VISION: A world in which each person affirms the unity and interconnectedness of humankind and acknowledges and embraces his or her role in the fight to end extreme poverty.
MISSION: To create "experiential bridges" by bringing Americans into some of the most remote and impoverished areas of Tanzania where they support UNITE's partner non-profit and humanitarian organizations by teaching and giving as well as by listening, observing and learning. This experience of sharing and mutual respect empowers and transforms the lives of all those involved.
UNITE's inaugural event - a humanitarian outreach tour completed July 2009 - combined hands-on teaching and training with education, discovery, and service. See photos below.
Anne Wells, Founder of UNITE
I am currently filling seats for UNITE's next humanitarian outreach tour, which will run in June 2010. If you're interesting in learning more about possible participation or about our commitment to the Tanzanian people, please email me directly at atmwells@gmail.com.
Our outreach group with the students of Orkeeswa Secondary School in Monduli
Morogoro Town
Our tour began in Morogoro, a town of about 200,000 people in Central Tanzania.
We worked with our friends at the Anglican Diocese of Morogoro -- supporting the work of the Mother's Union in serving widows with HIV/AIDS and in training parishes about First Aid, HIV/AIDS and addiction.
SEGA Secondary School for Girls
At SEGA, a secondary school for orphaned and disadvantaged girls, we taught First Aid and discussed puberty, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, relationship and other issues pertinent to the young women of Tanzania.
SEGA was started by American Polly Dolan to empower orphaned girls. There are more than 5 million children out of school in Tanzania, most of whom have been forced into child labor by extreme poverty, or through being orphaned by HIV/ AIDS, Malaria, or other tragedies. Many of these children have dropped out between primary and secondary school due to inability to pay school fees, and the extreme shortage of secondary schools in the country. To learn more about Polly's work, visit www.nurturingmindsinafrica.org
The Berega Hospital
From Morogoro we traveled further inland to visit and conduct training workshops at the Berega Hospital, a 165-bed hospital serving a catchment area of more than one million people.
AIDS patient at Berega
HIV/AIDS is a huge problem in Tanzania, as elsewhere throughout Africa, and there remains huge need for education and prevention measures as well as programs and care for those living with HIV/AIDS.
The only wheelchair at Berega Hospital
Post C-section
More than 1,000 of every 100,000 women in Tanzania die during childbirth (vs. 10 in the U.K.) 70% of women give birth without medical care or skilled assistance.
An infant at Berega
73 out of every 1,000 infants in Tanzania will die before their 1st birthday (versus 5 in the UK)
An orphan
According to one estimate there are more than 200,000 orphans in Tanzania (mostly due to the AIDS epidemic). These children need to be identified, housed, cared for, and educated.
A caregiver and orphan at the Berega Orphanage
We also work with the Berega orphanage which was created to care for infants whose mothers die during childbirth at the neighboring Berega Hospital.
Me holding an orphan at the Berega Orphanage
At Berega, extended family members come to care for the infants for 3 to 4 years until they are ready to transition back to their home villages. During these years, the caregivers receive an education making it easier for them to earn a living and provide for the children after leaving the orphanage.
IEFT - Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania
We then traveled to the Northern district where we worked with the Orkeeswa, a new secondary school for the Masai.
Anne, Peter, and Kim with some students at IEFT
IEFT was co-founded by American Peter Luis who saw a huge need for affordable secondary education for the Masai people. At IEFT, tuition is $25 a year (vs. $360 a year at a government school). Almost all the children are on scholarship; their families cannot afford to pay.
Students at IEFT
Our team trained the students about First Aid, wound and burn care, basic livesaving, HIV/AIDS, STDs, pregnancy, addiction, and more. For more information visit www.ieftz.org.
Water hole where the student's mothers water their livestock and get their own drinking water
The view from IEFT
Two children outside a traditional homestead in Maasailand
The Ngorogoro Crater
Our tour ended with a day and a half of safari. We visited Lake Manyara National Park and the Ngorogoro Crater, the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world which acts as a natural enclosure for almost every species of wildlife found in East Africa.
A black rhino in the Crater
There are an estimated 24 rhino in the Ngorogoro Crater.
Lone bull elephant in Ngorogoro Crater
The old bulls come into the crater to spend the last years of their lives.
Giraffe
Daycare in Maasailand.
BYE BYE!! For more information, please email atmwells@gmail.com.