News from Hope for Girls and Women

Hope for Girls and Women Campaigning, Human Rights

International Women’s Day campaign kicks off

Our International Women’s Day campaign starts today!

Please support Hope for Girls and Women as we participate in the Girl Fund campaign.

Hope provides 2 safe houses in Tanzania for girls who are desperately escaping female genital mutilation (FGM).

Hope also offers our safe house residents and girls free classes to support women and girls. We help them develop their independence to make them less vulnerable to forced marriage and FGM

Between 6th – 12th March, we are participating in the Girl Fund Campaign. This annual campaign sees donations contribute towards placing 8 charities into a funded cohort for one year. 

Your donation will help provide the Hope Safe Houses with basic provisions. If we also become one of the 8 Girl Fund 2020 cohorts, it will be an added bonus that will allow us to achieve a lot more for the girls in our care.

If you would like to donate to Hope for Girls and Women, please visit this page.

Thank you!

Hope for Girls and Women Campaigning, Events, Human Rights

‘End FGM’ Campaign at schools in Tanzania

We are happy to share pictures of the first day of incredible youth power, using their voices and passion to end FGM in this schools campaign. Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania visited Kukilango Secondary School, Kiabakali Primary School and Kiabakari Secondary School at Kukilango ward.

Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania managed to educate the students, made up of both boys and girls, about FGM and its effect on girls and on the whole community.

Below are additional pictures of the second day of the end FGM campaign. This time, the campaign took place at Nkono secondary school, Kyamojojoo primary school, Bisumwa primary school, Ibiso primary school, Ryamgabo primary school, Nyabekabwe primary school and secondary school at Kukilango ward.

We are very happy and proud of these youngsters who are challenging traditional conventions and are educating their peers in the process. We look forward to sharing news of Hope’s campaigns to end FGM Tanzania.

Find out how donations are used to help girls in our care and to help girls who need our support here.

To sponsor the education of a girl and help ensure she can achieve her dreams, find out more here.

Hope for Girls and Women Campaigning, Events, Human Rights

Neema Chacha educates 605 at Hope road show

  • Brave Neema spoke about FGM to Natta Villagers

During 16 Days of Activism, Hope for Girls and Women organised filming screenings and roadshows at Natta Village in Tanzania. Through this community outreach work, it was possible to educate and to show the film, In the Name of Your Daughter, to 430 people. In total, 605 people took part in the road show.

Particularly touching was the story of Neema. Our heroine Neema Chacha educated the public about the effect of FGM at Natta Village. We all admire her courage and her empowering words, which illustrated the danger of FGM. She said: “If a girl will undergo FGM she will be in danger of getting diseases like HIV because during cutting a cutter will share the same razor blade with many girls”.

Find out more about Hope for Girls and Women and the important work we are doing to end FGM here.

If you would like to learn more about sponsoring the education of girls like Neema, please find out more about our sponsorship programme here.

If you would like to make a donation, to help us continue running roadshows and educating local communities, please visit this page.

Hope for Girls and Women Campaigning, Human Rights

Cutting season: One girl’s inspiring words

Hope for Girls and Women’s Butiama and Mugumu safe houses in Tanzania receive girls who are fleeing from FGM. During cutting season, which usually happens in school holiday/vacation time to allow the girls time to ‘recover’, there is an increase in cases of FGM. This often leads to desperate girls escaping their families on foot, some to our safe houses. In Tarime, there are two main clans that run the FGM practice, Wairege and Bamera.

During the latest cutting season, there was testimony from one girl who had to undergo an early marriage. She explained that she stopped going to school and got married when she was 16 years old, because her father wanted to get cows as a source of income. She gave words of inspiration for parents and girls:

“People should stop thinking that girls are a source of income, because by doing that, many dreams of girls are being killed.”

Learn more about the work being done by Hope for Girls and Women in Tanzania on this page.

If you would like to sponsor a girl’s education, to help ensure her dreams are not cut short, you can find out more on this page.

VashtS Human Rights

#16daysofactivism is celebrated by Hope

16 Days of Activism takes place annually from 25th November to 10th December. In 2019 6,000 organisations across 187 countries used this time to drive the call for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence. Rhobi Samwell and the Hope team participate in the campaign each year along with girls who have escaped to the Hope safe houses. This helps to educate those in the local community about the dangers of the practice of FGM and to give the girls a voice.

This year, Mugumu Police Officer Sijali Nyambuche educated those gathered about the Law on marriage in Tanzania, which states that a girl is supposed to get married only from 18 years of age, not earlier. This was an important message to share with the community and the audience which included men, women and children.

  • Sijali Nyambuche explains Tanzania’s law on marriage to the audience that has gathered

Following Siyali’s speech, our heroine Rhobi Mwita, shared her story on escaping FGM. It is important for everyone to hear stories like this, particularly in communities where FGM is still happening. It provides hope for young girls who may be concerned they will have to go through it too, but it also shows adults and parents that FGM needs to end and that girls and women are now standing up for their right to make decisions about their own bodies.

  • Rhobi Mwita tells her story to those gathered, a very inspirational young woman
VashtS Human Rights

Celebrating stories of success…

On Friday, a very special graduation took place at HGWT. Congrats to the girls who finished the course of entrepreneurship and tailoring at HGWT.

Our Guest of Honour for this graduation is the District Commissioner of Serengeti, Mr Babu. After an inspiring speech, he distributed tailoring machine and handed the certificates to girls who graduated today. Congratulations!

VashtS Human Rights

#16daysofactivism Opening of the gender desk police office

Jacklin Mahon, Director of UNFPA Tanzania, said in her speech: “UNFPA believe it is necessary to facilitate the construction of desk offices, to help eradicating genocide, child marriage, early pregnancy, rape, perverted practices, FGM and gender-based violence to facilitate sustainable development and well-being”.

She further encouraged the community in Tanzania: “Through this police gender desk opening I would like to call to the community to use these offices to provide information to eliminate violence in the community. If your brother or friend goes through sexual abuse, provide information so that he or she can be helped. I would like to thank the government through the Ministry of Health, Gender and Children, Police and Children’s Forum in Tanzania.”

Moreover, the Inspector General of Police Tanzania Saimon Siro, during the inauguration of Police gender Desk stated: “Since we establish the police gender desk we managed to reduce abuse cases compared to the past. For this year of 2019, we admitted 41.416 people all over the country. This shows now that the community has understood and is ready to cooperate with police to eliminate gender abuse in society. We decided to start here at Serengeti because they are so many abuse, as compared with others district.

Inspector General of Police Tanzania Saimon Siro

Siro also addressed the people of Serengeti, urging them to “change our perspective about women, we have to protect and not to abuse women by beating or cutting them. We have to educate our daughter and not cut girls, we have to love our daughter and not to marry our young daughters. Anyone who will do it, we shall deal with him according to the law of our country”.