Please read about our community initiatives and write to us if you want to support.
SPONSOR A CHILD
This program was created last in 2019 and it advocates for orphans and children in difficult conditions from the surrounding villages of Issenye, Nata, Kyandege, Sanzate, Salama A, Salama B, Mekomariro, and Tingirima to get a dormitory space. Nyamagoli Kuhemba from Isenye is sponsored by a medical doctor from the UK. We have 11 more students needing sponsors.
MEDICAL EMERGENCIES
MUCS advocates for the wellbeing of all families and children. When a family has an emergency, for instance, a child is sick and they don’t have any funds to take them to the hospital, MUCS would be their first step. MUCS can assist with a small amount of emergency funds such as ordering an ambulance from Nyamuswa (a town with a referral hospital). Families in need can also apply to get help with Health insurance coverage (usually TSH 40,000 per year = CAD$25).
The need for creating emergency funds for less fortunate families was realized in 2017 when a young girl known as Kadogo (11 y/o) had a tumor that would cost her life. Through these efforts, Oakridge Adventist Church donated $1000 which covered her surgery and treatment at the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam. Kadogo is now in grade 9 and she is in good shape.
THE EYE-GLASSES PROJECT
In collaboration with Hope for Happiness, and optometrists from KCMC, Muhimbili, and the Bunda Municipal Hospital, MUCS conducts campaigns for vision screening for adults and school children and provides eyeglasses for a subsidized cost. We collect gently-used glasses from optometry shops in Vancouver to serve our community. In January and February 2019 our campaign screened 721 people and more than 603 people (men, women, and school children) received the subsidized eyeglasses. This campaign is progressive.
WOMEN AND GIRLS IN NEED
We advocate for women empowerment. We hired 8 women some of whom have experienced sex-based violence and domestic violence. We are intending to start a community garden where more women who are in need can get support through growing vegetables and fruit trees and selling them to support their living.
We advocate for girls’ education and girls’ safety. Some students walk up to 5km every day to attend school and there is no school bus in the area that can help the students living far away from school. Our dormitory campaign for the girls living miles away has been a success. About 51 girls live in the dormitory which gives them a chance to maximize time for studying rather than doing excessive house chores. This campaign reduces pregnancies for girls at school. We are also considering buying a school bus for children whose parents/guardians do not wish to live at school at a young age.