Agriculture Training Project for HIV/AIDS Orphans

Background:

HIV/AIDS has had a devastating effect, both socially and economically on Tanzania. The United Nations AIDS report shows that there are over 1.1 million children who have been orphaned because of AIDS in Tanzania and that the epidemic continues to grow with 1 in 3 people between the ages of 18-25 are infected with AIDS. Education and orphan support is essential.

In the Mt. Kilimanjaro area of Tanzania, there are approximately 800 AIDS orphans. An organization called MKUKI provides an AIDS education centre and support group. In addition, they help AIDS orphans, who might otherwise be street children, receive training in various trades. These opportunities include the production of food crops, carpentry, auto mechanics and tailoring. In a previous project, Farmers Helping Farmers funded the agricultural training component, providing the money for agriculture education, seed, fertilizer, and steel tanks for grain storage. In 2002, the visiting Islanders noted that the school was in great need of better tools and equipment for the young orphans to learn a trade with. Through generous community donations, new tools for both the carpentry and auto mechanic classes were provided.

Project Impact:

In 2003 the Hillsborough Rotary Club of Charlottetown, PEI purchased a set of tools for each student, as well as a permanent set for the MKUKI organization. They are stored safely in the building. While at MKUKI, the orphans will use these tools to make furniture and repair cars. Upon graduation, the students can keep their tools to establish work for themselves. It is expected that after they earn some money with these tools, they will replace them with a new set for another MKUKI student to learn a trade.

The Posho Mill Projects:

Farmers Helping Farmers funded 9 farm women's groups in Kenya and Tanzania to purchase posho mills, in the early 1990's. Posho mills are hammer mills that grind maize into corn flour. If women did not have access to a posho mill they would have to pound the corn into flour by hand. Corn flour is a staple in the diet which is cooked and served as ugali. Ugali would replace potatoes, rice or bread in our North American diet. The posho mills were located in communities which did not have one. Therefore the women's group provided a necessary service to the local community. They were also able to raise funds for their group by charging a small fee to have corn ground into flour. Usually running the posho mill provided employment for one person.

Farm Children's Voices Project:

The project's main activity was an exchange between twelve rural youth from each of Kenya and PEI during the summer of 1994. The exchange visits provided the participants, and all who met them, with opportunities to expand their knowledge of global issues, particularly those related to agriculture. The project also provided the youth with the means to voice their opinions on these issues via four project outputs. These included a video with teachers' guide, a social studies theme binder entitled, "Different cultures, Different Farms", a 4-H project workbook, and a slide show. The project was funded by Health Canada's "Partnership for Children Fund".

Water Projects:

Lack of water is one of the main problems facing families in East Africa. Women often spend considerable time carrying water for their families from unsafe sources in many situations. Water projects have been a major activity for Farmers Helping Farmers. In the early 1990's, we funded a project which assisted 30 Women's Groups in Kenya to improve the water supply for their community. Through this project we often funded the purchase of plastic pipes to connect them to a water supply source. Alternately, we may have funded the construction of water tanks to collect and store the rain water from the roofs of their houses for later use. These projects have impacted up to 5000 people.

Through this project we funded the purchase of plastic pipes to connect them to a water source and the construction of water tanks to collect and store the rain water from the roofs of their homes. These projects have impacted up to 5000 people. Farmers Helping Farmers is currently initiating another project similar to this.