WeSeeHope USA Autumn Newsletter 2023

NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2023

PHIL

&

WENDY WALL MBE, WESEEHOPE CO-FOUNDERS

SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE

Welcome to your Autumn Newsletter!

In July, we had the privilege of visiting our partners in Tanzania and seeing the work we do together first-hand.

Our first few days were spent at a Day Care Centre in Mwanza, the country’s second largest city, with our partner, Cheka Sana. Supported through our Street Work Program, this provides vital care for children as young as seven years old who are living on the city streets.

Having not traveled to the region for a few years, it was an instant reminder of the harsh reality of life for children in such vulnerable circumstances. With no food, no one to encourage or care for them, and with no love around them, they are utterly, gutwrenchingly isolated.

At the centre, the children access incredible support, from hot meals and healthcare, to life skills and education classes. Counseling and support sessions help the team to understand why the children have ended up on the streets and they take steps to repair broken family relationships where possible.

Most impressive was seeing how they have launched our community banking and business initiative, the Village Investors Program (VIP), in villages around the city where extreme poverty is forcing a high number of children to flee in order to find money and driving child rights abuses. Working with the parents and guardians of children who are at-risk and teaching them to earn a sustainable income, the VIP helps to tackle why they are leaving home to live on the streets in the first place.

Carefully-designed and connected programs like this were evident on every leg of our journey in Tanzania, seamlessly providing interventions for the most vulnerable children within their community and throughout their childhood.

We left feeling both inspired by the amazing people we met, the progress we saw and the development of our programs in new communities, but hungry to do more. We will use this energy as we make our current move to America to help accelerate the growth of WeSeeHope USA.

On the next page are some of the photo highlights from the trip - we’ve also shared more thoughts in this short blog.

Thank you so much for your support of this important work, we and the whole WeSeeHope team are so grateful!

PARTNER UPDATES

FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE

Here’s a snapshot of some of the incredible work you have made possible over the past few months.

KICK-STARTING CHANGE FOR CHILDREN LIVING ON THE STREETS IN TANZANIA

At the Day Care Centre in Mwanza, our partner Cheka Sana deliver weekly artwork sessions for young children who are living on the streets. Pictured here is one of the meetings from June.

Not only are the sessions an opportunity for escapism and fun, they also encourage the children to be creative and express their feelings through what they are making. Combined with the other services at the centre, this is one of the steps in helping children to process their emotions and begin to tackle their trauma.

LEARNING PRACTICAL SKILLS IN MALAWI

In August, 12 young people from the Ndakwera District in southern Malawi completed courses delivered through our Vocational Training Program with our partner MPC Blantyre.

Filip, who is 17 and lives with his mother and three siblings, has chose to learn bricklaying. Upon graduation, he received a toolkit and start-up materials to help him launch his own business constructing houses. He has since worked with three other young people in his community to pass on the skills he has developed and to help them find work too.

CREATING NEW EARLY LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN UGANDA

Since the start of the year, we have been working with our partner ACET Gulu to establish two new pre-schools in the villages of Abalobedo and Woromitee in northern Uganda. So far, four local volunteers have started their teacher training and both pre-schools have been provided with play equipment for the children to learn and have some fun!

We are delighted that they both officially opened at the end of June, with 100 pupils in total aged 2-5 years already enrolled and learning their 123’s and ABC’s. They will provide a safe and conducive learning environment for the children in the communitities, helping to open up education and life opportunities as they grow up.

ENCOURAGING PEER-TO-PEER SUPPORT IN KENYA

With our partner ANPPCAN Kenya we are working with 10 Child Rights Clubs in schools in the Teso North Sub-County this year. The students who are part of the clubs learn about their rights and responsibilities and become ambassadors in their schools and communities.

The members of one of the clubs at Kakoit Primary School, pictured here in July, have started both a maize garden and a piggery project. By selling their livestock’s offspring and maize, the club are using their profits to support vulnerable children in their community, paying for school fees, learning materials and uniforms.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR WORK WITH PARTNERS

STREET WORK PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

URGENT & ONGOING CARE FOR CHILDREN ON THE STREETS

Children living on the streets are extremely vulnerable. Each day, they are at acute risk of violence, exploitation and addiction, and face enormous challenges to their health and wellbeing.

Complex social and economic issues including war, drought, hunger, neglect, family disintegration and the death of a parent can push children from their homes and onto the streets. Desperate for food and money, they can be forced to separate from their families or choose to flee in search of better opportunities.

Many children find their way to larger towns and cities because of the increased opportunities to make money there. Without any protection

or support system however, they are forced to live day-to-day under constant risk and endure an incredibly perilous environment.

Together with three of our partners, we are working in the cities of Nairobi and Nakuru in Kenya and Mwanza in Tanzania to help younger children who are new to the streets and older children who are part of street gangs by:

IDENTIFYING and building relationships with them through our partner’s experienced Street Work teams, who carry out regular visits to the streets and are specialists in working with such vulnerable young people.

RUNNING a Day Care Centre in Mwanza which gives younger children access to counseling, education, healthcare, food and hygiene, and where they are given support to return to a safe environment.

EMPOWERING

older children to form their own Street Association and run a group enterprize together, such as rubbish recycling or car washing, whilst also training individuals in skills such as mechanics, hospitality and beauty.

For children aged between 7-14 years, the Day Care Centre in Mwanza is a safe space for them to receive immediate and ongoing care. Accessed by 70

children each year, the centre aims to help children to safely rebuild their relationships with their family so that they can return home.

ACCESS URGENT CARE & SUPPORT

For older children aged 16-25 years, Street Associations increase their social and economic resilience and help them to leave the streets on a permanent basis. Through life skills

PROCESS THEIR TRAUMA

RETURN HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES

sessions, football tournaments and camping trips, members work together to build their self-esteem, tackle issues of addiction, and launch their own joint enterprize.

MOVE INTO RENTED ACCOMODATION

LEARN SKILLS & FIND EMPLOYMENT

ODETHA, A MEMBER OF THE STREET WORK PROGRAM IN TANZANIA

“NOW I WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH.”

Meet Odetha (second from the left), who is 20 years old and lives in the Ilemela District of Mwanza with her young child.

Growing up in Kagera, a rural district along the western shores of Lake Victoria, Odetha spent her early years living at home with her family. However, she said that “my life had a lot of ups and downs.”

At 14, Odetha planned to finish her primary education and move on to start secondary school. Despite her ambitions, her parents decided that they wouldn’t let her continue with her studies.

This is a widespread issue across Tanzania, with just 29% of children enrolling at secondary school. As is often the case, it is girls that face the greatest barriers to their right to an education.

At this point, Odetha decided that she

would leave home and move to Mwanza in hope of finding better opportunities that a city can bring. However, work was hard to come by and without any money she found herself living on the streets.

“I left for Mwanza to find a job that I could do. Unfortunately I ended up becoming a sex worker. Faced with many difficult challenges, I eventually fell pregnant.”

In October 2020, the Cheka Sana Street Work Team met Odetha and introduced her to the Kinara Street Association. This is a group of 14 other young women in similar positions to Odetha in Mwanza.

Over the last few years, with guidance

from the Street Work Team, Odetha and her peers bonded through regular support sessions, team-building exercises and mentorship.

During a careers guidance session, she expressed an interest in tailoring and so was supported to enrol on a course.

“Without Cheka Sana, I don’t know where I would be. Through the skills sessions, I learned to change my behaviour. Then, I was able to attend the workshop and now I am skilled in tailoring.”

Since completing her course, Odetha has been employed by the workshop where she trained, giving her access to equipment and materials.

The income from her job has enabled her to start renting a room with a friend, leave behind sex work for good, and raise her child in a safe environment.

“Now I will continue to push until my dream of owning my own home comes true.”

TRAINING COURSES COMPLETED BY THE KINARA STREET ASSOCIATION MEMBERS

Including Odetha, 13 out of the 15 Kinara Street Association members have graduated from a vocational training course, learning practical skills that have helped them to find jobs or start their own businesses. The two who have not completed a course yet have been employed by their fellow group members.

$106 IS ENOUGH FOR A YOUNG PERSON OR CHILD TO BE PART OF OUR STREET WORK PROGRAM