What We Do
Bukumbi Diary - January 2009
Friday 9th January 2009
We are delighted that since the beginning of August Kibibi has been working with us at Bukumbi as our Community Development Worker. Currently she is spending time getting to know the community and staff at Bukumbi and then over the next few months she will be carrying out a full needs assessment of the community to assess who may be suitable to be part of the reintegration programme with support from B2A.
She has already identified a group of women who have some craft skills and is working with them to fine tune their crafts and look at ways of selling them as well working with the manager on business training for some of the older youth.
We are very excited about her role and the impact she will have with the community.
Thursday 15th January
As I was sat interviewing the Chairman of the community a car pulled up outside Jumbe dormitory and out stumbled a young lad who was more than a little worse for wear on the local beer. He had come to BCC to sleep off his drunken state in his Grandmother’s room as his wife wouldn’t let him home! The lads driving the car had brought him from Kigongo town, they were his friends and are related to the Balozi (dormitory leader) of Jumbe. I was sat with Paulo Busheshe, the Chairman of BCC, so wondered what he would do about the situation that had just unfolded in front of us.
After a long silence and concentrated looking at the open door to Jumbe, I asked him what he thought would be the appropriate action to take. He waited a while longer then went into Jumbe to see what was happening, shortly he re-emerged and sat down with me again. He called over the Balozi to make sure that the residents of Jumbe knew what had happened, as it was a security risk to say the least. After a quick ‘investigation’ the Balozi came out of Jumbe laughing, saying that it was ok and when the lad’s drunken state had passed he would be taken home. Apparently this is the first time this has happened, and with Mr Bundala the Centre Manager not present, it was good to see the Community Elders taking responsibility for their own issues, something we are always keen to encourage. (AW)
Thursday 22nd January
It was a busy morning at Bukumbi today; we left Mwanza with five of us in the car, plus two mattresses, two buckets and two hoes!
This was all because Fay has arranged for two of the boys at Bukumbi to go to secondary school and they leave tomorrow, so we took all their ‘equipment’ for them. As we handed the items over you could see the excitement in the boy’s eyes – it was a very proud moment for Fay – two of her kids leaving for school! The boys are pictured in this picture on the left, with Fay and John Simba.
We carried out a final assessment of Mpapua, the next building to be renovated, so we can put a plan in place to start the work early February ready for the Henry Schein team to complete the work over Easter.
Kibibi, John, Fay and myself then met with the centre manager to discuss a request that has come from the government to put a ‘bid’ in for all those between the ages of 18-40 who are interested in developing some sort of business – but not people living in the centre, it is aimed at dependants of those in the centre so that they can become independent. After several confusing conversations we appeared to leave with a plan! Many of the requests were for large amounts of money and my questions about supervision and training were met with vagueness. I don’t want to be cynical but we’ll see what happens – we’ll keep you posted! (JT)