Imagine you are an 11 year old child who suddenly loses his father. This would have a huge impact on your life, and you would have to learn to live with his absence.
Now, imagine you live with your parents in a slum in Tanzania, a life on the breadline. You turn 11 years old, and your father dies. In addition to the loss of your father, your family has also lost a vital source of income. Having lived on the edge of starvation before, your family must now struggle to obtain basic needs like food and clean water. There is no support from the government.
What if your mother suddenly becomes ill and is hospitalized? Who will take care of your family? How will you pay your mother’s medical bills?
Our project is here to help families in situations like this. We want to support families in time of sickness where there is no income by providing food and covering medical expenses. After recovery, we will continue to help these families with restarting their old businesses to make sure they can provide for their own families in the future.
Imagine...
Widows & Watoto is a nonprofit, nonreligious, nongovernmental organization supporting single mothers and their children in Tanzania. The biggest part of the funds is used for education of children and youth, other parts for medical care and starting capitals enabling the woman to start or expand a profitable business.
The aim of our project is to give support to widows and their families who are in urgent situations of need. In case that the mother is sick, we want to give a temporary support to the families until the mother is cured. When the mother is in good health state, we want to make them able to sustain the families alone by starting or restarting a profitable business. The concept is turning widows into entrepreneurs so they can feed their families. Another part of our work is supporting the children and youth with education by paying school fees, school supplies and vocational education.
You can donate money to our project with or without a special designated use. On our website, you can find what we currently need to buy or children who need sponsors and you can choose what or who you want to support by making a donation with a designated use. Especially in January we have high costs due to the beginning of the school year and all the fees that need to be paid. If you donate money without a designated use, it will be used where it is most needed in the project. You are also welcome to donate commodities.
We would be happy if you could help us by donating your time and helping us with the organization. There are two possibilites:
1. become an active member of the German association
2. travel to Tanzania to help there
If you are interested, please contact us via email (widows.and.watoto@gmail.com) or via the contact form on the website.
Facts:
Why are there so many orphans in Tanzania?
HIV is the main reason for the big amount of orphans in Tanzania. There are no detailed statistics on the other causes of death of parents. In general, respiratory diseases, malaria, diarrheal diseases are other causes of death in Tanzania.
According to estimations of UNAIDS for the year 2015, the number of orphans due to HIV aged 0 to 17 years is 700,000 - 880,000 (source: http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/unitedrepublicoftanzania).
Statistics are also available from UNICEF: 1,200,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS in 2012, the total number of orphans due to all reasons for the same year is 3,100,000.
The level of poverty in Tanzania is high. The definition of poverty is a contentious point, which differs from one country to another. There are also varying degrees of poverty. From a broader perspective, poverty is defined as "the state of being extremely poor" and is understood by many to mean the lack of basic necessities such as food, water, shelter, healthcare, and primary education.
Slow economic growth still is a contributory factor for poverty in Tanzania. Based on 2007 estimates, more than a third of households "live below the basic needs poverty line" earning less than $1 a day, while 20% of the total population "live below the food poverty line".
UNICEF argues that, whilst Tanzania has made great efforts in meeting its domestic and international targets in the alleviation poverty especially in the areas of education and healthcare, poverty is still an important issue for the country which needs concerted efforts from all stakeholders. UN adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which needs immediate attention by all people in the world. The goals are available here: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/