Jipe Moyo Women’s Group
Organization for Women’s Empowerment
General Information
Mission and Needs of the Partner Program
Jipe Moyo is a group of women who are living with HIV/AIDS. They used to be part of a larger organization, WOFATA, but decided to focus on their own activities in the fall of 2007. Its aim is to help the women to fight against stigma, to support each other in managing many responsibilities of daily life, .
There are youth in the community who are not able to attend secondary school, and this group helps provide them with English instruction.
Volunteer Activities / Duties
• Support women in their pursuit for healthy and sustainable livelihoods.
• Engage in discussion and exchange ideas on issues such as family health, women’s rights, access to resources, income generation, etc.
• Collaborate and support the women on ongoing projects.
• Teach conversational English and pronounciation.
• Be a positive role model.
• Advertising their group making/designing brochures, website, business cards
• Sharing fundraising skills and participating in fundraising
• Teaching kids (nursery school and secondary school)
• Participate in outreach activities (Home visits to the sick)
• Participate in counseling
Goals for the Volunteer from the Partner Program
Long-Term
With the support of volunteers, Jipe Moyo hopes to continue engaging all members of the group through home visits and developing skills in time management. They also hope to explore opportunities with income-generating projects.
Short-Term
Volunteers are expected to be flexible and help out with a variety of activities, often changing from day to day. Teaching English, accompanying the women on home-visits and exchanging ideas about fundraising and income-generating projects will be primary responsibilities of volunteers. Helping women with time-management skills to encourage them to attend regular meetings is also important.
Useful Supplies
• The Home-Base has a resource library from which you can borrow supplies (i.e. crayons, paints, paper, glue).
• As people will be interested in learning about you and your life, please bring “Show and Tell” items. For example, photos of your family and things representative of your culture and heritage (i.e. postcards, picture books, recipes and other personal items).
• Please begin brainstorming ideas for activities at your placement.
* If you are not sure what materials or supplies are appropriate to bring, please review CCS’ Gift Giving & Donations Policy (located in your Participant Handbook), or speak with your Program Manager.
Work Attire / Dress Code
• Long skirts that go below the knee.
• Short sleeves or polo, knitted-type shirts (No tank tops, low cut or revealing tops).
• Close-toed shoes like tennis shoes or sturdy sandals (No flip flops).
• Clean clothing without stains, tears, or that drag on the ground.
• Hair should be tied back and out of your face; jewelry should be left at home.
• Please be sure that all tattoos are covered.
Other Notes
• Please refrain from smoking while working at this placement or around its premise.
• Additional volunteer hours are available at this placement during the afternoons. Please speak with in-country staff if you are interested.
CCS Alumni who have volunteered at this placement (I encourage you to contact them with questions)
Holly Podobnik holly.podobnik@gmail.com
Chelsea Howes chelseahowes@gmail.com
Luke Carr luke_carr88@yahoo.co.uk
Things to Remember
• Keep a positive, open-mind.
• Maintain a sense of humor.
• Be patient, flexible, friendly and respectful.
• Try to observe the routine as much as possible and refrain from taking pictures during your first week.
• Take initiative—Plan activities in advance and communicate your ideas or questions to the in-country staff.
• Remember the CCS Vision, Mission, and Values (located in your Participant Handbook and our website).
1 comment:
Welcome to Jipe Moyo!
I have spent the last 5 and a half weeks working with the women and kids of Jipe Moyo. There is a basic schedule that the past volunteers have come up with but, as most things are here, it is flexible and not really reliable. Everyday we teach for the first hour for about 15 students, aged 14 to Mama age. There are about 20 students that rotate in and out of class. The second hour changes from day to day. Mondays and Thursdays are home visits, Tuesdays are two hours of teaching, Wednesdays are business meetings for the women, and Fridays are support group for the women.
This is the basic schedule for the placement. The meetings for the women happen about half of the scheduled time, so be patient and flexible with meeting times. At the same time, it is up to you how willing you are to sit and wait for meetings to happen/begin. The women are all great and super active in their communities, which actually works against us as volunteers sometimes because they are often too busy to attend meetings. When they do take place, however, the meetings are lively and productive. We have done a couple “sex-ed” sessions during the support groups that have gone really well. We handed out condoms (male the first week and female the next) that we got for free from a local NGO. The business meetings are pretty straight forward and you are able to provide as much advice as you would like. Mama Zainabu, the chairperson, is helpful, patient, and kind and will definitely answer any questions you have. Home visits are great and it is cool to be able to see women in their homes. Be sure to bring something to contribute (like sugar or oil) and ask a lot of questions. Again, however, home visits occur about half of the scheduled time. The Tuesday two hours of teaching quickly turned into one hour of teaching and an hour of “safari” where the kids take us on a trip to a local point of interest. They especially like the river and will always beg to go to the forest, which I only recommend doing once and with the help of a Mama. You (as a mzungu) will need a permit to enter the forest.
Jipe Moyo is a fun placement. The students are great and the women are impressive. The challenge is being patient with shifting schedules and canceled meetings. I have enjoyed teaching English. The students are their by choice and so they all want to learn. There are various reasons why they are there, but most are waiting to enter secondary school. Here is a list of things we have covered over the past couple months (although you will quickly discover that this doesn’t mean that they know them).
• Items in a house and in the yard
• family members
• There is/there are
• numbers and colors
• Introductions
• Question words (who what where, etc.)
• Possessive pronouns
• The verbs To like, to want, and to need
• A smattering of adjectives
They love to play games. The only resources that are there are what you bring, as you teach outside and the students sit on benches. I prepared most of my lessons the night before and brought them in. The students are very proficient at copying what I have written so I try to get them to think for themselves, with varying success. I have done fill-in-the-blank, crosswords, word searches, songs, and hangman. The students (with the obvious exception of the Mamas) are typical teenagers, so take their teasing with a grain of salt, they really do like coming to school and they really like you too.
My advice about this placement is that it takes a lot of persistence and patience. The way that students are taught and the way that they learn is very different from in the US or the UK. Be ready to encounter a problem with creative thinking. On the other hand, they are really excited to learn and will do basically anything you ask of them. Working with the women is great, but lately has been slowing down a bit. This is my third placement with women’s groups and they are very difficult. It can be frustrating when they don’t show up or change plans quickly. I would recommend bringing your driver’s phone number with you in case you need to leave early. In summary- give what you can, be hesitant about giving anything financial, and know that you are doing a service by simply being present.
Best of luck,
Chelsea Howes
please contact me at anytime!
chelseahowes@gmail.com
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