Pamoja Tunaweza Women’s Shelter

Phew! Ah, the joys of being showered and in clean clothes once more!

Having returned yesterday from Tanzania, I’ll be publishing a short series of posts documenting my time there. They will all be written in retrospect, since internet was virtually inaccessible from where we were staying in Tanzania.

Travelling with three of my classmates from Queen’s, we spent the first two weeks at Pamoja Tunaweza Women’s Centre in the town of Moshi, northern Tanzania. Possibly the first centre of its kind in Tanzania, Pamoja Tunaweza seeks to specifically help women who have been marginalized, in what is usually a male-dominated society.

Small and still growing, the centre offers assistance according to individual needs. Some women are given support to start their own business. One woman who we met had started up a fruit stand, and another was hand-knitting hats for sale. Pamoja Tunaweza offers a few classes in business management, and once the women have drafted up a business proposal they can receive a small loan to make a the initial investment and get started. The Centre also has a shelter upstairs where women or girls can stay, especially if they are escaping from a violent  situation.

During our brief two weeks at Pamoja Tunaweza, we developed some health information hand-outs as an additional resource for the Centre. We tried to cover medical issues that would be relevant to the women who visit the Centre, such as women’s reproductive health, menopause, and common illnesses their children may need care for.

For more information on Pamoja Tunaweza, visit their website.