WHY CHOOSE THIS TRIP

Making A Difference In Malawi
The Problem
The Solution
Partner History
What Help Is Required?
Location

Making A Difference In Malawi
Tanzania\\\'s poverty is not on the lines of the Sudan, Ethiopia and the dreadful images we constantly see on the TV. Tanzanians are generally not starving; their poverty is not related to food, as most of the population are subsistence farmers. The poverty they suffer from is lack of money to make improvements to their lives, to buy school uniforms, pay for secondary education, contribute to community development funds, install water pumps to stop them having to walk miles to the nearest pump/river, pay for medical attention.

By volunteering on this project you will directly help to improve the lifestyles of many Tanzanian childre and their families.

The Problem
The HIV/AIDS situation is grave at 8.8% of all 15-49 year olds. Many lack the suitable medicine or support. The children have stay at home and look after their sick family members, or work in the fields and as a consequence fail to get or complete their education. Only 58% of children complete their primary education.

There are strategies in place to combat the different guises of poverty; to improve literacy levels, to reduce malnutrition and disease, to improve food production, shelter and child immortality rates. But many of the strategies have failed to make significant improvements and the increasing population size has hindered programmes. 72% of the population are poor and 49% live in abject poverty.

It is not that the Government ignores them; it is that the government lacks the funds and the expertise to resolve all the problems.

The Solution
The Livingstone Tanzania Trust (LTT) understand that there are many problems and help is needed on a huge scale. But with the help must come dignity. People want to fend for themselves and LTT helps them to help themselves.

In trying to make improvements the Government adopted the Millennium Development Goal of free Primary Education for all. This had a massive impact throughout the country as the number of kids trying to attend the schools literally doubled overnight. Schools lacked the space and the teachers. The Government started to run a plan to build move schools but this was fast amended when the costs soared, to just putting the roof on if the community built to the lintel. This scheme has now finished as the Government focus on secondary schools. The increase students lead to an increased demand for teachers, and to combat this demand the government reduced the number of years it takes to qualify, so that less skilled teachers could get to the schools, which is only going to lead to a spiral in standards. Poor pay, lack of housing and the inability to select where you work makes teaching less attractive which puts further strain on the system.

We want to offer the teachers more training. We want to offer them the opportunity to learn more about their subjects, to learn different ways to get their messages across the the students, to offer them accommodation, and give them an opportunity to feel valued within their community

Partner History
Quest Overseas joined forces with the Livingstone Tanzania Trust in 2007, after being approached by Julian Page, one of the Directors of the Trust.

The Livingstone Tanzania Trust is not a volunteer organisation; their skills are in development and business. It is for that reason that Julian was keen to team up with Quest to manage their volunteer expeditions.  The LTT shared the same ethics and values as us and after a visit by Beth, our Africa Operations Manager, we could quickly see that we would make an excellent partnership.


What Help Is Required?
Work includes rural construction- cement mixing, carrying rocks and sand, making mud bricks, carrying water. You will also get involved in educational work in local schools, organising local activity days for local school children, how bricks are made, Kiswahili, Problems faced in developing countries , traditional drumming and dancing, cultural differences and similarities and even how to wear a Kanga!

Location
The project is based in the Babati district in the Manyara region of northern Tanzania. Volunteers on this project will be living closely with local communities in a very rural environment.  Babati is classic Africa. The villages are mud walled huts with thatched roofs and the village hall is a mat under a wide spreading tree.