VOLUNTEERING IN BABY HOME IN TANZANIA

VOLUNTEERING IN BABY HOME IN TANZANIA

Are you on a career break, planning a gap year or simply available to help others abroad?

ABOUT THE PROJECT: Home for babies and toddlers was created for those who have been abandoned or whose parents have died. They provide 24hr care and love for up to 40 children aged 1 week – 3 years. Baby home is intended as a short-term care facility, usually for not more than 2 years. Any relative, who is willing and able to take over care of a child after is has been weaned and able to eat solid food, will do so. Families of the babies are encouraged to visit them regularly. If there is no one to care for a child they work with the Ministry of Social Affairs to find a permanent family for the child with either a Tanzanian family or a Western family permanently living in Tanzania.

All administrative staff are volunteers. The only paid workers are the Tanzanian mamas and housekeepers who provide 24hr feeding and care for the children.

Baby home was established by an American woman who lives on site. It is privately funded through donations from within Tanzania as well as from around the world.

VOLUNTEER HOURS: Between 8am to 2pm. Feeding times are 8am and 12 noon, so more assistance is needed at these times.

VOLUNTEER DUTIES: Taking care of infants and toddlers, aged from 1 month to two years old, including bathing, changing diapers, playtime, stories and feeding. The mamas and housekeepers do a wonderful job with caring for the children, but it is difficult for each child to get consistent one on one attention. Volunteers can help with feeding, play time, stories, games and changing nappies!

Assisting the laundry, kitchen and housekeeping staff, shopping for food and other essentials.

Assisting with office duties.

THINGS TO BRING: If you would like to bring a gift for the babies, their number one need is infant formula, in particular, Lactogen I and Lactogen II. They also appreciate sugar, maize flour, porridge, oil, rice, beans, laundry detergent and cloth nappies (diapers).

THINGS TO KNOW:

Some of the babies at the centre are HIV+. This is not something to be afraid of but certainly to be aware of. HIV is found in blood and other body fluids such as semen and vaginal fluids. The virus does not live for long outside the body, so for transmission to occur you would need to have bodily fluid from an infected person to get inside your body. This can occur through contact with the bloodstream (through an open cut or wound) or by passing through delicate mucous membranes, such as inside the vagina, rectum or urethra, or by splashing onto a mucus membrane (inside the nose or the eyes). 

HIV cannot be transmitted through spitting, sneezing, sharing glasses, cutlery or musical instruments. You also cannot be infected in swimming pools, showers or by sharing washing facilities or toilet seats.

HIV cannot reproduce inside an insect (eg mosquitos) so cannot transmit HIV to another person it feeds on.

VOLUNTEER ACCOMODATION: We recommend Ujamaa hostel in Arusha which is absolutely amazing place to stay. Everybody is very friendly, the food is divine, the rooms spotlessly clean, staff is wonderfull. The price depends on a period of stay and includes delicious breakfast and dinner. 

Ujamaa Hostel was created for volunteers and travlleres to provide the best quality low-cost accommodation and volunteer experiences in Arusha, Tanzania. It's fun, friendly, safe and affordable.

Ujamaa is the Swahili word for "extended family" which in Africa means that every individual work for the benefit of the community. It is the belief that community should be based on cooperation and that the advancement of the whole is the foundation for each individual's existence. This ideal is the basic for the Ujamaa Hostel where people can come together to share thier skills, expertise and enthusiasm with thise in need in the local community and have a whole lof of fun while doing it.   

Ujamaa Hostel