Project News

Children walking along Dar es Salaam road. The older brother holding the younger's hand to protect them from cars.

Mr. Nikai, newly recruited JICA staff, has been trained at our project as part of the on-the-job training (OJT) for about a month and a half since July 15th. Also, from July 31st he experienced homestay at a typical family of one of our project villages, Maseyu, Morogoro District for a week. The following is his reflection.

Jambo Home stay－O&OD project in Maseyu village (Mr. Nikai, JICA staff)

Though the name Maseyu village may sound like a French summer resort, I heard that before it was the land where lots of outlaws were infesting. However, after the entering of the O&OD project, ward facilitators - who used to be just "visitors" - started to help their farming; becoming part of the village. Through cooperation with them, the villagers started to change their mindsets. Instead of relying on others for things in need, they are now using their own resources to produce.

For example, in the situation that most of the students are dropping out from primary schools, villagers are now building pre-primary school to improve their education. So as to protect children from diseases, they are building local dispensary.

Villagers are baking bricks by their own efforts, and the construction is in good progress now. Recently, the local government decided to support them by financing the roof of the dispensary. I was happy to see such villagers are advancing forward.