Moshi Disabled Network CCS Volunteer Update

Moshi Disabled Network
CCS Volunteer Update
By Chris MacLean (Vancouver, Canada) – netwonk@gmail.com
September 1, 2007

Hamjambo!

My name is Chris MacLean and I have just finished 6 weeks of volunteering with the Moshi Disabled Network. During this time I have met many people in the Rau community and become friends with many. Below is a summary of what I worked on during my time with Moshi Disabled and also some useful information for volunteers that follow me.

You will be working side by side with the Executive Director of the Moshi Disabled Network, Mama Grace. Day by day she tirelessly works to help improve the lives of disabled persons in the community. It was an honor to work with her. During my time I also worked with 3 other volunteers: Claire Smith, Megan Treloar and Ting Wu.

I worked at Moshi Disabled Network 3 days / week, and was at another placement the remaining 2 days. Home visits to disabled members of the community typically happened on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Mondays and Wednesdays we would meet at the Moshi Disabled Network Center, which is currently located in the back of and engineering shop in downtown Moshi.

Home Visits
During home visits we would talk with the members and their families, perform exercises, stretching and muscle massage for those who needed it and working on educational work that some members loved. During my second 3 weeks, I worked with Ting Wu, and Art Therapy student from New York University who was working with some of the members (Janet & Hawa). The home visits were great. The families were so welcoming and you quickly learn that the number reason and benefit of home visits is just that, a visit. You will hear the words “Karibu Sana” many times, and they really mean it.

At the Center
Days at the center were spent doing a number of activities. Some members of the group come there on Mondays and Wednesdays to make beaded necklaces and bracelets and of late work with Ting on Art Therapy projects. Also on these days, it was a good time to do errands around the town relating to some of the other projects I worked on (see below).

Projects
Here are some of the projects that I worked on with Moshi Disabled Network during my time here.

Beadwork – Bracelets and necklaces are made by members of the group for sale to volunteers at CCS and at the Tahea Kili shop in downtown Moshi. Bracelets sold typically for 2000TZS and necklaces for 3000TZS. While fun to work on, the profit from this work is not that great. More lucrative craft projects for the members to work on would be great.

Brochure – I worked on creating a new brochure for Moshi Disabled Network. One of the needs for Moshi Disabled that we often talked about was getting the ‘word out there’ or getting information about the group to more people in the Moshi area. This would help attract both more members and more support from the community. The old brochure required updating and the computer source files could not be used so I started a new one from scratch. With some help from other volunteers at CCS we re-drew the logo from the sign at the center and scanned it for use on the brochure. Then we created language to use and had it translated so the brochure could be in both English and Swahili. I had 200 of the brochures printed. They are with Mama Grace, along with extra red paper for printing more when the need arises.

Website – I have registered the domain name for Moshi Disabled www.moshidisabled.org and set it up as a Google application. The website is not built at all yet, but it is my intention to initially put the information from the brochure on there. This was not a high priority item while I was here but it was easy to do. Any volunteer in the future who wants to put some effort into improving the site with more content and whatnot should contact me.

Calendar – As one of Ting’s projects she worked to put together a calendar with pictures of the members and some of their artwork in it. The goal was to sell the calendars as a means to make money for the members. A proof was created but in the short term the printing of the calendars was going to be prohibitive. Calendars do not sell for very much in this area. Ting is going to explore printing the calendar in the USA.

NGO Registration - Mama Grace did all the work on this while I was here but we visited the District Commissioner a few times, which was a thrill. The Tanzanian government approved the application for The Moshi Disabled Network to become a registered NGO in the Kilimanjaro Region. Mama Grace then used this status to apply to the District Commissioner for a land grant. The purpose would be to acquire land to eventually build a new center for Moshi Disabled on. This part of the application is currently underway.

Work That Can Be Done
Here is what I am thinking are some of the needs for Moshi Disabled. At least this will be some food for thought for new volunteers and some discussion.

1. Making Moshi Disabled Network more visible in the community.
2. Work on creating more income generating projects & small businesses for members.
3. Continued work on the website www.moshidisabled.org
4. Home visits – they are the most important for sure.
5. Have fun and get to know everyone!

Member Notes
Here are some small notes on some of the members - things that you can follow up on, ideas and other tidbits.

Modest – We measured Modest for a standing frame. The measurements and basic design is with Mama Grace. Kawawa can build it if money can be found for the materials. It should be built with wood. If an estimate can be found for the construction of it, contact Claire and I about raising some money for it.

Hawa – She has worked a lot with letters lately and can now write her name. Continue work with this would be great.

Innocent – Bring a toy to captivate his attention, stimulation is great for him.

Kawawa – A few years ago he had a quote for a new prosthesis. I think donors could be found for this project. Rebecca (former volunteer) might be able to get funding for this if the quote can be found.

Janet – She is very keen on starting a basic vegetable and fish market business. Helping her get this off the ground is a great project. She has the ability to count and is quite smart.

Too many more to list, but this is a good start!

- Chris