PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Nicola and Tristan Mee flew to Mozambique in October 2011 to visit the Inhambane region, the poorest region of Mozambique with 80.7% of the population living below the poverty line, (www.worldbank.org ) in order to make contact with local people and find a community with which to work on the project. We focussed on the town of Vilankulo, in the north of the region, which has an airport which will be useful for volunteers and flying in any supplies required, and also near to the Bazaruto National park which is some of the best diving in Mozambique. During the trip we met with AIPDC; Association of Initiatives for Community Development in Vilankulo; an organisation that works with the local hospital providing support for those living with HIV/AIDS. This work currently includes local volunteers going into the community to educate people on medication options, safe living and safe sex. In addition AIPDC provides support for these families informing them of other services and benefits available to them e.g World Food Programme packages. However, AIPDC has many more dreams that they want to achieve but are unable to with the funding and resources currently available. The organisation recently submitted a plan to the local Mayor with the idea of building an education centre and offices for the organisation (as they currently rent from the local church) and the Mayor granted them some land which was unfortunately too far from the town to be of any real use, so their plan had to be stopped as no funds were available.
· Working in partnership, The Mozambique Project and AIPDC will be able to work on the following projects:
· PHASE ONE (First 2 years): AIPDC will locate a suitable plot of land in Vilankulo and The Mozambique Project will fundraise to pay for it. This land will be used to build the Vocational Education Centre, volunteer accommodation and permanent offices for AIPDC. The Mozambique Project has a group of building lecturers ready and waiting to head to Vilankulo to begin building and teaching local people the necessary skills to complete the structures when the land has been purchased. The Vocational Education Centre will run both short and long term courses providing free access to useful skills that will enable those affected by HIV/AIDS to learn skills to earn money and improve their quality of life. The courses will be run by both volunteers from Mozambique and international volunteers, and while some e.g. English Language, will be longer term courses, others, e.g. using spreadsheets to keep count of your finances will be short courses, potentially run by people who want to have a 2 week volunteering holiday.
· PHASE TWO (years 3 to 10): Depending on the success of fundraising within the current economic climate and the speed at which we are able to complete the initial phase, we will then turn our attention to the town orphanage which currently provides very basic accommodation for the orphans. We are looking to build solid structures that provide a better standard of living, hopefully in the style of family houses that will each house 6 children and a ‘mother’ figure recruited from the community. In this phase we are also hoping to develop the medical outreach programme already run by AIPDC.
· PHASE THREE (years 10 to 15): This will be a consolidation phase.
· PHASE FOUR (years 15 to 20): The third phase will consist of the development of an eco-diving resort that will be situated on the coast, near to the village and will provide employment for those from the village that wish to work in the tourism industry, and the profits of which will be fed back into the village project.
· Mozambique has a growing tourist industry and has some of the worlds best diving, including such attractions as rare marine life (dugongs), manta rays and whale sharks, and many SCUBA divers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to conserve the marine environment. Divers at this resort will also be offered the opportunity to visit the village and become further involved in the project.
· Because English is the international language of the tourist industry, the fact that people will be learning English at school will provide them with a great opportunity to enter this industry, working either as guides, chefs, front of house staff, managers or any other job connected with the industry and running of the resort. Those that are interested will also be offered the opportunity to train as diving instructors in order to retain Mozambican ownership of the project in an industry that is more often than not, dominated by wealthier foreign divers.
· Profits from the resort will be given back to the village.
NEED FOR THIS PROJECT:
· According to the most up to date figures we were able to access online ( http://www.avert.org/aids-orphans.htm) there are currently over 670,000 orphans living in Mozambique due to HIV/AIDS. (Unicef figures were not up to date but also predicted a similar number by 2010.)
· Care International http://www.careinternational.org.uk/ states that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Vilankulo has reached 12.5% and general understanding of HIV is low.
· “After losing their parents, most children turn to domestic work, agricultural work or informal commerce to survive, often dropping out of school to earn an income and manage household chores. Many had no choice but to go into commercial sex work or marry early, both of which increased their vulnerability to HIV. Many orphans are integrated into extended or substitute families, but a recent study by Save the Children, an international organisation working to improve the lives of disadvantaged children, found that this was not always the best solution. The study documented abuse suffered by some orphans, especially those living with adoptive families. Some of the children interviewed said they were given less food than others in the household, suffered physical abuse, were obliged to take on a heavy load of household chores, and were not always sent to school.” ( http://www.aidsportal.org/web/guest/document?view=object&loc=/db/Domain/62756/Data/62776/Atom/UC-Contribute-62776-10113-20100630-120837&id=67ca1554-0730-4ed3-974a-e094a35a5ea0 )
· According to the CIA world factbook, Mozambique currently ranks number 7 in the world for rate of AIDS deaths. ( https://www.cia.gov )
· Not only is HIV/AIDS a severe and increasing problem, but Malaria is even more of a threat to Mozambican children: “More children die of malaria than any other disease and malaria is responsible for 60% of children in hospitals..” ( http://www.malariaconsortium.org/news.php?id=120 ) www.themozambiqueproject.org.uk
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Nicola and Tristan Mee flew to Mozambique in October 2011 to visit the Inhambane region, the poorest region of Mozambique with 80.7% of the population living below the poverty line, (www.worldbank.org ) in order to make contact with local people and find a community with which to work on the project. We focussed on the town of Vilankulo, in the north of the region, which has an airport which will be useful for volunteers and flying in any supplies required, and also near to the Bazaruto National park which is some of the best diving in Mozambique. During the trip we met with AIPDC; Association of Initiatives for Community Development in Vilankulo; an organisation that works with the local hospital providing support for those living with HIV/AIDS. This work currently includes local volunteers going into the community to educate people on medication options, safe living and safe sex. In addition AIPDC provides support for these families informing them of other services and benefits available to them e.g World Food Programme packages. However, AIPDC has many more dreams that they want to achieve but are unable to with the funding and resources currently available. The organisation recently submitted a plan to the local Mayor with the idea of building an education centre and offices for the organisation (as they currently rent from the local church) and the Mayor granted them some land which was unfortunately too far from the town to be of any real use, so their plan had to be stopped as no funds were available.
· Working in partnership, The Mozambique Project and AIPDC will be able to work on the following projects:
· PHASE ONE (First 2 years): AIPDC will locate a suitable plot of land in Vilankulo and The Mozambique Project will fundraise to pay for it. This land will be used to build the Vocational Education Centre, volunteer accommodation and permanent offices for AIPDC. The Mozambique Project has a group of building lecturers ready and waiting to head to Vilankulo to begin building and teaching local people the necessary skills to complete the structures when the land has been purchased. The Vocational Education Centre will run both short and long term courses providing free access to useful skills that will enable those affected by HIV/AIDS to learn skills to earn money and improve their quality of life. The courses will be run by both volunteers from Mozambique and international volunteers, and while some e.g. English Language, will be longer term courses, others, e.g. using spreadsheets to keep count of your finances will be short courses, potentially run by people who want to have a 2 week volunteering holiday.
· PHASE TWO (years 3 to 10): Depending on the success of fundraising within the current economic climate and the speed at which we are able to complete the initial phase, we will then turn our attention to the town orphanage which currently provides very basic accommodation for the orphans. We are looking to build solid structures that provide a better standard of living, hopefully in the style of family houses that will each house 6 children and a ‘mother’ figure recruited from the community. In this phase we are also hoping to develop the medical outreach programme already run by AIPDC.
· PHASE THREE (years 10 to 15): This will be a consolidation phase.
· PHASE FOUR (years 15 to 20): The third phase will consist of the development of an eco-diving resort that will be situated on the coast, near to the village and will provide employment for those from the village that wish to work in the tourism industry, and the profits of which will be fed back into the village project.
· Mozambique has a growing tourist industry and has some of the worlds best diving, including such attractions as rare marine life (dugongs), manta rays and whale sharks, and many SCUBA divers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to conserve the marine environment. Divers at this resort will also be offered the opportunity to visit the village and become further involved in the project.
· Because English is the international language of the tourist industry, the fact that people will be learning English at school will provide them with a great opportunity to enter this industry, working either as guides, chefs, front of house staff, managers or any other job connected with the industry and running of the resort. Those that are interested will also be offered the opportunity to train as diving instructors in order to retain Mozambican ownership of the project in an industry that is more often than not, dominated by wealthier foreign divers.
· Profits from the resort will be given back to the village.
NEED FOR THIS PROJECT:
· According to the most up to date figures we were able to access online ( http://www.avert.org/aids-orphans.htm) there are currently over 670,000 orphans living in Mozambique due to HIV/AIDS. (Unicef figures were not up to date but also predicted a similar number by 2010.)
· Care International http://www.careinternational.org.uk/ states that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Vilankulo has reached 12.5% and general understanding of HIV is low.
· “After losing their parents, most children turn to domestic work, agricultural work or informal commerce to survive, often dropping out of school to earn an income and manage household chores. Many had no choice but to go into commercial sex work or marry early, both of which increased their vulnerability to HIV. Many orphans are integrated into extended or substitute families, but a recent study by Save the Children, an international organisation working to improve the lives of disadvantaged children, found that this was not always the best solution. The study documented abuse suffered by some orphans, especially those living with adoptive families. Some of the children interviewed said they were given less food than others in the household, suffered physical abuse, were obliged to take on a heavy load of household chores, and were not always sent to school.” ( http://www.aidsportal.org/web/guest/document?view=object&loc=/db/Domain/62756/Data/62776/Atom/UC-Contribute-62776-10113-20100630-120837&id=67ca1554-0730-4ed3-974a-e094a35a5ea0 )
· According to the CIA world factbook, Mozambique currently ranks number 7 in the world for rate of AIDS deaths. ( https://www.cia.gov )
· Not only is HIV/AIDS a severe and increasing problem, but Malaria is even more of a threat to Mozambican children: “More children die of malaria than any other disease and malaria is responsible for 60% of children in hospitals..” ( http://www.malariaconsortium.org/news.php?id=120 ) www.themozambiqueproject.org.uk