Hi! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kirsten. I’m a 24-year-old living in Northern Virginia and I’m currently signed up for a 7 week volunteer program through Volunteer Africa (working with the Health Action Promotion Association) in Tanzania. The program goes from July 23 – September 8 and I’m unbelievably excited. There are two main projects going on this year in the village of Kinapundu, one being the building of staff houses for a newly built health dispensary, and the other being a rain water harvesting tank.
A little information about Tanzania, via the Volunteer Africa website:
- Around 38 million people live in Tanzania, including 1 million on the islands of Zanzibar. Population growth is about 3% a year. (Source = Tanzania National Projections, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) , 2006).
- In 2001, 36% of people lived below the national poverty line. (Source = Household Budget Survey report, NBS , 2002)
- The average national income (GNI) per person is US$340 (compared to US$34,000 in the UK). (Source = World Development Indicators, World Bank 2006 ).
- Economic growth has been strong since 2000 with annual GDP increases of between 5% and 7% each year. (Source = Poverty and Human Development Report, Government of Tanzania, 2005 )
- Tanzania had its last elections in December 2005 and they were declared ‘free and fair’.
- Primary school enrolment is high with 96% of children enrolled. (Source = Basic Statistics in Education, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, 2006)
- More than 1 in 10 children dies before their fifth birthday, although this rate has fallen by a quarter in the last five years. (Source = Demographic and Health Survey, NBS, 2005)
- For every 1,000 births almost 6 women die in child birth. Tanzania has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Africa. (Source = Demographic and Health Survey, NBS, 2005)
- Just over 1 million adults aged 15 to 59 (7%) are infected with HIV. (Source = HIV/AIDS survey, NBS, 2005)
- Only half the rural population has access to an improved water source. (Source = Poverty and Human Development Report, Government of Tanzania, 2005 )
I’ve created this blog to help people get to know me, as well as to help get the word out about my fundraising efforts. Traveling to Tanzania costs a lot of money, and as a volunteer I am 100% responsible for the financial burden. The program cost is $2,600 and the flights will easily come to over $2,000…so you can see it adds up quickly! If you have any questions, concerns, advice (oo especially if you have advice!) feel free to comment, I’d be more than happy to communicate with anyone who wishes to talk about my endeavors :).
I’ve created a Facebook page, as well as a Twitter, both operating under the same “Tanzania Kiki” name. I also have a FundRazr app on Facebook for donations. Please help me get the word out! I’m SO looking forward to this adventure, it’s going to be a life-changing experience and I can’t wait to get started, but I need everyone’s support!
TanzaniaKiki 