A New Year
Faraja is ready for the new year, and that means continuing students have moved up and new students have moved in.
How is it that our school is at capacity and recognized throughout the country as The Miracle by the Mountain? How have our students learned to read and write, to laugh and sing, to walk and run, and experience the joy of childhood these last 25 years?
Head of School Tumsifu Munuo welcomes Loyce, class 5, back from holiday break.
Because of YOU. We can’t say this enough!
Join us in welcoming our new kindergarteners! We are so grateful that our community of dedicated staff, sponsors, and friends of Faraja can open the doors to a happy and healthy childhood—where students will form strong bonds with sponsors—and lifelong friendships with peers. Where they will overcome fear, graduate with a strong sense of personal power, and move on to independent lives full of promise. Disability is NOT Inability.
Meet Noria
Noria comes from the Tanga region of Tanzania, to the south of Kilimanjaro, along the coastal border of Kenya. Noria was born without fully formed wrists. At Faraja, our team will assess Noria’s treatment options, which may include surgery and prothesis, followed by physical and occupational therapy to improve function and well-being. Tumsifu says that Noria is a “very happy and charming girl.”
Stanley
Stanley is 10 years old, friendly and talkative. His hometown is Moshi, the capital city of the Kilimanjaro region. Like many other Faraja students, he has been diagnosed with osteogenesis (brittle bone disease) and will require a new wheelchair and physical therapy.
Mbula
This happy girl is Mbula, age 7, from the Karatu region of Arusha— about 15 miles from the Ngorongoro Crater and four hours from Faraja School. Mbula’s legs curve outward at the knees, a condition called Genu Varus. At Faraja, Mbula will undergo corrective surgery, and we expect to see her smiling for many years to come.
On The Road with Faraja Forward
On January 15, The Faraja Forward Mobile Health Program made its debut in the Meru District of Arusha.
The Faraja Forward Mobile Clinic arrives ready for unwrapping.
We were joined at this unique event by 36 regional commissioners, community health workers, NGOs, and faith leaders, all pledging to work together to ensure the success of Faraja Forward, and change the status quo around children with special needs.
Faraja Forward is creating partnerships across the regions. This is key to our program’s success and sustainabilty.
One of the primary roles of Faraja Forward is to help coordinate services at the district, ward and village levels, with an emphasis on engaging stakeholders, providing guidance for government officials and caregivers, and training community health workers to identify and refer children with special needs who are too often under the radar, where they are stigmatized and isolated.
Team member Dr. Elvis Mbwambo registering a village resident.
Our Faraja Forward team demonstrates how to calm an agitated child.
Faraja Forward is one of the very few community-based partnership programs in the region to provide health care services to children with special needs. Lacking health insurance and access to health centers, facing long-held stigmas and superstitions associated with disability, and little-to-no community education around disability, these children are at high risk of permanent injury, and even death. It doesn’t have to be this way.
One of the very first villagers awaiting consultation from the Faraja Forward team.
There is no doubt that the time is right for Faraja Forward to help lead this effort. With more than two decades’ experience as a pioneer serving children with special needs in Tanzania, the Faraja Fund Foundation has taken its work to the next level. The support of our donors and gifts to our campaign make this urgent work possible.
Please continue to help us to keep this work going strong! YOU save lives and change the world.
Thank you for all your support! Happy New Year!
Disability is NOT Inability!