Thursday, October 25, 2012

Tumaini la Maisha

Hope for Life

 from Tumaini la Maisha website

Tumaini la Maisha-this is the name of the organization I am interning with.  The organization partners with a the national hospital here in Dar es Salaam to provide support, classes, and housing for children cancer parents and their parent.  Emma and I work there every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  We help in the classroom where the kids can hang out when they are not getting treatment.  There are three teachers on staff there that help provide the kids with activities and tutoring.  These children have traveled from all over Tanzania to get treatment in Dar.  Tumaini la Maisha is the first ever organization in Tanzania to support the families of children with cancer, and these kids need lots of support.  Many of them are missing an eye, some a leg, then there are those with giant tumors on their faces and those stick thin.  Because there are so many other diseases in Tanzania like malaria and TB, cancer often gets undiagnosed until the situation becomes severe. 
the children's hospital at muhimbili national hospital   
Once they receive treatment, the children may have been out of school for weeks or months.  We get to help them stimulate their brains and practice skills.  In class each day we work with the kids on math, writing, and other fun activities.  The children need a lot of one-on-one help because they are different ages and levels.  It is exciting for me when they actually succeed and understand what I am trying to explain.  Today we actually worked on some little sewing projects, which they all seemed to really enjoy and they were able to be creative. 
Then every Wednesday and Thursday, the children have a play therapist come in.  Leone, the therapist from Ireland, does fun games with the kids but also talks with them about their emotional experience.  They children talk about how scared they were when they first went to the hospital, how much a bone marrow test hurts, and how they really just want to go home.  There are so many complex emotions these children must deal with, that they probably each need their own private therapist.  The play therapist has a way of presenting many of these things in a fun way that the children can relate to. 
The most beautiful thing about these children though is their ability to laugh...that is what really gives me Hope for Life.

The children need lots of help and resources, to find out more information or donate check out their website at tumainilamaisha.org

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