I've now been working at TICC (Tanga International Competence Centre) for three months. I thought it was about time I said a bit more about my actual work here and what TICC means for the local people.
TICC is started my Ruth Nesje - here she is known as Mama Ruti - a pretty incredible norwegian lady. She wants to show everyone that it's possible to do aid work in a sustainable-non dependent-empowering way. TICC is partly hotel and conference business and partly social projects. The hotel business employs over 40 local people per day and provides a secure and comfortable working environment. Most of the guests at the hotel/hostel are norwegian student who have their placement or project work here or other people doing voluntary work. The hotel business is at the moment mainly providing for the staff salary, but the hope is that in the future it can also pay for some of the social projects.
The social projects are mainly sponsored by Ruth and her husband, their friends and relatives, and previous students. With the help of people in Norway, TICC has started a kindergarten where they pay the salary of the teacher, they give a banana every day to each of the 700 children at the primary school and kindergarten, they sponsor education for hundreds of children, paying for three family homes, started several microfinance groups, and help many families to start up small businesses, help many many children with health problems, disabilities, give out soap, food, clothes, footballs, arrange educational meeting and training sessions.. really, whatever a village or family need to develop, TICC will probably find a way to help!
My work here has mainly been focused on follow up with a young girl whos family could not provide a secure home for her. TICC managed, in agreement with the family and village leaders, to move her to boarding school, and for the holidays she gets to live in one of the family homes. We have visited her regularly and seen her develop and grow as a person.
Then we had follow up with two HIV positive girls. We've gone with them to health checks, helped their grandmother start a business (all she needed was glasses to be able to be a tailor again), visited them and arranged a nice relaxing family day for them and the grandmother at TICC.
We have started a group for 13 youths who failed their 7. grade exam and are therefor not allowed to continue with education. We've had weekly meetings with them, arranged for them to go to a english course every day, helped them make a puppet theatre and song show for the kindergarten, and developed a plan for how they can get some paid work with TICC in the future making performancees for the primary school about different health problems.
We have also had follow up with a family home where there has been some tension and lack of communication. We have had many conversation and a family meeting with them and tried to help the family create a more loving environment.
I have larned so very very much from working here. I now know so much more about health problems here (such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, scabies, ring worms, fungus). There is a very strong connection between poverty and health problems- Lack of money means lack of nutritional food, soap, clean water, medicines, shoes, clothes, which quickly leads to health problems.
I've learned a lot about how corruption ruines every part of society from stealing peoples recourses, giving people wrong diagnosis and fake medicine and stopping important development, to creating general distrust, selfishness and meanness.
