Category: News

Marion Gough

2014: Kamati Kuu – #10yearanniversary!

2014: Kamati Kuu

From the FCWCT Archives:

“In 2009, Isaya Mwila became the first House Father at Igoda Children’s Village. He had leadership experience as a former chairman of Mwaya part of Igoda village, and his wife Vicky had been working with the NGO since its inception.

For over a year he had been attending an Adult English class that was taught at the Igoda Community Hall, and he showed great promise as someone who was looking to create positive development in his own life.

Isaya quickly used those leadership skills as an employee of the NGO, and was given more and more responsibilities. He started managing all the small development projects required at the children’s village like road-maintenance, water fetching, and fence repair.

In 2012, he was voted by his peers to become the chairman of the first committee of leaders within the guardians at Igoda Children’s Village. The committee would be tasked with resolving any conflicts between guardians, or between children and guardians. The committee gave the guardians and children another avenue to vent frustrations or miss-communications, and led to more unity in the center.

In 2013, the employees of the NGO have come together to form a collection of departments that oversee the various projects that are undertaken. This has led to more local leadership, and more investment in the success of the projects themselves.

Isaya was voted head of the administration department, but was also promoted by his peers to become head of the ‘Big Committee,’ or Kamati Kuu is the committee that is made up of all of the department heads. This committee meets every two weeks to discuss the goals of the NGO in the short-term with an eye on long-term success. Isaya chairs each of these meetings, and his leadership is greatly respected.

Isaya’s rise into a major leadership role within the NGO exemplifies the community’s commitment to working shoulder to shoulder with the NGO through local involvement to reaching our biggest goals. Together, and with leaders like Isaya, the community is getting closer and closer to a full recovery from the devastation of the HIV pandemic.”

Today in 2017:

The Kamati Kuu is made up of 14 Heads of Department/Projects that meet to discuss NGO news, challenges, share ideas, and collaborate on all projects! Departments include Gardening and Developing, Building, Health, Education, Guardianship, IT, Maintenance, and more! They are the backbone of the organization, and receive training, seminars, and leadership counseling to ensure they are the best leaders they can be. Over the past year, each Department Head has been trained in Monitor and Evaluation protocols that allow for better data collection, tracking of projects, and better goal-setting. This has lead to thousands of data points that are being used every day to direct the organization. We are honored to continue to be led by Isaya Mwila as we continue to grow, adopt, and meet the ever-changing needs of the community.

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary!

Support the local leadership that is our heartbeat!

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

2013: A Turning Point

From the Archives:

“It was a quick exchange, and I have to admit, it didn’t stand out as anything out of the ordinary in a day full of meetings packed in the middle of a week full of meetings as the New Year arrived. We were all so busy with end of the year things, as well as two new kids being entered into the Children’s Village, half a dozen building projects underway, a tutoring program involving all of the students at the Children’s Village, and meeting after meeting taking place as we initiated the new program of departments for better operational efficiency. Stacey Droll, our Peace Corps extender volunteer came into the office, and apologised for interrupting the meeting, and told Jenny that she was about to leave to Mlevelwa village to talk to a family about possibly entering their child into the Children’s Village. The government had asked us to take in the child, who was suffering from neglect and malnutrition, but the family was from an area of that village that was not very educated, and they had a history of reluctance towards following conventional wisdom. After Stacey explained what she was about to do, Jenny began giving instructions.

JENNY: Make sure you meet Kibuga Fute and take him with you to the family, and take Maria as well if you can, they’re both Home Based Care Volunteers and will be able to help explain the situation.
STACEY: I can’t get a hold of Maria; she’s been hapatikana (unreachable) all day.
JENNY: Ok, well you can take Kibuga by himself, and that will work well, as he’s with Tunajali.

Thinking back on it, I think this was the point where my brain told me to pay attention. The simple fact that we have people to connect with in each of the surrounding villages- people who have been trained either by us, or by others (Tunajali) – who now are trained in the work of Orphan Care is an invaluable resource that saves lives everyday in this rural area. This has been a development at least four years in the making.

When Jenny joined the NGO after completing 2 years of Peace Corps Service in a neighbouring village, she was given a position with the laborious-sounding job title of Orphanage Manager, and Community Outreach Coordinator. Essentially she would be the face of the NGO, explaining what we are here for, and she would be working with local leadership to decide which families were most in need, and which children would be coming to the children’s village. She began in 2008 by visiting families in the village house-by-house and listening to their stories. She would meet with village leaders- either the local government executive, a pastor at a church, a teacher at the school, or just a concerned neighbour, and they would lead her to the families most in need. Back in 2008 there was very little formalised care of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children, or OVCs as they are often labelled. In just four years the difference is striking. Each village now has a committee for Most Vulnerable Children, a committee for People Living with HIV/AIDS, and thanks to training seminars funded by donors to our NGO, there are now multiple Home Based Care Volunteers in each village that are streamlining the work done by the NGO and the committees. An overall sense of community has come to this area; one that had been devastated by HIV. This community had become overwhelmed by the enormity of this pandemic and was unable to care for their neighbour as before. In fact taking care of one’s self had become a daily struggle, as treatment was unavailable in a community that essentially had an HIV positive person living in each of its households. Now things are different, and the battle against the disease is turning.”

—-Geoff Knight, Thursday March 14, 2013

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT  OITW

We are looking to keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other, day by day. The difference is striking, the times are changing, but FCWCT and its partner charities will remain rooted in the work done at a community level unlike any other organisation in Tanzania. Help us continue our work!

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors!

UK:https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

2012:  KINDERGARTEN AND PRE-SCHOOL AT THE CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Kindergarten kids From the Archives of 2012:

“There are currently two pre-school classes (ages 8 months to 1.5 years and 1.5 years to 3 years) and two Kindergarten classes (ages 3 years to 8 years) on-site. The teaching style is based on the Montessori-philosophy of child-directed learning. This means that the teacher follows the child’s interest and pace through the engagement of self-correcting, independent activities. School curriculum uses culturally appropriate, independent activities that are organised into Montessori’s Five Sections of the Classroom: Practical Life, Sensorial, Math, Language, and Culture and Science. Each child is free to move from one activity to another based upon their interests. The teacher’s role is to observe and guide.
This “new” approach to early childhood education is an important departure from more strict teaching methods commonly seen in over-crowded classrooms. This method has ultimately been more effective in this rural setting for a number of reasons. First, this methodology has been proven effective in high volume classrooms and little resources. This means that in most Kindergarten classrooms in the village, books, furniture, desks, and shelving are all anomalies. About 90% of the on-site classroom activities and materials are hand-crafted by teachers, setting the example that one doesn’t need money to teach. All that is needed is a little ingenuity, resourcefulness, and dedication to the job at hand. Second, the independent activity approach to teaching means that students can work together in small groups that are overseen and guided by the teacher. No longer is one teacher attempting to control and gain the attention of 100 five year olds (a common ratio in village classrooms).
Finally, a classic Montessori classroom contains children of a wide age range- as do classrooms in the village. The child-directed philosophy allows each child the freedom to move at their own pace, regardless of the level of their fellow peers. Teachers then have the freedom to provide more advanced students with harder and harder activities to prepare them for Primary School, while younger children can refine their motor skills and practice culturally appropriate skills they can use at home! The vulnerable youth at the Children’s Village thrive under the structure and routine that the classroom provides. They are allowed freedom to explore and engage their interests with tangible, reinforced limits. This, as well as the individualised attention, means that development is monitored more closely than ever and troubled behaviour can be addressed quickly. Teachers are able to work closely with guardians to reinforce discipline and send cohesive messages to the children. Also, the teachers are very familiar with the children and the medical problems each child may face so they can give them the best care and report any changes in health status quickly and efficiently. It is the hope of FoxesNGO to one day be able to provide on-site schooling for all children who face medical problems that might prevent them from thriving in local schools.”

Today

kindergarten photo for 10 year anniversary Starting in February of 2016, the Pre-Kindergarten Program opened its doors to welcome its first classes of students. After almost three years of constant fundraising, the Nursery School finally opened! In 2017, we have seen incredible growth in this program! The Caterpillars (ages 1 year to 2 years) and the Butterflies (2 years to 3 years) each have their own classroom space within the On-site Kindergarten Compound. The classrooms were painted with murals from local Tinga Tinga artist, Chasaki, the floors covered in mats for crawling little ones, and the shelves stocked with donated toys and games. Monday through Saturday, all children 3 and under from the Children’s Village attend school, eat nutritious meals, and nap peacefully in their cozy new classrooms. The Caterpillar Classroom currently has 10 children. The Butterfly Classroom has 27 children. The Nursery (3 mths to 9 mths) has 10 children. It was the first time that the Pre-K program had their own individual classroom space which allowed the teachers more freedom in play with their children. The goal of these classrooms was to create a natural progression between classrooms as the children age and move through the program, their educational foundation will grow stronger. Definitely the cutest place in Mufindi!
The Kindergarten classroom currently has 26 pupils, ages 3 to 6 years. The focus of the classroom for the year was to introduce more English into the curriculum, deepen each child’s understanding of peaceful conflict resolution, and push for more literacy in the classroom. Professionally trained TEFL-certified instructors were brought into the Kindergarten classroom to help strengthen the English of the teachers, as well as introduce storybooks as a medium to teach English to young children. Each day, Mrs. Julia Ostler, held “storytime” with the Kindergarten students which often included English songs and games, which our teachers were able to teach to partner schools in the project area.
Running parallel to the on-site Interactive Learning Kindergarten is the Early Childhood Education Outreach program which saw great achievements this year as well. Seminars continued across 9 partner Kindergarten classrooms each month with new topics and ideas shared among teachers. In order to expand the program, meetings were held with both Ward Education Officers and District Education Officers to explain the ECE program, share our successes, and invite them to observe the classroom in action. In a November 2016 meeting, they were all so impressed, the District officials proclaimed that our program should be implemented across all three wards in our project area (16 villages) and promised to support our initiative across all primary schools. They were particularly impressed with the peaceful conflict resolution tactics used in the classroom in place of corporeal punishment, as well as how engaged our pupils are in the class work.

kindy 2 #10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT
Our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary!

kindergarten photo 2 for 10 year anniversary $25 (£20) per month to our Early Childhood Education Program will go to support the monthly seminars of our Early Childhood Education teachers who come together once per month to learn new teaching methodologies, classroom management techniques, songs and games, as well as to share their challenges and exchange ideas to solve problems.

Click on the links below of here at Ammado and become monthly sponsors!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

2011: The Home-based Care Program #10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT-OITW

Home Base Care Team Lecture

From the Archives by FCWCT Manager: Geoff Knight:

“From the beginning we have referred to Home Based Care (HBC) as the service that Dr. Leena provides by going house to house and treating patients in their homes. Recently however, our plans to have a community outreach team have led us to use the term in reference to a team of volunteers that will help the community outreach program become a sustainable locally run program that will be ongoing for decades to come.

This month, facilitators coordinated with Peace Corps Volunteer Meredith Pinto on a program designed to train 10 volunteers from the 5 different villages in the Mdabulo Ward. The training was funded by donations from African Book Box Society. They will last 28 days, and each volunteer will be taught comprehensively about the national guidelines for home based care volunteers. The volunteers will be trained on a variety of useful topics such as personal health, HIV prevention, and emergency first aid. Each volunteer will be tested at the end of the training. Ideally the NGO will get an opportunity to further train volunteers, and extend the training to more volunteers from all of the surrounding 16 villages. Further training might include permaculture gardening, and child and maternal health.”

Home Base Care Team Training

Today in 2017:

Beginning in March 2011 until December 2013, FCWCT has overseen the training of 22 local volunteers in government-provided Home-based Care training. FCWCT supplies the volunteers with monthly stipends and seminars to expand upon the HBC foundational knowledge, as well as a HBC Program Facilitator to coordinate volunteers in meetings and arrange visits between visiting medical professionals and HBC volunteers’ sick community members.

The HBC Program is a government-approved channel to increase healthcare access in rural areas, and today, it remains an active, life-saving program. HBC volunteers are educated at monthly seminars on the public health issues that plague the Mufindi community such as HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and prevention; opportunistic infections and related cancers; sexual reproductive health and family planning; and proper nutrition. The volunteers themselves are invested students of public health that will go on to be the teachers of public health in their own villages where they can confidently educate community members. In that sense, there is the potential to reach the 2,500 average population of each village. And the more training and investment each volunteer receives the more effective they will be in educating and leading discussions on critical health topics to their own community members.

Today, HBC volunteers use monthly reporting forms to report their work, engage in monthly seminars, and are the most active they have ever been! They regularly visit over 500 patients in 11 different villages. Within May and June of this year, they helped to facilitate mobile clinics hosted by University of Louisville School of Medicine students and Attending physicians. This is a life-saving program!

Volunteer Stacey Droll with the Home Base Care Team after Passing Their Exams

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary!

$25 (£20) per month to our Home-based Care Program will go to support the monthly seminars on community health issues that are held each month to keep our local Tanzanian volunteers engaged, education, and activated in the community.

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

The Milk Powder Program – #10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

2009 @ The Milk Powder Program

From the Archives of 2009, as written by FCWCT Manager, Geoff Knight:

“The most important benefit for families with HIV+ members however, is addressing the need for protein that is severely lacking in this area, as noticed by our volunteer Dr. Leena Pasanen. We had a great visit from our first set of short-term volunteers, Will Metcalfe and Vikki Milne, who gave a donation prior to coming that covered all of their projected costs, so there was no financial burden on the NGO. They are final year medical students this year, each with a prior university degree in medicine. They compiled all numbers from HIV testing at Mdabulo Dispensary dating back to 2005 so that we may have actual figures prior to opening our CTC there. They also had a first-hand experience in saving one child’s life! A baby with a double cleft palate and lip, 4 days old, and unable to feed since birth, was brought to the NGO by its concerned parents. Will and Vikki engineered a way to feed the baby by using a syringe dropper into the baby’s cheek. Luckily the baby was able to swallow without a problem. After a day and a half of receiving re-hydration fluids and milk powder, the baby was in perfect health! Since then, we have arranged transport to lllembula, and Dr. Pasanen has since referred the baby to surgical specialists in Iringa. The baby was later named “Bahati” which means ‘luck’ in Kiswahili. Will and Vikki have already said they will make plans to come back and volunteer next year, and maybe every year subsequently.”

Today in 2017:

The Milk Powder Program (MPP) has been providing life-saving milk powder (infant formula and whole milk powder) and lishe powder (nutritious, calorie dense porridge powder) to HIV+ mothers and caretakers, as well as orphaned and vulnerable children living at the Children’s Village for over 6 years! In this time frame, FCWCT has provided better nutrition and HIV prevention for over 230 vulnerable infants and toddlers in Mufindi!

Distributing milk powder and lishe powder is done to improve the nutritional status of children in the villages and prevent vertical transmission (mother to child) of HIV. A positive HIV status, combined with low nutritional status, can mean that some mothers are incapable of producing enough breast milk, resulting in an underfed infant. Currently, Home-based Care Volunteers are the “legs” of FCWCT as they refer HIV+ mothers, mothers-to-be, and any underweight infants and toddlers in their respective villages to the MPP monthly meetings. At those meetings, children are weighed and mothers are given brief seminars on nutrition, hygiene, correct bottle sanitation, and family planning options by the MPP Program Facilitator (PF). All families leave with enough milk powder and lishe powder for one month. There are currently 37 enrolled infants and toddlers in the MPP!

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary !

$50 (£39) per month pays for the life-saving nutrition of milk powder/infant formula for a vulnerable infant for an entire month!

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

2007: The Children’s Village: Foxes Community & Wildlife Conservation Trust

Geoff and Vicky Fox – Founders of FCWCT 2005

2007: The Children’s Village

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

The Children’s Village was opened in 2007 when the Mufindi community was in a period of crisis. The HIV/AIDS epidemic was spreading quickly and silently, decimating local populations. The geographical isolation of these rural communities meant that there was no access to HIV/AIDS testing, treatment or educational information. A mass mortality of adults created a rising orphan population as family systems collapsed. The growing number of orphaned and vulnerable children in the community alarmed the Fox family, and led them to take action. Foxes’ Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust was chartered in 2005, and two years later, FCWCT opened the first Children’s Village house in July of 2007 to provide shelter, sustenance, and health care to these vulnerable children.

Today, there are 6 Children’s Houses, each with their own “House Parent”. Currently, the Children’s Village provides care for 76 vulnerable children, from infants to 17 years of age.

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Monthly sponsorships allow us the financial security to plan projects, respond to community needs appropriately, and continue to do what we do best- love the children of Mufindi!

Become a monthly sponsor of the Children’s Village!

$25 (£20) each month will sponsor protein-rich foods like eggs and peanut butter for an entire Children’s Village house.

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors in honor of 10 years of work in the Children’s Village!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

2010: Felista & The Social Welfare Department for  Vulnerable Children – #10yearanniversary!

From the Archives, June 2010:

From  FCWCT Manager, Jenny Peck:

“It is with deepest sadness that we pass on this news. Saturday June 26th, Felista Mpangile, an eleven year old here at our orphanage, passed away at 4am due to major organ failure caused by HIVAIDS. She is the first child here to pass away, and I still hear the beautiful haunting songs that were sung by her peers and guardians as they mourned her death, bringing tears to my eyes unexpectedly from time to time since then. Her story has left a deep impact on all of us here, and whomever she met along her journey I can guarantee, feels the same way. The hour of her death, she asked the housemother with her to pray with her, through her pain. She asked, “Why are you making me suffer so, God? Just take me! I didn’t make the mistake, my parents did. Why are you punishing me? Take me!” Until the entire ward at the hospital was in tears with her and Yasinta, the housemother.

One month ago, Felista fell ill, and became skeletal, complaining about her stomach and head. After a few visits to the local dispensary, we were advised to take her immediately to the private hospital nearby where we found the shocking fact that she had a CD4 count of 2! Unfortunately for Felista, and thousands of people like her, she fell through the cracks of an already, severely broken system.

Dr. Leena Pasanen had found Felista, a little 10 year old girl, all by herself at the hospital, asking to be tested, because both her parents had died, and she noticed that she was sick a lot and she had learned in school about HIVAIDS. She learned that indeed she was positive, and began treatment, but began asking/begging Dr. Leena to please take her to live at the Children’s Village because all of the children in her village of Ibwanzi had found out that she was positive and were ostracizing and teasing her. The NGO talked with teachers and village council members, all of who repeated the same story and all agreed with Felista’s request that she should go to the children’s village. The only true relative Felista had left was her grandfather, and he was unable to care for her.

She came to the Children’s Village early in April, and fit in right away. She was continuing her treatment, however, as the village dispensary is a satellite of the district hospital for HIVAIDS care and treatment (until the CTC is finished and up and running), all the files are kept in Mafinga town, a good 55KM away. Normally, patients will come once a month (the staff comes to the dispensary twice a month to see the 1000+patients, meaning over 400 patients in one day seen by one doctor!) to get a refill of their medication, weigh in and talk about their health.

As great as it was to get the hospital coming to the village, it still is a broken system, as Felista’s file was FORGOTTEN for three times in a row! The doctors just kept refilling her meds, not looking at her file, or really talking with her, as they just had too many patients to see. This, together with the problem that the district Hospital had run out of reagents to work the CD4 machine, became a lethal combination. For 4 months, this machine was “not working”, according to the doctors there. It wasn’t until we had to rush Felista to the private hospital 40km away that we found out just how low her CD4 count actually was. Had the doctors brought her file any of those three times when it was forgotten, or had that CD4 machine been working to test her each time, this death would surely have been prevented. This is our call to action! There does not need to be any more needless deaths! CD4 machines are available-they are $50,000, but they are available. This CTC in our village is close to being opened, meaning that all the patients’ files will be kept in the village-no more forgetting files! The only thing missing now is this machine. And if we could do anything for the Felista’s of these villages, we need to get it. NOW.”

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Today in 2017, FCWCT is still fighting for the rights of children, the rights of the sick, and the rights of all those who deserve medical treatment.

Our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary!

$25 (£20) pays for a month of outreach work by our social welfare department to locate children just like Felista who are in need. Our systems work better to catch those who fall through the cracks, but without the funding to do so, this work cannot continue. These services reach upwards of 25 of the most vulnerable families who need additional support and care in tough times.

Some of the Home Base Team with their donated bikes by waterforafrica.com.au

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/secure/direct-debit/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=27-0119874

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

Threads Vocational Sewing School!

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT-OITW


2008 Income Generating Projects:

From the Archives:
Manager, Jenny Peck on the income generating projects happening in 2008!

“Two previously existing projects are continuing well:

1) A select group of 5 women living with HIV/AIDS and caring for orphans are skillfully making batiks that are sold at Mufindi Highland Lodge, and other Fox Treks lodges/resorts.

2) Several groups of women (about 10-15 each) in the surrounding villages, are making baskets to be sold at the lodges as well. These women (in total currently about 80 women) use the extra income to help supplement their subsistence living. As all of the women in these groups are HIV+, many are too weak to work in their gardens to produce food for their families, so this extra income is used to hire help to do this cultivating for them.
Two additional income generating projects have been started in the month of May that we are hoping will bring added income to even more families, and enrich their lives.

One project includes more crafts, as we have had 5 looms made up by a professional artisan living in Tanzania, that will be used to make carpet-mats that are quite popular not only in the homes of expatriates that live in Tanzania, but also in local homes and establishments. It is the goal to not only sell these crafts at the Fox Treks lodges/resorts, but to expand to the local towns, and find an outlet for these mats to be sold as they are quite popular with locals, and can be sold at a profit friendly price.
Income generation projects are designed to give the poorest families in our communities the ability to support themselves through their own work, ultimately instilling pride in their hard work and likely starting a self-sustaining business for these would-be entrepreneurs.”

TODAY in 2017:

Foxes’ Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust (FCWCT) has been directing its energies to support the empowerment of vulnerable adolescents, particularly girls and young women, through the Threads Vocational Sewing School. The goal of a vocational sewing school is to empower vulnerable adolescents who are unable to continue on to secondary school, provide them with a tradable skill set, and provide this rural community with a service it desperately needs- seamstresses and tailors.

The school was originally chartered to address the high numbers of unskilled young adults who are unable to start/complete their secondary school education. As secondary school education is not government mandatory and requires a much larger financial commitment than primary school, many students forgo secondary school education to stay at home and support their families. In this program, students learn a tradable skill that can be used to generate income.

Over the course of the two year program, students learn dress-making, tailoring, and various crafts, and upon their graduation, each student leaves with his or her own sewing machine to begin a venture. Since opening its doors in 2010, the Threads Vocational Sewing School has provided vocational education to upwards of 75 students!

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days #FCWCT

Our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary !

Become a monthly sponsor of our Threads Vocational Sewing School!

(£19.50) each month can provide a sewing school student with all of their school supplies and sewing supplies such as notebooks, pens, pencils, thread, sewing shears etc. to complete their education!
Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/…/dire…/create/orphansinthewild
USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donati…/ExpressDonation.aspx…
FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days#FCWCT-OITW

The Children’s Village was opened in 2007 when the Mufindi community was in a period of crisis. The HIV/AIDS epidemic was spreading quickly and silently, decimating local populations. The geographical isolation of these rural communities meant that there was no access to HIV/AIDS testing, treatment or educational information. A mass mortality of adults created a rising orphan population as family systems collapsed. The growing number of orphaned and vulnerable children in the community alarmed the Fox family, and led them to take action. Foxes’ Community and Wildlife Conservation Trust was chartered in 2005, and two years later, FCWCT opened the first Children’s Village house in July of 2007 to provide shelter, sustenance, and health care to these vulnerable children.

Today, there are 6 Children’s Houses, each with their own “House Parent”. Currently, the Children’s Village provides care for 76 vulnerable children, from infants to 17 years of age.

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10years10days#FCWCT

Monthly sponsorships allow us the financial security to plan projects, respond to community needs appropriately, and continue to do what we do best- love the children of Mufindi! Become a monthly sponsor of the Children’s Village!

£19.50 ($25) each month will sponsor protein-rich foods like eggs and peanut butter for an entire Children’s Village house.

Click on the links below and become monthly sponsors in honor of 10 years of work in the Children’s Village!

UK: https://www.goldengiving.com/secure/direct-debit/create/orphansinthewild

USA: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=27-0119874

FIN: https://www.mufindinystavat.net/tule-mukaan

Marion Gough

10 Year Anniversary Since Our First Three Children In Their New Home.

July 7th, 2017 marks the 10 year anniversary of the Children’s Village here in Mufindi. As we count down each of the 10 days leading up to this amazing anniversary, we are asking for #10daysofaction from our former volunteers, donors, supporters, and anyone whose lives have been touched by the work in Mufindi.

#10yearsofservice #10daysofaction #10yearsin10days #FCWCT

Starting tomorrow, our goal is to secure monthly sponsors for each of the 10 projects we are highlighting over this 10 day countdown to our #10yearanniversary!

Monthly sponsorships allow us the financial security to plan projects, respond to community needs appropriately, and continue to do what we do best- love the children of Mufindi!

Who remembers Mufindi in 2007?

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