Rasheed with some of the students and staff of Salama Center

Before joining AVC I was involved in various activities, some voluntary work and a few paying jobs. I got a diploma in Information Technology, which helped me to make a living. When I heard of AVC I was very excited and I wanted to join because in the past I had been involved with various groups that had not been successful, which had kept me from fulfilling my goals of helping the community.

I have always wanted to teach IT to young people in my community because it’s important that they have this education. Computer knowledge is becoming more essential every day and if more young people have this knowledge it will help Tanzania compete with other countries in the future. I love my country and I want to see it develop.

I used to have a dream to establish a school for developing the talents of vulnerable children. It pains my heart when I see children walking around in the streets, doing nothing when I know they have talents that are not being put to use. The moment I joined AVC my dreams turned into a vision with well-stated objectives. I am not even thinking about looking for other employment later on. I am just enjoying working with the community and I know that as soon as I finish with AVC I will be equipped to immediately start pursuing my goals.

Rasheed in the classroom

There are many ways that Africa Volunteer Corps is helping me meet my goals. First, I am learning teaching methods. Second, through working at a local center, I have gotten a platform to provide the education I always dreamed of providing. Third, getting a stipend means that all my needs are met and I can focus on doing good work in the community. Fourth, the workshops AVC provides give me the skills and knowledge I need in order to reach my goals.

Since I have joined AVC, I have gained a lot. For example, I am now confident that I know how to run my own project. I have made many new friends, foreigners and Tanzanians. I have increased my skills with computers. I have gained a good reputation within my community and from the students I train, more than I even expected. People have started trusting and respecting me to the point that they are involving me in important meetings. For example, the ward Executive Officer invited me to attend a meeting about youth development in the area.

When I joined AVC I didn’t expect to have the opportunity to learn all the things that I have. I thought I would just put my skills to use to train people at my placement. But AVC has given me even more that I use in my work every day, that helps me improve myself, and that will help me in my life, right now and in the future. And I am confident that I will learn still more during the time I have left with AVC.

Visualize Change is an event to change the conversation about Africa, to create opportunities for nuanced and informed dialogues based on reality rather than stereotypes, to emphasize local voices in the conversation about African development, and to encourage positive action. Organized in partnership with AfriMETRO, the Council of Young African Leaders, and the CUNY University Student Senate our goal is to inform and inspire while raising funds for Africa Volunteer Corps.

We will screen short films portraying positive and empowering stories about Africa, a panel discussion with experts, and presentation of the 1st Africa Volunteer Corps Action Award to honor a leader for positive action in Africa. We will also have a reception catered by African restaurants and a silent auction.

Location:
Macaulay Honors College
35 West 67th Street New York, NY 10023

Recipient of the Africa Volunteer Corps Action Award: Saran Kaba Jones, Founder of FACE Africa

Films:

Africa Rising (62 mins) portrays the grassroots movement to end female genital mutilation. Traveling through Burkina Faso, Mali, Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania, the film shows the ground-up movement to change a centuries-old tradition from within and the incredible power of locals to make a difference in their own communities.

The Thing That Happened (22 mins) profiles Hope North Vocational and Secondary School, a sanctuary for children affected by the civil war in northern Uganda, be they former child soldiers, orphans, or displaced persons. Founded by Ugandan Okello Sam, Hope North is an inspiring example of the possibilities of healing, humanity, and local activism.

Panelists:

Paula Heredia, Director of Africa Rising

Divine Muragijimana, President of the Council of Young African Leaders and Editor-in-Chief of Applause Africa

Representatives from Sanctuary For Families

Tickets available at http://visualizechange2012.eventbrite.com/

Gema's students show off the numbers they are learning

I am volunteering at Taqwa Nursery School, teaching and doing marketing. I am so proud and I like my work with Taqwa because I see the impact in the children. For example, they have learned the alphabet and numbers. As far as the marketing, I am using Facebook with the name  Taqwa Children Center and the email address taqwachildrencenter@yahoo.com. I am also marketing the center door-to-door, talking to parents about bringing their children to the center.

One challenge I faced early on, which seemed like a big problem when I began at Taqwa, is the issue of religion. I realized it was a problem after asking the director why there were so few children at the school. He answered that since the school is in a mosque, people in the community thought it was a school for Muslim children only. I realized there was religious discrimination happening in relation to the school. So I to put together a meeting of parents and community members to explain to them that what we are doing is teaching regular subjects such as English, Swahili, and math, and not anything having to do with religion. I also gave them the example that I myself am a Christian. They understood, Christians brought their children to enroll in the school, and we now have more students.

Gema in the classroom

I am very glad I joined AVC because my primary life goal is to help vulnerable children. I am happy to say that AVC has changed me a lot because before I joining AVC, I didn’t understand the meaning of volunteerism or its benefit. Now I am proud to be part of AVC/to be a volunteer. I have opened my mind, my goals have changed, and I have gotten clarity about my future. Before joining AVC I had the dream providing for the needs of vulnerable children, but I didn’t know how to accomplish this goal.  Since joining AVC, I have learned many things from the workshops that have showed me how I can help vulnerable children by opening a center, where to get funding, and how to make the organization stand out. Also, with what I have learned at my placement I will be able to run an organization as well as be a teacher. Now my goal when I have finished AVC, with help from what I have learned this year, is to open a center for street children and orphans.

I thank AVC for the good work they are doing. It has the possibility to change the mindset of all Africans because Africans are used to the people who do volunteer work being non-Africans. But we Africans can also volunteer and help the continent of Africa.

AVC Volunteer Martin Mwanyika outside of the Step-Up Center (Photo: Tegra Stone Nuess)

The challenges we face:

I have many challenges working with the kids, many due to having little experience working with NGO’s. Also, while I am a trained teacher, I had only worked with older students and never with nursery school children. Many of the challenges I face have to do with society as a whole knowing very little about early childhood education. Since they do not know about it, they do not value it. This means that people also do not show concern about children’s development.

Cooperation between the school and the parents is a very important challenge for us to overcome since caring for young children requires an information exchange between parents or guardians and teachers in order to help the children develop good behavior and to develop intellectually. We need to know how to have the parents work together with the school, to help the parents keep an open mind to the ideas of the school and to abide by school policies.

Furthermore, many of the children have behavior problems, such as theft, hitting, or fighting. They are often unresponsive to discipline. The challenge here is that we need to direct children so that they grow up with socially acceptable behavior.

I have tried to overcome these challenges by meeting with parents to teach them about the importance of early childhood education and its role in children’s development. This has helped the parents to participate in the children’s education. I have also talked to the parents about the importance of discipline at home and different strategies for discipline for young children. Overcoming this challenge and being able to shape positive social behavior has become the roots of lifting children to a better future.

Martin sings with his students

Vision for the future:

I find volunteering interesting because I like meeting people and making new friends with whom I can share ideas and knowledge. By being together in this way we create visions for the future of Tanzania. I also love that AVC helps the volunteers learn and diversify our knowledge, by having workshops, visiting Tanzanian projects and natural resources, and introducing us to new strategies for working with children.

I see a lot of potential for us to use what we learn in the workshops to help the management of local non-governmental organization (NGO’s). I am also very excited about the workshops AVC provides because one of the goals of AVC is to create a generation of African leaders and the workshops help bring about this reality in a practical way.  It is my belief that the more AVC grows the more management of local NGO’s will improve as a result of African volunteers bringing in awareness and new ideas to strengthen management with productive goals and objectives.

To put it simply, I believe in the power of change, never allowing troubled roots of the past to affect the present and future. I believe in focusing on strength and possibilities and never on weakness and failures. I believe that everything done well, diligently, and in faith will bring about positive results needed by society.

I believe that AVC will be a breakthrough for young African leaders and for all community-based organizations (CBO’s) and NGO’s. Once young African leaders have a good understanding of leadership and CBO’s have understanding of this leadership, the effects will be seen in the community and the whole country, from the ground up. I believe that one day Tanzania will no longer be one of the poor countries in Africa and the world, as long as we have good leaders who are working for the country. Good leadership brings about development.

Translated with help from Caitlin Kelley

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ ALL APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE APPLYING. WE CANNOT CONSIDER INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS COMPLETELY. We highly recommend writing the questions down or copying them onto a separate document first, drafting them on a separate sheet or document, then copying your answers into the application later. This will ensure that you can take your time answering the questions carefully and do not feel rushed.

The deadline for applications is September 1st, 2012.

The NGO where I work through AVC is Upendo Artist’s Association, located in Rau, where my primary role is to help children from precarious environments (orphans and children whose parents have HIV) to gain education. Upendo Artist’s Association also helps women who are living in poverty.

With my students

I had never before had the experience of doing work like this but I love it because I am gaining knowledge about educating children and I get a lot of joy out of working with children. I believe that when my time with AVC is over, in one way or another, I will have been able to make a difference in the lives of children with whom I work, especially in terms of providing them education that they would not otherwise have gotten.

It is the responsibility of every person to help the community where they live, especially for we Africans to help Africa. We have seen that there are many children who lack food, shelter, and clothing. You or me, together we can help these children. We can give them whatever God has enabled us to give. Volunteer work is wonderful because you can learn a lot of things about your own community.

I would like to advise all Africans who have been touched and who have the desire to volunteer to help Africa: do not hesitate to do so. This advice is especially for university graduates, who have knowledge and many different abilities that they can use to help those in the community that are living in hardship. Let’s work together to improve our communities.

Africa Volunteer Corps is accepting short films for our Visualize Change Film Forum annual fundraiser in partnership with AfriMETRO. Based in Tanzania, AVC is an organization dedicated to strengthening grassroots social change in Africa, and putting the development process in the hands of locals by training them to work in NGO’s. We ask for films that tell a counter narrative to the convenient story of disease, warfare, and poverty by portraying Africa’s human story, empowerment, successes, or the importance of local initiatives to the development process. We seek especially to showcase African filmmakers, but we welcome filmmakers of all nationalities.

The selected films will be shown to an audience of up to 100 Africa enthusiasts and philanthropists in New York in October 2012. An example of the films we seek is The Thing that Happened, which is available for viewing on YouTube, and works by WeOwnTV of Sierra Leone. The screenings will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers, AVC founder Caitlin Kelley and selected experts. A biography of each filmmaker (as well as contact information) will be included in our event program.

Films should be 10 to 90 minutes in length and submitted by May 30th. Please submit digital files to caitlin.kelley@africavolunteercorps.org via Dropbox. DVD’s should be sent to Caitlin Kelley, 260 New St, Athens, GA 30601. Films must be received by May 30th to be considered for inclusion in our 2012 forum. Films sent after this deadline will be kept for consideration in future events.

Questions can be sent to caitlin@africavolunteercorps.org or info@afrimetro.org. For more information about Africa Volunteer Corps, go to http://www.africavolunteercorps.org. And for AfriMETRO, go to http://www.afrimetro.org.

If you have not yet pledged, HELP US REACH OUR GOAL OF $5000 to cover the living stipends of our volunteers. Paying them a living stipend is what allows these future leaders to devote a year of service to their own country.

If you have already pledged, thank you so much for supporting the AVC volunteers! Please share the campaign with one friend and help us grow the movement!

Click on the image above to get to the campaign page

How we use your gift:

·     $5 pays for a day of work for a volunteer
·     $25 covers half a week of work at a local NGO
·     $50 provides a week to 10 days of volunteering
·     $200 supports a volunteer for an entire month
·     $500 covers approximately 3 months of work for a volunteer
·     $1,000 helps a volunteer for approximately 6 months
·     $2,400 empowers a volunteer for an entire year

It’s been an incredible couple of days as we watched scores of people join us and show their support. Help us hit our goal so we can continue creating economic empowerment, strengthening leadership, and putting Africans in control of development in Africa!

**If you have any problems at all, feel free to call WeDidIt Fundraising at 347-425-1257