Compassion International Child Development Center TZ104: Monduli Province, Tanzania

$20,618.94 Funded 12/24/2018. Completed Fall 2019

WHO
289 underserved children, their families, caregivers, and educators.

WHERE
Compassion International Monduli Child Development Center TZ104 is located in Monduli Province, a rural region in Tanzania about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Arusha.

WHY
This remote location poses many serious challenges to the children enrolled at the center, mostly due to this lack of reliable, safe water. The quality of the public water service in this region of the country is not only poor, but the supply itself is also only available once a week and in very small quantities. This forces staff members to purchase water from local suppliers at the price of 50 000 Tanzanian Shillings ($22 USD) per month–a high cost for a community where 90 percent of people live below the international poverty line of $1.25 USD per day.

In the past, during Tanzania’s seasonal rainstorms, staff members have dug trenches around the center to contain as much water as possible. However, these trenches posed many problems. First, they could only retain water for a limited time. Second, they were uncovered and, thus, exposed to various contaminants–mostly from the livestock nearby.

Of all of these negative factors, the poor water quality is the worst because it leads to water-related health issues such as diarrhea, parasites and skin rashes among children and adults alike. These not only negatively impact the physical health of those affected, but they also hinder participation in the Compassion program, worship services, and other community events at TAG Monduli church, the church partner, which has around 700 members. Until now, this lack of a reliable source of safe water is holding these 289 children back from ultimately becoming the responsible, fulfilled adults that God created them to be.

The solution which will not only directly meet the needs of this center, but also to write a new story for the future of this community is the installation of a 141,000-liter (37,248-gallon) water catchment and storage tank onsite. After a period of research, this was identified as a better option than drilling a borehole to access groundwater due to the impossibility of drilling in the area.

This new tank will change all of that by providing a reliable way to safely collect and store a large amount of water, which will be used for drinking, food preparation, sanitation facilities, and equipment cleaning. Once this initiative is complete, we anticipate a reduction of water¬related health issues among enrolled children, an increase in the church attendance of the parents of enrolled children, an improvement in the health and hygiene of the families of enrolled children and an increase in the program attendance of the enrolled children.

More broadly, we hope that this initiative will not only facilitate a new culture of health within this community but that it will also provide a sense of dignity to the children and adults in the community that can so easily be lost without access to something so fundamental as safe water.

WHAT:
TOTAL PROJECT AMOUNT:  $22,199.51

HOW
PLEASE JOIN US
Thank you for your prayerful consideration of this request. Your contribution will not only help provide the gift of good health and a healthy future for Ghanaian children in need but will also serve as a tangible and powerful expression of God’s love for them.
Friends, we are grateful for your heart for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40) -it inspires us to continue our work of releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.