Quarterly News from the Igoda Children’s Village, Mufindi.
YAM (Youth Agency Mufindi) sponsored by The Deaconess Foundation of Finland. During the first phase of YAM, 420 of the most vulnerable youth from 16 villages, plus 94 young people with disabilities (PWD) were given skills training followed by 6 months of apprenticeships. YAM also subsidised 25 young PWD’s for 6-month internship placements with Mufindi Tea Company and Private Forestry Programme
2025 will focus on young people with disabilities to lift their livelihoods and make them less invisible in society. There are currently 131 children, and 97 youth identified within the 16 villages, and this will increase over time. These will get treatment, rehabilitation and assistance with supporting devices followed by psychosocial, entrepreneurship, agricultural and skills training, like the last 4 years. Skills training incorporates sewing, carpentry, briquette making, mechanics, forestry and basket weaving. They will then also benefit from 6 months of apprenticeship training
It is inevitable that some PWD’s will not be able to be employed and therefore we aim to establish an arts and crafts project to support the livelihoods of support careers. This would be assisted by volunteers able to inspire product range and teach the necessary skills. This output is still waiting for a budget and a source of enthusiastic and skilled volunteers. .
The children and youth from our Children’s Village naturally benefit from these trainings. For example, there is a waiter employed at the Ruaha River Lodge who had a very traumatic youth and lacked any self-confidence. Following the training programmes he has come on in leaps and bounds and able to develop the skills requited for his job.
These are two little ones, who live in the baby house with the other babies and their two house mamas, whose physical development is slow and need extra help. They go to Ineka Rehabilitation Centre for check-ups and advice. Tina, shown here, came to the Igoda Children’s Village with Dr Leena Pasanen to see, help and learn about children and those in outreach.
Dentists Without Borders: Marie Löfström and her team from arrived in October, visited the ICV together with several schools in the area, checked their teeth and educated them on dental hygiene, showing them the correct way of brushing their teeth. A valuable lesson as there is a lot of sugar cane grown. 
The Catholic Women’s group and priest from Mdabulo held a church service at the ICV on the 22nd of October with joyful singing all day! They also very generously donated beans, maize, sugar, soap, rice, cooking oil, vegetables, potatoes, clothes, toothpaste, wheat flour and shoes
The Mafinga Lutheran Church prayed for the ICV children and provided them with food before their trip to Ruaha. How kind and generous! A few hours later and after lunch at the picnic site, they carried on and arrived at Ruaha River Lodge where refreshments were had.
They did see a lot of animals and one little girl said, “We saw an elephant as big as a house but no lions.” At the River Lodge there is always something to watch, whether it be animals on the banks of the river, monkeys cavorting about, birds etc. After a long, tiring day, they left for home with a five-hour journey ahead of them! A trip they will never forget. Thank you to everyone at the River Lodge for their kind hospitality and for kind donors who helped make this happen
With huge thanks to the sponsors and for all the donations received to cover new clothes, school bags, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpastes, soap, food etc. helping to make this happen, you are very special and certainly enriches the children’s lives!
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from the training (Psychosocial, mindset, entrepreneurship, agricultural, followed by 5 months of apprenticeship training). We also included the annual Youth Football tournament for all 16 villages to make it more fun and encourage participation in 
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