Diocese of Winchester

Participants in the Mothers' Union Goat Project in Masasi, Tanzania

Masasi is in the South of Tanzania, in a region regularly affected by severe drought and consequent food shortages. Tanzania is a country where 80% of the population depend on agriculture, so the impact of changing weather patterns on people’s ability to care for themselves is huge. At least 20% of the population in Masasi Diocese are also known to have HIV/AIDS, although in reality the figure is believed to be much higher, as many people are not getting themselves tested.

GOAT PROJECT

The major Mothers’ Union work in the region is the Goat Project which is specifically reaching out to people living with HIV/AIDS.  The objective of the Goat Project is to assist those affected by HIV/AIDS by gifts of goats, and relevant training that will enable them to get better nutrition and increase their income.

The project is funded through the Mothers’ Union Overseas Fund. This covers the costs of training the recipients and purchasing the goats, as well as the veterinary medicine and transportation costs involved with getting the goats to their new homes.

The project trains men and women aged between 20 and 65 in the management of goats, including health issues, nutrition, shelter, milk production and fertility. Other training sessions feature entrepreneurship so recipients are encouraged to be innovative, have financial discipline and manage their resources carefully.

Participants are encouraged to ‘live positively’ with their HIV/AIDS status, by talking about how they felt when they were diagnosed, coping with some of the symptoms, and the influence of local beliefs in witchcraft. They are given advice on being open to family members about their health, and on personal hygiene, nutrition, medical help and sexual responsibilities.

Participants are of various ethnic and faith backgrounds, but each one is encouraged to acknowledge God’s love and purpose as being the stimulus for the project’s assistance. They are offered a paper of prayers to help them be encouraged and strengthened by God in dealing with their health issues, and in their participation in the project.

After training, the second phase of the project is one of logistics. Each goat costs about £40 and costs another £20 to be transported from where they are purchased to their new homes. These figures offer some idea of how money raised for the Mothers’ Union Overseas Fund is making a real difference in the quality of people’s lives, and how the Mothers’ Union works with communities by sharing both practical support and a knowledge of God’s love.

SUN OVENS AND OTHER WORK

Mothers’ Union members are also involved in a sun oven project to help low-income families have a reliable source of power for cooking. Many people have shown an interest in having sun ovens in order to minimise walking long distances to fetch firewood. The project has the added benefit of reducing one of the causes of deforestation in the region. Members work with the Benedictine Fathers in Ndanda to make the sun ovens using simple, local materials which makes this a viable and affordable project for women.

All Mothers’ Union programmes help to build confidence in women, even if offered jointly to men and women (as with the goat project). They are enabled to understand clearly that they are active in individual and collective development activities in the respective localities. Likewise, Mothers’ Union members are very active in contributing ideas, in effective decision making, and in participating in a wide range of church and project related activities.

The Mothers’ Union have a Guest House called St. Anne’s near the Cathedral in Mtandi, which allows Diocesan clergy and Mothers’ Union officers to share news and projects with visitors whilst generating useful income for their work.