group called Perfect Vision.
While I tried to prepare myself there was no way to be truly prepared to face just how blessed my life has been.
Perfect Vision is a group of women with some truly heart-breaking backgrounds, from being shunned for being HIV positive, to rape, abandonment and levels of poverty I don't think we can ever really understand.
The mamas work together to help each other progress and support themselves but there is still so far to go. They learn from each other to make beautiful clothes and jewellery etc, but without foreign visitors during Covid the market has largely dried up.
Currently the mamas are handmaking paper bags to sell to chapati shops now that plastic bags are banned in Tanzania at a rate of 100 for 5000tsz (£1.66).
But some have stopped coming because they can't afford the bus fare, which I worked out costs half a pound a day at most.
They come from very limited education, so volunteers like me help teach them things we learnt in school and help with whatever specialities we can, alongside English lessons.
The Mamas readily share their stories to foreign audiences where they do not face the same stigma, so I will have the honour of sitting down with each of them and writing up their stories, hoping to do them some kind of justice.
I plan to make a website for them and re-set up social media channels which future volunteers can continue. While I am no expert, being able to use a computer at all makes me an expert to them! But while electricity is unreliable (it's out right now) you can get decent internet here! Mad world.
But in the end, the things that will have the biggest impact mean spending money. One of Perfect Vision's main projects is handmaking reusable pad sets so local girls don't skip school while they have their period and can't afford to buy sanitary items.
Volunteers like me can buy pad sets for 20,000tzs (£6.65/ $11.76) which pays for the materials and the women's labour which we then get to distribute to local schools and the community without charge. Each set contains two of the 'holders,' six re-usable pads, a pair of underwear, ziplock bags the used pads go into, soap to wash their hands and a pretty carrier bag. I'm told girls can use one set for two years.
I can also buy food so that the Mamas can take me to visit local people who are too unwell to leave their house and provide them with rice, beans, oil etc.
I am very lucky that I can afford to contribute, but I am the only volunteer at the moment and I have been overwhelmed by it all. If you would like to put a little money forward I would be very thankful – as will the Mamas whose love and appreciation for us is boundless.
There is so much need in the world, and so many places for your donations to go, so I totally understand if you don't choose this cause – but every little bit helps. We can't change the world, but we can help improve some people's lives and being able to be part of that first-hand is an amazing thing.
This is not a registered charity – this is a hyperlocal group helping those around them, but it also means I can tell you exactly where the money is going and that it won't be on admin. In many cases you can even see the faces of the people you will be helping, which I think is very special. Although of course I recognise that being the one on the ground, I am the one to benefit the most from the experience! While money donated will go to my account – I promise all of it will be spent directly on projects. Of course I am paying my own costs and travel opportunities while I am here.
If you would like to purchase handmade items instead, I can arrange that, although I can only bring back so much. (Sadly I have already checked that international postage is prohibitively expensive).
A big thank you to anyone who chooses to contribute, it means a lot to me.
I will make sure to keep you updated with more photos and information when my batteries won't run out!
Elise xx
Organizer
Editha Faustine
Organizer