My final NGO visit was to Human Development Trust who work in 3 rural regions of Tanzania (Kagera [on Lake Victoria], Mbeya [south west, bordering Zambia] and Mtwara [south, bordering Mozambique]) and in Dar es Salaam. The NGO has three strategic pillars - policy advocacy eg: to government; building the capacity of other small NGOs, particularly NGOs who care for people with HIV/AIDS; and community development, particularly for vulnerable children and in STI/HIV prevention.
This is an impressive organisation that has grown to 19 staff, and engaged 8 overseas volunteers, in just 5 years. Their website http://www.humandevelopmenttrust/ is very interesting to browse, particularly "stories from the field" on the front page.
We just had time for morning meeting in the office with the telling of some stories relating to their work before I had to leave for the airport - which became a gridlocked trip through Dar's phenomenal traffic (this is a city the size of Melbourne without freeways, trains or trams) meaning that the driver had to divert from the main road through a few Dar suburbs to get me there just on time. Qatar Airways told me I was 7kg over my 20kg limit, US$169 if I wanted to take 27kg, so I had to jettison excess baggage... goodbye mouthwash, goodbye lonely planet, goodbye David Sedaris novel... sheesh...
Pictures below: Family in HDT's "Most Vulnerable Children" project, which aims to improve the economic activities of foster families which support vulnerable children, such as those whose parents have died from AIDS; meeting key HDT staff in Dar es Salaam; and children in a secondary school in Bukoba district who are very keen to study despite lack of desks and chairs.
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