Share the Health on World Health Day

It’s an old saying: you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone…especially with your health.  Without your health, everything starts to fall apart. And without basic sanitation, staying healthy is almost impossible.
 
On this 70th anniversary of World Health Day, we want to say thank you: your donations to www.fotzc.org are helping thousands of Tanzanians wake up every day feeling capable, energetic, and most importantly healthy.

Our dispensary doctor is delighted with her new medical supply room.

Your generosity has helped build the desperately needed Sukenya medical dispensary, which has served over 13,000 patients since opening in 2015. Thousands of Tanzanians in this remote rural area are getting the basic preventative and curative care they need, not to mention the clean water—provided on site—that will keep them healthy and strong between visits.
 
Thanks to your support, we’re also planning a 16-toilet facility for the nearby Haymu primary school, so teachers and students can stay clean, healthy, and focused on their education.

Of course, just as with health itself, sometimes healthcare needs can take you by surprise.  Focus on Tanzanian Communities has been asked urgently to build 6 new toilets for the COCOBA leather tanning building - the lack of toilets has become a sanitation issue with so many women working there.  The cost is $12,800.

This COCOBA woman shows off her leather goods.

By donating to www.fotzc.org today and choosing the “Health” option, you will help provide much-needed health-based facilities to Tanzanian communities, including these newly-required toilets for the COCOBA building.
 
As we celebrate World Health Day, please share a gift we so often take for granted. In addition to making  a community healthier, you’ll help its members keep learning, growing, and dreaming for a better tomorrow.

Your gift of clean water has ripple effects

In the western world, it’s so accessible you almost forget what a miracle it is, flowing out of taps in every building and every city. But in rural northern Tanzania clean water is a precious commodity, and far too many people have limited access to it.
 
Women and girls pay the toll for this life-giving necessity, often trekking hours each way to collect water that may not be safe to drink. The journey is dangerous, leaving them open to possible violence, and it keeps them from pursuing an education, entering the workforce, or otherwise gaining more independence. And of course, at the end of these arduous journeys, the water might be contaminated and result in devastating illnesses.

You're making clean water a reality for thousands of Tanzanians.

Thanks to your donations, FoTZC has been able to drill six new boreholes in the most remote regions of northern Tanzania. Your generosity has given over 5,000 Maasai—in particular the girls and women previously tasked with water collection—the gift of better health and crucially, time. Time that these women are using to start small businesses and care for their children. Time that the girls can reclaim for schooling and studying. Time spent free from the worry and illness that was robbing them of opportunity every single day.
 
With your continued generosity through www.fotzc.org, we’ll give that gift to thousands more Tanzanians. At a cost of about $40,000 each, boreholes are a significant investment, but they pay huge dividends that ripple through entire communities. That’s why we’re committed to providing two new boreholes each year for the next several years.

Thanks to you, this World Water Day is refreshing and bright for thousands of Tanzanians. And with your continued generosity, we can spread that precious gift to countless more. 

http://www.fotzc.org/how-you-can-help/

International Women's Day - Focus on Maasai Women in Tanzania

Thursday, March 8 is International Women's Day and FoTZC would like to congratulate women all over the world for continuing to make great strides forward.  And congratulations to you, our donors, for supporting COCOBA, the economic development program that provides women with the skills and confidence to start and run their own businesses. 
 
You have invested in women who have received little prior education, who now see themselves as entrepreneurs and valuable members of their communities. This is powerful, as these women have had few opportunities for employment and have not seen themselves as having much impact in a patriarchal society.  Many of these COCOBA women now speak up and participate in decision-making,  especially on issues related to basic social needs.

The program is based on the principles of COmmunity COnservation BAnking, a microfinance method centered on conservation-minded businesses. The profits the women make are reinvested in the program and are used as loans for other women. These lending groups also have community health care funds and social funds to take care of those in extreme financial need.

Because of you:

• 234 Maasai women now manage their own environmentally-friendly businesses, up from only five before our COCOBA program started two years ago.
• In the four initial groups started in 2016, the women have increased their group financial pools by more than 400%.
• The women spend their profits on school fees, school uniforms, textbooks and supplies, food and medical care.

On International Women’s Day, you can be proud of how you’ve contributed to changing the lives of these women. And as a member of our FoTZC family, please join us in celebrating the successes of these Maasai women and women worldwide.

Click here to support Focus on Tanzanian Communities.

Our 2017 Annual Report, THE FOCUS, is Here!

The Focus has arrived! You'll be receiving a copy of the FoTZC 2017 Annual Report in the next few weeks.

2017 marks our 20th year working in Northern Tanzania. We hope that you enjoy reading about all that we've accomplished together this year, and over the last two decades. Your support has made this possible - thank you!

We Did It!

At the beginning of the summer we set out to raise $50,000, a sum that would be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor. This money was targeted to help fulfill a promise that FoTZC made to the people of Oloipiri Ward -- five new boreholes, to provide water to 3,000 community members. It is with the utmost gratitude that we thank all of our donors who helped keep this promise to our friends in Oloipiri Ward. Over the course of three months, donations poured in from across the U.S., as well as Tanzania! In total, we raised over $131,000!

District Medical Officer, Dr. Omari Sukari, discusses the need for clean water in rural Tanzania.

Your dollars are already hard at work! We recently piped water from the Sukenya Medical Dispensary to Sukenya Primary School, and we're in the process of drilling two additional boreholes in Sukenya, and a third in Mondorosi.

On behalf of our friends in Oloipiri Ward, asante sana for your part in providing these boreholes for much needed water.