President Jakaya Kikwete toured the new ward facilities at Ikonda Consolata Hospital in Ikonda earlier this week.

Pictured above is the President with hospital Director Fr. Alessandro Nava. Highlands Hope of Tanzania nurses work in the hospital’s very effective HIV Care and Treatment Centre, serving thousands of patients with the highest quality care available in Tanzania.

The Ikonda success story is a model of what can be accomplished in rural Africa by focused, professional, accountable health care workers.

A feature interview with Betty is included in the latest edition of A. Magazine.

To read the full interview, go to:

http://interviews.amagazine.org/?p=115

Excerpt from A. Magazine:

Betty Liduke has been called a local legend in Njombe, Tanzania where she is a nurse and the Director of the Tanwat (Tanganyka Wattle Company) Hospital HIV- AIDS Care and Treatment Centre. Liduke is also the Coordinator of Highlands Hope of Tanzania, an association of nurses who work as HIV-AIDS counselors and caregivers in the southern highlands of the country.

According to the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), more than 2.2 million people in Tanzania are living with HIV/AIDS and an estimated 2 million children have been orphaned as a result of the disease. This doesn’t seem to daunt Liduke who has been working with Tanwat’s HIV/AIDS Program since 1996. She is also a founding member of the Kibena Women’s Association, a group of professional women who provide support to women living in the local villages, and to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

As well as working with local community groups, Liduke has been working with McGill University’s School of Nursing. She is the school’s first International Clinical Instructor in Africa, and has traveled to Canada to meet with Canadian healthcare professionals and to participate in an International AIDS conference.

Why did you decide to become a nurse?
I really liked to be a nurse since I was a child. And my mother also wanted one of her children to be a nurse. She felt that is a very good work and she compared with God’s work. I was the only one who was interested to go into nursing. My two sisters are teachers, one of my brothers was a veterinarian, and two of my brothers were working as car mechanics. All three brothers have died and we are three sisters remaining. My father and my mother also died.

How did you get involved in working with people HIV/AIDS?
I’ve been a nurse at the Tanwat [Company Hospital] since 1994. We started the HIV program, called the Workplace Intervention Program, with the company. We worked together in cooperation with AMREF, the African Medical & Research Foundation. From research in 1996 we found that there were cases of sexually transmitted infection of HIV/AIDS. At that time the company thought that it was good to start the program so we can give awareness to workers and their dependants to let them know that they were at risk for HIV/AIDS.

At that time, I was working with workers and their dependants only. But since 2001, Tanwat extended the program to 19 villages. Our workers also are living in the villages and coming to work, so we thought it would be good to extend to the villages.

In Bulongwa, I have three village-based groups made up of people living with HIV/AIDS. One of which is called PIUMA. [Ed. According to the Highlands Hope website, the PIUMA HIV Counseling and Testing Clinic is an independent, community-based clinic with leadership drawn primarily from local people living with HIV-AIDS.]

The other groups are CHAKUNIMU and TULILUMWI. They do community work, sensitization on development and HIV/AIDS awareness.

We started with prevention and awareness, and then in 1998 we started voluntary counseling and testing. We do testing for free—people don’t have to pay for voluntary counseling and testing. In 2006 we started care and treatment with the help of the National AIDS Control Program and some international help. The government is giving us antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). This is a national program: all the care and treatment programs are supposed to give free ARVs to all the clients. Up to now, we have enrolled 557 people in our care and treatment program. Of those, 420 are on the ARVs.

What are some of the biggest issues you encounter in providing care and treatment?
For the treatment we have no problem with access to ARVs, but we have a problem with drugs for opportunistic infections. The government is not supplying them for us so we have to buy them. And people here are very poor. You can’t tell them to buy the drugs because they have been sick for quite a long time and sometimes they have used all their money. So Tanwat buys the drugs and gives them to those who are not able to pay. Those who are able to pay, they pay. But for those who are not able, they are not paying.

Transportation is also an issue. For me I travel quite a lot because I have these 19 villages to go to. The roads to some of the villages are very bad. Especially during the rainy season, it is really hard to travel.

How do people react when you talk to them about HIV/AIDS?
At first when we started, the people they didn’t want to talk about HIV/AIDS, but now they understand. And they can talk openly—we can discuss it. Even those who are HIV positive are talking too. But at first it was very, very difficult.

Have you lost anyone in your family to HIV/AIDS?
Yes, one of my close family members died of HIV/AIDS.

Are you optimistic? Do you think things will get better with HIV/AIDS in your community?
I think so. In Tanzania we have a very high prevalence of HIV/AIDS but at the villages I have been going since we started the program the prevalence is going down. People now they started to understand what is HIV. They go for voluntary counseling and testing and they get treatment and they do their work. Now we have started with schools. We have a program in primary schools and secondary schools. It is much better to make people understand before they get HIV.

You are also a volunteer with the Kibena Women’s Association. What does the Association do and how did it start?
I’m a coordinator for the Kibena Women’s Association. We are 20 members and we started the Association in 2005. We are teachers, nurses, accountants, in agriculture… all professionals. I just talked with a few women and it was my opinion that we needed to work in a group so that we can help other women, mainly in the village. Not in town because in town there are many people who are helping. In the villages they don’t get help because, you know, people don’t want to go to the rural areas.

The life of village women is tough. They are the ones who wake up early in the morning and the ones who go to sleep late. Women in the villages do all the work of the field, taking care of the family, making sure the children have gone to school, making sure the family has daily food at home, doing all daily home activities, etc.

So we decided to get together so that we can raise the voice of women and educate them on various matters including HIV, income-generating projects, empowering women to have one voice etc.. We are also taking care of 17 orphans, [several] of them in secondary school, the remaining in primary school.

It must be challenging to do the work you do. What keeps you going?
My family makes me strong every time, whenever I become tired with the work. Also I love my work and job as I feel it is a part of my life. I really like to help my community. That is my heart, the feelings from my heart.

Tumaini Swallow is tough. At 28, she has already had four children, is living with HIV and has been a member of PIUMA for two years. Despite her small stature, and that she has lost the fingers on her right hand from an accident with hot charcoal as a child, she will not let anyone call her weak. Her profession, making charcoal, ironic considering the nature of her accident, is among the toughest things one could do without machinery.

Her husband, who shares in her profession, owns several plots of forest, but they insist on working separately. “For efficiency,” she says as she picks up an axe to demonstrate her strength and accuracy, halving a tree trunk with a 20 cm diameter in just a few brisk swings. Her job has forced her to be quick.

Every day, Tumaini sets out for the section of forest ripe for clearing. Single-handedly, she levels the plot with just an axe, and then chops the fallen trees into logs of roughly eight feet length. Once her selected area is clear, she piles the logs up – sometimes as big a house. The tough manual labour is not all done though. First she must cover the pile with dried grasses, after which she digs up the area cleared and coats the wood in a thick layer of dirt, effectively building a furnace.

After she piles wood shavings and more dried grass at one end of the pile that is left open, she sparks the furnace, waits for the fire to catch within, and buries that end too. The wood may burn for one to three days depending on its size, and as soon as it stops smoking, it is ready to be uncovered and broken into the charcoal bits for sale.

Tumaini alone generates six big bags of it every week, which each sell for 3000 Tsh. Part of her job involves delivery from her home in Makwavuta to Bulongwa, on foot with her product on her head.

In addition to this business, Tumaini grows crops for sustenance – maize, potatoes and sweet potatoes – has two chickens, one of which is part of her PIUMA group project, and had a pig that she recently sold. But when asked whether she’s overwhelmed, she says that in fact, she “wants her project to grow or to have more projects.”

Gabe Maldoff
Canadian Friends of Highlands Hope

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

TO THE MEMBERS OF PIMA UISHI KWA MATUMAINI (PIUMA)

INTRODUCTION.
I have examined the appended financial statements made up the balance sheet, receipts and expenditure and cash flow as well as the related accounting records of M/s PIMA UISHI KWA MATUMAINI (PIUMA), a local registered non-governmental organisation resident in Makete district for the year ended December 31, 2007.

OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE.
My examination was conducted in accordance with acceptable auditing standards for small organizations and accordingly I applied audit procedures that were relevant by examining the accounting records and books on a test check basis as I considered necessary under the circumstances.

The purpose of the examination was to form an opinion whether, taken as a whole the financial statements examined portray a true view of the affairs of the organisation for the year under review. I did not conduct the audit with the purpose of establishing the adequacy or inadequacy of the system of internal control nor with intention to discover any accounting mistakes or fraudulent errors.

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR REPRESENTATIONS.
The responsibility for the representations of the financial statements is that of the management of PIUMA and its Executive Committee which is mandated to manage all financial affairs of the organisation in accordance with the Constitution of the organisation.

REPORT THAT:

1. The financial statements and related records examined are in agreement with the books maintained and that sufficient explanations were provided to support the transactions sampled for examination.

2. The financial statements of this first year of operation have been prepared in compliance with the generally accepted accounting principles.

3. All the money received from donors and other sources was properly supported by relevant official receipts.

4. On the basis of the audit sample examined, I was made to conclude that taken as whole all payments were adequately documented and duly accounted for.

5. Physical verification of the fixed assets was done to evidence their existence. It was reported that a digital camera whose value was not readily established was stolen during the year.

6. The Piuma trustee bank account maintained in Daressalaam by Pima Associates, Accountants & Auditors was scrutinised with regard to transfers received from donors and the approved reimbursements paid to Piuma. I was satisfied that all the transactions were properly documented and an elaborate cash book maintained to record the receipts, withdrawals and payments.

OPINION:
In my opinion the appended financial statements of M/s PIMA UISHI KWA MATUMAINI (PIUMA) drawn as at December 31, 2007 present fairly a true view of the financial position and cash flow as at that date.

Signed
Valerian R. Kaijage, FCPA (158)
FELLOW CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
February 22, 2008
UDSM, P.O. Box 35091
Daressalaam, Tanzania

EDITOR
DAR ES SALAAM

RWANDAN President Paul Kagame repeated his criticism of bureaucratic red tape delaying transit cargo at Dar es Salaam port during an East African investment conference in Kigali last week.

Mr Kagame whose landlocked country depends on Dar es Salaam and Mombassa ports to ship and receive its goods from abroad blamed, among other things, poor infrastructure, bureaucracy and corruption for the delays.

This is the second time within a month that the Rwandan leader has ’hurled stones’ at the Dar es Salaam port. The first time he did so was during a presidential plenary of the 8th Leon H. Sullivan Summit held in Arusha between June 2-6 this year.

While we acknowledge that poor infrastructure, including good roads and railway network, is a major factor delaying clearing and forwarding of goods at the port of Dar es Salaam, there is enough evidence that bureaucratic red tape which aims at convincing port users bribe officials, is also a major hurdle.

Take a simple example of 40 cartons of HIV and AIDS campaign T-shirts donated by an Austrian based good Samaritan, Othman Ruf last January to a Makete based HIV/AIDS activist group, PIUMA (Pima Ukimwi Uishi kwa Matumaini), only got cleared from the port last week.

So while Kagame’s coffee, tea and apparel en-route to Europe or the Americas takes 60 days to be cleared from the port’s bureaucratic cartel, PIUMA’s donated t-shirts took close to six months! January 20, 2008 to June 24, 2008.

It’s absurd and sincerely it shows that main players at the country’s prime port have lent a deaf ear to criticism against bureaucracy and corruption. The 40 cartons PIUMA t-shirts did need to be ferried from Dar port to Makete for clearance and even if the port operator, Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS) is said to have poorly invested in infrastructure at the port, certainly a consignment of t-shirts is no heavy load.

As Kagame pointed out during the 8th Leon H. Sullivan Summit, corruption is the biggest of our undoing. In a statement to express his frustration with the bureaucratic process of clearing the t-shirts consignment, PIUMA advisor Rayben Sanga said that the original documents were reportedly lost at Tanzania Revenue Authority�s customs department forcing the group to submit a second set of documents.

But worse still, Sanga noted that even the second set of import and tax exemption request copies were misplaced again forcing PIUMA to produce yet another set of documents. This is lack of professionalism and it displays gross irresponsibility, corruption ploy and negligence by TRA officials who handled the shipment.

At the end of the day, PIUMA had to pay over 1.4m/- in handling costs for a consignment worth EUR 5,000 (approx 6.5m/-) but the activist group is still waiting for a bill on storage charges and clearing and forwarding charges. You can imagine what a group of few corrupt individuals sitting at TRA long-room can do to discredit the country’s prime port.

We urgently need action by relevant government authorities to clear this mess and ensure that Rwanda’s merchandise and other landlocked countries’ cargo as well get handled in a professional manner that will improve trade, spur regional economic growth and cut cost of doing business.

Tumeondoka Bulongwa tarehe 27/7/2008 tumefika Arusha tarehe 29/6/2008.
Tumefika Arusha 4:30, tumepokelewa na ndugu Jackson Mbogela.
Tumetafuta gesti mahali pa kupumzika.

Tumekaa kwa pamoja na kuandika barua ya kwenda Polisi na kwa mkuu wa
Mkutano na kopi kwa ofisi kuu ya Arusha kwa ajili ya kuomba kushiriki
Mkutano, na hapo hatukujua mkutano unafanyika sehemu gani mjini Arusha.
Tulitafuta magazeti ya dini toleo la tarehe 28/6/2008, tulipata gazeti
zuri sana ambalo lilitufahamisha mkutano ulipo ACC 8:30. Tulikwenda
polisi tulipokelewa vizuri na Polisi wa pale na akatupeleka kwa mkuu
wa Upelelezi, tulimpa barua yetu akaisoma tukamweleza lengo kuu
tulilokuja kwenye mkutano, tuliulizwa tuko wangapi, tulimjibu kuwa
tupo watano, kwa kweli mkuu wa upelelezi alitusaidia sana mawazo, na
muda gani wa kuingia kwenye ukumbi wa mkutano.

Tulipokwenda kwenye kituo cha polisi saa 10:12 tukaenda ofisi kuu za
KKKT tulikuta hawapo. Tukaenda sehemu ambayo mkutano unafanyika (AICC)
tukaambiwa leo ni jumapili ofisi zimefungwa, tuliondoka saa 12:30
kwenda kupumzika kujiandaa kwa ajili ya kazi ya kesho.

Tarehe 30/6/2008 tuliamka saa 12:30 kwenda ofisi kuu ya KKKT tumefika
1:20 tumeona bado hazijafunguliwa. Baada ya hapo tumeondoka kwenda
AICC ambako mkutano unafanyika tulifika AICC saa 2:7 tulimwona mama
mmoja kwenye chumba cha mapokezi tukamwambia tunashida na mkuu wa
Mkutano yaani KATIBU tunaomba kuruhusiwa kuingia kumwona Katibu.
Tulichekiwa kama tuna vitu vya hatari, tuliruhusiwa kwenda kumwona
Katibu wa Mkutano, tulisindikizwa na huyo mama wa mapokezi,
tukapokelewa vizuri, tukamweleza kwa kifupi kazi tuliyojia kutoka
Makete, alipokea barua yetu na kwenda kumkabidhi mwenyekiti wa
mkutano, tulipanda wote lifti kwenda gorofa ya saba ambapo tuliambiwa
tusubiri sehemu ya chai tulitoka saa 5:00. alitokea mama mmojas ambaye
ni mjumbe wa mkutano alikuja na mbwembwe zake alitaka tutoke lakini
tulisimama ngangali hatukumsikiliza, ndipo walipotoka kunywa chai
tulisimama na mabango yetu huku tumevaa tisheti za PIUMA tatu, mpya
moja na mbili za zamani. Mabango yote yaliandikwa kwa kiingereza,

Mabango yalisema hivi.
(i) Donor Money stolen from Makete must be returned (Pesa ya wafadhili
iliyoibiwa Makete irudishwe)
(ii) Corruption lack of account ability lack of Transparencey of the
ELCT/SCD quietness of donors, kills HIV + Makete ( Ufisadi, ukosefu wa
uwajibikaji, ukosefu wa uwazi wa KKKT/DKK ukimya wa wafadhiri unauwa
wa (VVU) Makete.
(iii) Ice is melting on Mt. Kilimanjaro PLWHI lives are perishing in
Makete due to corruption (Barafu imeyeyuka mlima Kilimanjaro maisha ya
wa (VVU) yanayeyuka kwa sababu ya UFISADI.
(iv) LWF talk on the on going state of crisis at BLH (Kongamano la
makanisa zungumzeni juu ya mgogoro wa BLH)
Baada ya hapo tulisimama na mabango mbele ya ukumbi muda wa dakika 30
tuliitwa na Katibu wa miradi anayesimamia ukanda wa Afrika, tulikaa
ofisini mwake dakika 45 naye alitutia moyo sana kwa kazi tunayofanya.

Wana PIUMA baada ya hapo tulitoka na kwenda kupata chakula ilikuwa saa
6:15, saa 7:30 tulikwenda redio 5 (five) tulitoa malalamiko yetu
tuliyojia Arusha, saa 8:20 tulikwenda TBC Televisheni huko nako
tuliwaeleza tulilojia Arusha, tukawaeleza yanayo tusibu wana Makete,
tulimaliza kazi saa 10:30 tukarudi kupumzika na kwenda kufuatilia
tiketi.
1/7/2008 tuliondoka Arusha kurudi nyumbani Bulongwa tumefika tarehe 2/7/2008.

Huu ndio mwisho wa ripoti ya safari yetu ya Arusha.

Ahsante.

Wema Sanga.

On behalf of the Planning Committee of the 2008 GANES Educating the Future Nursing and Health Workforce: a Global Challenge Conference, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for submitting an abstract for the conference.

I am pleased to inform you that your abstract, “Canadian and Tanzanian nurses optimizing pain management: Description of a partnered approach”, has been chosen as part of the program for the 2008 GANES Educating the Future Nursing and Health Workforce: a Global Challenge Conference.

Sylvie Lambert worked with nurses and other health professionals at TANWAT Hospital in the autumn of 2007 and winter of 2008 to design and present workshops on pain assessment and management. The training focused on basic pain concepts as well as the implementation of techniques based on the latest research from McGill University affiliated teaching hospitals.

McGill Nurses for Highlands Hope will be supporting the visit of two graduate students in Nursing Sciences to TANWAT in September. These students will continue advancing the McGill-Highlands Hope partnered approach to nursing research and education.

For more information about the GANES 2008 conference, visit http://www.casn.ca/content.php?doc=147

As encouraged by PIUMA, many of the members in these villages banded together to form the Tumaini, or Hope, Group. Their focus? To educate the community about HIV, and to show that if treated properly, HIV need not hamper one’s lifestyle.

PIUMA has also encouraged its members, particularly its groups, of which Tumaini is one of seven, to use their talents to pursue economic activity, which is exactly what the group from Ilolo and Utanziwa has done. Using their flare for song and dance, they inspired a donation from the diocese in Makete that allowed them to buy cabbage seeds, beginning their self-sustaining activities.

From their humble beginnings with 11 members, they have grown to 22, now collectively owning several cabbage plots, two goats, two fish pools, and 12 chickens – soon to be 22, or one per member. All of this has been accomplished by pooling their resources together and trading up with the profits of their sales. Their activities are also designed to send a powerful message to the community: “because we are treating our HIV with ARV’s, we are strong and fit and active,” says Miandoko Kilemile, Chairman of Tumaini, as elected by its members.

In addition to their collective projects, each member still cultivates their own farm and takes care of their families. Some even have individual PIUMA facilitated projects, such as carpet or basket-making. The group meets frequently at the nearby primary school to discuss their future endeavours in business and education, to support each other, and often just to have fun. Every meeting ends with a dance, accompanied by traditional drums and a guitar. In Ilolo and Utanziwa, PIUMA Imara Kama Simba!

PIUMA has been asked to send three representatives to the committee – PIUMA’s executive officer, and two members to be chosen by the Executive Committee. The members will be selected based on their ability to speak with conviction and stand for their rights, and will be chosen when the Executive Committee convenes at the end of this month.

Among the constituents of the District Health Committee will be two District Councillors, those from Bulongwa and Kipogala, as well as the Makete District’s accountant. Starting in mid-August, the committee will visit all the villages in the district and report on the status of health care provision in each.

The creation of the District Health Committee spawns from TANGO’s fierce mandate for NGOs to participate in the making of government health budgets and to force government to evaluate their services with NGOs present. Expenses for the committee’s prospective three week travels are to be funded by the district.

PIUMA was chosen to represent Makete by the chairman of Makete’s NGOs based on the organization’s great successes over the past few years. As the NGO with the largest membership base in the Iringa region, PIUMA was the first to perform mass testing and counselling for HIV, and has tested more people than any other NGO in Iringa. PIUMA is also widely known for its promotion of patient rights and its fight against corruption.

Furthermore, these accomplishments saw PIUMA selected by all the districts of Iringa to air on Tanzanian National Television (TVT) next week. In the television interview, Taimu Sanga described the often rocky relationship between government and NGOs and demanded more government support of NGO projects. He explained that donor money filtered through government frequently disappears, as was the case with PIUMA’s huge testing campaign last year, that tested over 2000 people - a service government promised to back, yet no public money was ever allotted to the project. He also discussed the failure of government to provide CD4 counts in Makete District due equipment failure and neglect.

This honour is but another proof that PIUMA’s strength is causing a stir in Tanzania’s HIV/AIDS services sector and is recognized throughout the country for its achievements in patient rights and accountability.

Sasa wanachama wa PIUMA wameamua kuanzisha timu ya mpira wa miguu ili kupima afya zao. Timu hii imeshaanza mazoezi taraya kwa ajili ya kujipima afya na wanataka kuanza kushindana na mashirika mengine ya watu wanaoishi na VVU.

Timu hii ni ya mchanganyiko wanawake kwa wanaume , waliopima afya zao na ambao ni wanachama wa PIUMA. Tayari wameshapata barua ya mashindano ya ujirani mwema kutoka shirika la watu wanaoishi na VVU MASUPHA.

Baadhi ya wanachama wameshaanza mazoezi tayari kwa ajili ya kwenda kushindana na shirika hili la MASUPHA Makete tarehe 13/7/2008.

Na siku ya mashindano haya itakuwa ni siku ya uzinduzi wa KUZUIA MAAMBUKIZI KUTOKA KWA MAMA KWENDA KWA MTOTO (P.M.T.C.T) ambayo yatafanyika tarehe tajwa hapo juu.

Tumepewa mipira miwili na Gabe kwa ajili ya kufanyia mazoezi.

Hao hapo juu ni baadhi ya wanachama walioanza mazoezi.

Ambulance for poor patients existed on paper only

How donations amounting to Є 300,000 have disappeared in Tanzania. An insight report into why aid organizations of the German church are having a hard time fighting corruption.

By Matthias Thieme

Bishop Alex Malasusa did not mention the issue of corruption occurring in third world aid of the church during this week’s meeting with Hamburg’s senator for economic affairs in the “Turmsaal” of the city hall. The chief bishop of the Evangelical-Lutheran church in Tanzania chatted rather about city partnerships and the close ties of the various parishes in both countries.

Whether these ties might be too close for the effective fight against corruption is the current topic of a heated debate in church circles.
This pertains, in particular, to blatant cases of misguided development aid funds. Extensive documentation about such projects of German social aid organization in Tanzania is known to the FR, which prove embezzlement of donated funds in the hundreds of thousands Euro.

Among the affected missions are the Evangelical “Mission Eine Welt”, the “Nordelbische Missionswerk”, and the Saxon “Kirchenprovinz“. Nobody denies that a lot of money has simply disappeared. However, how to prevent such cases in future is currently disputed.

The Doctor

Rainer Brandl has seen a lot in his time. But the 44-year old doctor remembers one incident all too well, which makes him angry about aid workers of the church, and their ignorance and appeasements. Brandl has written hundreds of accusing e-mails about this issue.

For three years, the Austrian doctor has been in charge of a station for Aids patients in the hospital of the small town of Bulongwa, Tanzania. With the help of modern instruments and medicine he was able to help the patients in a country, where almost every other person is infected with Aids and the average life span is only 50 years.

However, when Brandl came to the hospital in the morning of 17 April 2006, 30 policemen with submachine guns were gathering before the doorway. They detained the doctor from entering the building threatening to use force. Brandl was only allowed to take along his laptop. All the valuable medical instruments, which were financed by the Austrian “Arbeitskreis für Weltmission“ were confiscated. Since then, the patients are looked after only by unqualified staff. There is no medical help. Brandl says, “I have been threatened by members of the Tanzanian church and I had to leave the country for my own protection.”

Brandl is quite sure, that the reason for him being thrown out of the hospital is related to the fact, that he suspected the former bishop of the diocese, Shadrack Manyiewa, and other church members of corruption. He puts the blame on German missions not to have taken any action against the corrupt bishop and the mismanagement of the various projects. “The children and the poor suffer more from the criminal actions of the persons in charge for managing and controlling the aid funds locally as if there would be no aid at all”, says Brandl.

Therefore he acted himself and engaged an auditor as a support for a self-help-group of Aids-patients, which was determined to do something against corruption. The auditor’s report about the financial misconduct of the persons responsible in the aid projects was unmasking. This created quite a buzz and the press in Tanzania reported this in full detail. However, some church people hated the bustling doctor Rainer Brandl. Brandl in turn regards the church as being blind towards the issue of corruption in their Tanzanian parishes and as a result, the church does more harm than good. “Patients have died as a result of the Aids station being shut down, because adequate treatment became impossible”, says Brandl. “This is, in part, also the fault of the German church”.

The Auditor

Rayben Sanga lives in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam and has meticulously examined the use of funds in the various aid projects. The independent auditor has prepared endless lists with dry numbers showing a disaster. The aid has failed. Donated funds have disappeared. There is theft, corruption and triggery.

The result? Approximately Є 300,000 – mainly made up of German donations – never reached the people in Tanzania, for whom the money was intended. Instead, large amounts were siphoned off by project managers. Wages have been paid twice or salaries were transferred to deceased. Even the local bishop, Shadrack Manyiewa, helped himself and had his new 4WD-car financed for the amount of Є 60,000. In addition, he sold his “old” car – which was only five years old – and pocketed the profit.

Everyone could look into the reports of the auditor Sanga and read in detail, how aid funds have disappeared in the swamp of corruption. For instance, if donors in Germany still believed, they would have financed an ambulance in the hospital of Bulongwa, the auditor could reply: “I live in Bulongwa and have never seen an ambulance at the hospital. Where is it hidden?”

Or take donations for biogas plants or school projects: According to the Sangas report, such funds were never received. Even already transferred funds for a medical procedure of the bishop had to be collected once again by the locals. Rayben Sanga has no doubt: The aid organizations of the church were not able to sufficiently monitor the projects and the fraud was apparently clearly recognizable. For instance, the persons responsible have charged numerous dubious payments under the entry „Christmas Cake”. Even a German employee of the “Nordelbische Hilfswerk” has allegedly embezzled funds and her name frequently appears in the lists of deficiencies. According to the church, the woman has been forced into early retirement. However, no investigation has been initiated against her.

The Priest

Manfred Scheckenbach is responsible in Bavaria for the projects of “Mission Eine Welt” in Tanzania. He talks a lot about partnership and equality, whenever the issue of cooperation with the African dioceses comes up. In the opinion of Scheckenbach, any paternalistic attitude should be avoided and patience is the key. He says, “We are a church and have relations with Tanzania for 60 years”.

For Scheckenbach, development aid must be seen in the long run. Doctor Brandl – and his public fight against corruption – is regarded by him as agent provocateur and instigator. “He discovered corruption and went public. We wanted to discuss this internally in the church”, Scheckenbach says. “Brandl wanted to remove the bishop from office. We have a different strategy in the church”. The “Missionswerke” cannot be blamed. Indeed, an external investigation has confirmed, “that the charges of embezzlement are true”, Scheckenbach says. “But we immediately stopped all payments.” Meanwhile, the Persons responsible have been removed from office.

Proceedings against the persons responsible are pending, the priest says. However, no judgments have been issued yet. “This is still delayed with all possible legal tricks”. In the meantime, the corrupt bishop has been voted out of office. Scheckenbach is of the opinion, that “we have acted consequent”.

The fight against corruption should also be shouldered by the local municipalities, says Scheckenbach. Very soon, the Bavarian “Mission Eine Welt” will transfer money to Tanzania again. Receiver will be the new management of the diocese. Now, however, all moneys will be paid in installments only and everything will be audited and trusting that the Tanzanian partners intend to solve the problem.

His colleague Volker Schauer, “Nordelbisches Missionswerk”: “Locally, we do not have complete control. We are also not interested in that.” Aid to developing countries does not imply to act as a powerful financier. Shower says, “That is not our understanding of Christian cooperation. We are not the knights in shining armor”.

The Outsider

Gottfried Mernyi has only limited sympathy for such justifications and describes this attitude a “false understanding of cooperation”. Mernyi is the director of “Evangelischer Arbeitskreis für Weltmission“ in Austria. Since the German aid organizations lack any willingness to fight corruption, the cooperation in Tanzania has ended, says Mernyi. “Nothing has been investigated voluntarily, everything happened only due to public pressure”, so Mernyi. The aid organizations of the church from Germany had taken too long to demand an explanation from responsible parties of the Tanzanian partner church. Apparently there is a systematic approach to silence and conceal embezzlement by the clergy of the Tanzanian church.

Any person criticizing such conditions is charged with either paternalism or hostility against the church. The German aid organizations “knew – at the latest – since spring 2006 of such embezzlement cases, without any legal consequences”, says Mernyi. The German officials of the mentioned organizations had – to say the least – fostered such criminal actions with their decision to deal with these issues only within the church. “The public in Tanzania and Germany and, in particular, the donors were not informed about the criminal actions and the scope of the systematic corruption”, so Mernyi. In addition, the German aid organizations had refused to protest against the lockout of the doctor Brandl by police force, quoting internal political reasons.

The Member of the High Consistory

The whole thing is quite embarrassing to Michael Martin. The member of the High Consistory of the Bavarian national church says: “That is indeed a huge problem”. We do have a responsibility towards the donors”. However, corruption is an everyday occurrence in the development aid. Five bishops were removed from office in the past years in Tanzania due to mismanagement. “That is part of our continuous efforts”, so Martin. For members of the clergy in Africa it is “a giant temptation, when they suddenly receive project funds in the millions”. Often, amounts are siphoned off in order to look after acquaintances.

In this concrete case, the decision was reached not to accuse the bishop of corruption in public. “Such an attack would have caused solidarity”, so Martin. “We were counting on self-curing effects, so that people would have realized: He is ruling like a chieftain”. Now, with the new management, “the aim is to find out how to get out of this corrupt swamp”. One project is again managed by us, since the bishop only employed relatives. However, we should avoid aid paternalism. “Worlds collide, if we try to force our own ideas of aid”, Martin says. “But we can not change the people to become Europeans.”

The Mediator

Reinold Thiel is a founding member of “Transparency Deutschland” and worked for a long time in development aid. He knows the problems from own experience. Together with other experts from the development aid sector, he prepared a report about corruption in development aid and the specific problems of the various churches with their not very transparent structures. Thiel emphasizes, that the report has been prepared in collaboration with the churches and not against them. The churches agreed to discuss the report internally. But they rather not publish anything. Then, the report was published in the newspapers. That was the last straw for the churches. The main thing – according to Thiel – is the discussion of the issue. But this attitude made him not very popular with anybody.

The Hima-VCT was created over a year ago with the mission of providing members with free services, which the Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital, despite its mandate, was not offering.

The VCT was shut down on March 20th of this year when the nurses, temporarily borrowed from the Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital, were called back due to staff shortages at the hospital. Concerned about members’ access to their government-promised free treatment, PIUMA hired Juma Nzige in April to prepare the Hima center for re-opening. Last week, ten District Health Officials visited the facility and deemed everything to be in good order, the site ready to open upon the arrival of a nurse from Ikonda Hospital later this week.

Here is the report from PIUMA’s Clinical Officer:

‘’The health status of our members is a primary issue of concern. I have been caring for them day and night to help tackle their health problems.

“Currently, I have been looking at their CTC cards to assess their compliance with the medication regimen and checking that their last CD4 count was done. It is encouraging when their compliance is good, however, the majority aren’t going for the CD4 counts, sometimes even for a couple of months. I think the problem is all about lack of information, support, and about the benefit of regularly checking their CD4 counts.

“In that case, I plan to commence a routine examination on CD4 counts. Under this program, the overall condition of our members is going to get much better.’’

- Juma Nzige

Of the 15 NGOs in the Makete district, PIUMA was chosen by the chairman of all Makete’s NGOs because of its strong sense of financial accountability. With the main focus of the TANGO meeting being the use of money by NGOs in Tanzania, PIUMA’s continued fight against corruption will make for a valuable presentation at the meeting.

Taimu Sanga, Executive Officer of PIUMA, has been selected to make the presentation in Mbeya and is “feeling good and very proud to represent [his] NGO!” Among many things to be discussed in the meeting, Mr. Sanga plans to describe PIUMA’s work within the community and its continued struggle with Church and government officials. He will also explain PIUMA’s valiant slogan Pima Ili Uishi Kwa Matumaini – Test and Live with Hope.

A delegation from PIUMA, the AIDS patient activist group in Makete District released the following press release as part of its advocacy efforts with the Lutheran church meeting in Arusha:

PIUMA Demands an End to Corruption in the Lutheran Church

Arusha, Tanzania (June 30, 2008)

The HIV-AIDS patient advocacy group in Bulongwa PIUMA has denounced the Lutheran churches of Tanzania and of Europe and North America for their lack of transparency and accountability in the use of money for international development and to combat HIV-AIDS at the a meeting of the Council of the Lutheran World Federation in Arusha. PIUMA has also demanded that the Lutheran churches address the ongoing state of crisis at the Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital and its HIV clinic.

“The people of the Bulongwa area of Makete District are suffering because of the corruption and lack of accountability of the South Central Diocese of the ELCT (SCD), its hospital, Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital (BLH), and the Lutheran donor agencies that support them,” says PIUMA spokesperson Wema Sanga. “People living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) have been among those most directly and most negatively affected by this fraud and theft.”

At least 272 million Tanzanian shillings are known to have been lost or stolen from the Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital and from donor-supported development projects since 2003. This theft has been confirmed by a number of independent audits, but the ELCT and international Lutheran donors have done virtually nothing to reclaim or replace money that was raised by northern churches for the benefit of the poor and needy but lost due to incompetence.

“Hundreds of millions of shillings were stolen by local hospital and church officials,” says Ms. Sanga. “There are professional audits that show this clearly. This money was stolen from the people of our area and must be returned. The Bishops of the ELCT and their foreign partners meeting in Arusha must address this lack of accountability in their system and its negative impact on the poor. Our people are dying from lack of decent care caused by theft and corruption in the Lutheran church. ”

PIUMA is bearing witness that the people of Makete are suffering and PLWHAs in the District are dying because of the Lutheran Church’s incompetence and corruption both in Tanzania and in Europe. PIUMA believes that since the lock-out, hundreds have become infected or died for lack of decent services and HIV follow-up testing and care from BLH. The Church must accept responsibility for the ongoing crisis and change fundamentally its approach to partnering with Tanzania and with the SCD.

“Basic health care is a human right,” says Jackson Mbogela, senior advisor to PIUMA. “Helping PLWHAs in Makete is a matter of justice, not charity. It would be better if no money came from European churches than for it to end up in the pockets of local church elites who use the power and influence it gives them to oppress the people.”

PIUMA held a day-long vigil outside the Arusha International Conference Centre where the Lutheran World Federation was meeting and presented three demands to church officials:

- That the northern partners of the ELCT, specifically the Mission EineWelt (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria), NMZ (North Elbian Centre for World Mission) and KPS (Lutheran Church in the Province of Saxony) of Germany, recognize that they have failed the people of Makete through financial mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability, including the contravention of their fundamental human right to receive basic health care;

- That the ELCT and its donor partners pay the people of Makete District the money that was supposed to have been invested in the District in health care and in development projects but that was stolen due to their mismanagement;

- That the ELCT, SCD, and its partners immediately restore services for PLWHAs to the level that was available in April 2006 at the BLH HIV Care and Treatment Centre prior to the expulsion of PIUMA and the professional staff working with them.

Founded in December, 2005, PIUMA is a self-help and advocacy group for people living with HIV-AIDS. It is committed to educational and service outreach and to democratic activism against corruption and bureaucratic indifference to the hundreds of people it represents. Its actions are deeply rooted in proud Tanzanian traditions of democracy and justice for the poor. Last year, PIUMA counselled and tested more than 2,000 people in outreach clinics to villages in Makete District, the poorest region of Tanzania with one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV infection in the country.

For more information, contact:
Jackson Mbogela, +255 787 410 315 (English and Kiswahili) or
Wema Sanga, +255 783 099 324 (Kiswahili)

PIUMA Wanataka Ufisadi Ukomeshwe katika Kanisa la Kilutheri

Arusha, Tanzania (Juni 30, 2008)

Kikundi cha wanaharakati wa Watu Wanaoishi na Virusi Vya UKIMWI huko Bulongwa PIUMA kinapinga vikali hatua ya kutokuwa na uwazi na kutowajibika ya makanisa ya Kiluteri ya Tanzania, Ulaya na Amerika ya Kaskazini kwenye mkutano wa Baraza la Jumuiya ya Dunia ya Waluteri mjini Arusha. PIUMA vile vile wanataka makanisa hayo ya Kiluteri kutatua tatizo la Hospitali ya Kiluteri ya Bulongwa (BLH)na kliniki yake ya Kupimia VVU.

“Wananchi wa Bulongwa kijiji kilichopo katika Wilaya ya Makete wanapata mateso kwa sababu ya ufisadi na kushindwa kuwajibika na kuwa wawazi kwa Dayosisi ya Kusini Kati ya KKKT (SCD), Hospitali yake ya Kiluteri ya Bulongwa (BLH), na wafadhili wa Kiluteri wanaowaunga mkono,” anasema Msemaji wa PIUMA, Wema Sanga. “Watu Wanaoishi na VVU (PLWHAs) wamekuwa kati ya wale wengi walioathirika moja kwa moja na ufisadi huo.”
Takribani Shilingi milioni 272 million za Tanzania zimegunduliwa kuwa zimepotea au kuibiwa kutoka kwenye Hospitali ya Kiluteri ya Bulongwa na miradi inayodhaminiwa na wafadhili tangu mwaka 2003. Wizi huu umethibitishwa na wakaguzi kadhaa wa kujitegemea, lakini KKKT na wafadhili wa kimataifa wa makanisa ya Kiluteri hawajachukua hatua yoyote ile kudai au kurejesha fedha hizo ambazo zilitolewa na makanisha ya Ulaya kwa ajili ya manufaa ya masikini na walalahoi na ambazo zimepotea kutokana na uzembe.

“Mamia ya mamilioni ya shilingi ziliibiwa na maafisa wa hospitali hiyo na wale wa kanisa,” anasema Bi Sanga. “Kuna ukaguzi wa kitaalamu unaoonyesha hili wazi wazi. Fedha hizi ziliibiwa kutoka kwa watu wa eneo letu na ni lazima zirejeshewe.” Maaskofu wa KKKT na washirika wao wanaokutana Arusha wanapaswa kujadili suala hili la kutowajibika katika taratibu zao za kazi na athari mbaya dhidi ya watu masikini. Watu wetu wanafariki dunia kutokana na kukosa matibabu mazuri, jambo ambalo limesababishwa na wizi huu na ufisadi katika Kanisa la Kiluteri.”
PIUMA ni shuhuda kwamba wananchi wa Makete wanateseka na Watu Wanaoishi wan a VVU wanafariki dunia kwa sababu ya uzembe, ubadhirifu wa fedha na ufisadi wa Kanisa la Kiluteri nchini Tanzania na Ulaya. PIUMA inaamini kwamba toka Kliniki ilipofungwa, mamia ya watu wameambukizwa au kufariki kutokana na ukosefu wa matunzo na huduma bora katika hospitali ya Bulongwa.Kanisa hilo linapaswa kuwajibika katika sakata linaloendelea na lazima libadilike kikamilifu katika utaratibu wake wa kushirikiana na Tanzania na Dayosisi ya Kuni Kati, SCD.

“Huduma bora ya Afya ni haki ya msingi ya binadamu,” anasema Jackson Mbogela, mshauri wa PIUMA. “Kuwasaidia Watu wanaoishi na Virusi vya UKIMWI Makete ni haki ya msingi sio msaada. Ingekuwa bora kama fedha zisingekuja kutoka katika makanisa ya ulaya kuliko kuishia mikononi mwa viongozi wa kanisa wenyeji ambao wametumia kujipa nguvu za kuwakandamiza watu wao”

PIUMA wamefanya mkesha wa siku moja nje ya Ukumbi wa Kimataifa wa Mikutano jijini Arusha ambako Jumuiya ya Dunia ya Waluteri walikuwa wanakutana na walitoa madai matatu yafuatayo kwa maafisa wa makanisa hayo:

- Kwamba washiriki wa KKKT, hususan, Mission EineWelt (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria), NMZ (North Elbian Centre for World Mission) na KPS (Lutheran Church in the Province of Saxony) ya Ujerumani kutambua kwamba wameshindwa kuwahudumia wananchi wa Makete kutokana na ubadhirifu wa fedha na kutokuwa wawazi na kutowajibika, ikiwa ni pamoja na ukiukaji wa haki za kimsingi za binadamu za kupata huduma za afya;

- Kwamba KKKT na washiriki wake kuwalipa wananchi wa Wilaya ya Makete fedha zilizowekezwa kwenye Wilaya hiyo kwa ajili ya matibabu na miradi ya maendeleo ya Wilaya hiyo ambazo zimeibwa kutokana na uzembe wao;
- Kwamba KKKT, SCD, na washiriki wake warejeshe haraka huduma za Watu Wanaoishi na VVU ambazo zilikuwepo kabla ya 12 Aprili 2008 katika Kituo cha matibabu ya VVU kwenye Hospitali ya Kiluteri ya Bulongwa kabla ya kufukuzwa kwa PIUMA na wataalamu waliokuwa wanafanyakazi nao.

PIUMA, iliundwa Mei mwaka 2005 na kusajiliwa mwezi Novemba mwaka 2005, kama kikundi cha kujisaidia na uhamasihaji wa Watu Wanaoishi na VVU. Kikundi hicho kimedhamiria kuendesha harakati za kuelimisha, kuhamasisha na kutoa huduma kwa watu waliopo mbali na kituo na pia kupinga ufisadi na urasimu unaofanywa kwa mamia ya watu unao kiwakilisha. Mwenendo wake unatokea kwenye mizizi ya utamaduni wa Tanzania wa demokrasia na haki kwa ajili walalahoi. Mwaka uliopita PIUMA walitoa ushauri nasaha kwa zaidi ya watu 2,000 waliopo kwenye kliniki za mbali kwenye vijiji vya Wilaya ya Makete, eneo lenye umaskini wa kukithiri nchini Tanzania na ambako kuna kasi kubwa ya maambukizo ya VVU nchini.

Kwa taarifa zaidi wasiliana na:
Jackson Mbogela, +255 787 410 315 (English and Kiswahili)
Wema Sanga, +255 783 099 324 (Kiswahili)

PIUMA fordert das Ende der Korruption in der Lutherischen Kirche

Arusha, Tansania (30. Juni, 2008)

PIUMA, die Selbsthilfegruppe der HIV/AIDS Patienten aus Bulongwa, prangert die Lutherischen Kirchen aus Tansania, Deutschland, Europa und Nordamerika wegen Mangels an Transparenz und fehlender Rechenschaftslegung über die Verwendung von internationalen Entwicklungshilfegeldern und HIV-AIDS Funds auf dem Treffen des Lutherischen Weltbundes in Arusha an. PIUMA fordert, dass die Lutherischen Kirchen sich mit der anhaltenden Krise am Bulongwa Lutheran Hosptial und seiner HIV Klinik beschäftigt.

“Die Menschen in der Umgebung Bulongwas im Makete Distrikt leiden unter der Korruption und dem Fehlen der Rechenschaftslegung der Süd-Zentral Diözese (SCD) der ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania), ihres Krankenhauses, dem Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital (BLH), und der Lutherischen Geber Organisationen, die jene unterstützen,” sagt PIUMA Sprecherin Wema Sanga. “Menschen die mit HIV/AIDS leben (PLWHAs – People Living with HIV/AIDS) sind unter jenen, die sehr direkt und am schwersten von den Betrügereien und Diebstählen betroffen sind.”

Seit 2003 wurden aus dem Bulongwa Krankenhaus und von anderen geberunterstützten Entwicklungsprojekten zumindest 272 Million Tansanische Schillinge abgängig oder gestohlen gemeldet. Diese Diebstähle wurden durch einige unabhängige Buchprüfungen bestätigt; aber die ELCT und die internationalen Lutherischen Geber haben praktisch nichts getan, um dieses Geld zurückzufordern oder zu ersetzen. Dieses Geld wurde von den nördlichen Kirchen aufgebracht, um den Armen und Bedürftigen zu helfen, ist aber durch deren Inkompetenz verloren gegangen.

“Hunderte Millionen Schillinge wurden durch die lokalen Krankenhaus- und Kirchenangestellten gestohlen,” sagt Frau Sanga. “Es gibt professionelle Buchprüfungen, die das klar belegen. Das Geld wurde den Menschen aus unserem Gebiet gestohlen und muss zurückbezahlt werden. Die Bischöfe der ELCT und ihre ausländischen Partner, die sich in Arusha treffen, müssen sich mit diesem Fehlen von Rechenschaftslegung in ihren Systemen und dem negativen Einfluss auf die Armen beschäftigen. Unsere Leute sterben wegen dem Fehlen einer anständigen Behandlung, hervorgerufen durch Diebstahl und Korruption in der Lutherischen Kirche. ”

PIUMA kann bezeugen, dass die Menschen in Makete leiden und Menschen mit HIV/AIDS im Distrikt sterben, weil die Lutherischen Kirchen in Tansania und Europa inkompetent und korrupt sind. PIUMA berichtet, dass seit der Aussperrung aus der HIV Klinik, hunderte Menschen infiziert wurden, oder wegen dem Mangel an anständiger medizinischer Behandlung und fehlendem HIV follow-up durch das Krankenhaus (BLH) gestorben sind. Die Kirche muss ihre Verantwortung für diese andauernde Krise anerkennen und ihren Ansatz zur Partnerschaft mit Tansania und mit der SCD fundamental überdenken.

“Basisgesundheitsversorgung ist ein Menschenrecht,” sagt Jackson Mbogela, Senior Advisor von PIUMA. “Den Menschen mit HIV/AIDS in Makete zu helfen ist eine Frage der Gerechtigkeit, nicht eine Frage der Barmherzigkeit. Es wäre besser, wenn kein Geld aus den Europäischen Kirchen käme, anstatt dass es in den Taschen der lokalen Kircheneliten endet, die ihrer Kraft und ihren Einfluss missbraucht, um die Menschen in ihrem Umfeld zu unterdrücken.”

PIUMA hielt eine Tagwache außerhalb des „Arusha International Conference Centre“ ab, wo sich der Lutherische Weltbund tritt und präsentierte drei Forderungen an die Offiziellen der Kirche:

- Die Nördlichen Partner der ELCT, im besonderen die Mission EineWelt (Evangelische Lutherische Kirche in Bayern), das NMZ (Nord Elbisches Missionzentrum) und die KPS (Kirchenprovinz Sachsen) aus Deutschland, müssen anerkennen, dass sie gegenüber den Menschen in Makete durch finanzielles Missmanagement, fehlender Transparenz und fehlende Rechenschaftslegung versagt haben, das betrifft auch das Agieren gegen das fundamentale Recht für eine Basisgesundheitsversorgung;

- ELCT und ihre Partner und Geber zahlen den Menschen des Makete Distrikt das Geld, welches ursprünglich in das Gesundheitssystem und in Entwicklungsprojekte investiert werden sollte, aber in der Folge des Missmanagements gestohlen wurde, an die Menschen zurück;

- ELCT, SCD und deren Partner müssen unverzüglich die Serviceleistungen für Menschen die mit HIV/AIDS leben in einer Qualität wiederherstellen, die jener entspricht, die bis zum April 2006 am BLH HIV „Care and Treatment Center“ gegeben war. Die Zeit bevor PIUMA und die professionellen Mitarbeiter ausgesperrt wurden.

PIUMA wurde im Dezember 2005 gegründet und ist eine Selbsthilfegruppe, die für die Rechte der Menschen die mit HIV/AIDS leben eintritt. Die Gruppe engagiert sich bei Aufklärung und Beratung im Feld und kämpft durch demokratische Aktionen gegen Korruption und gegen das bürokratische Desinteresse gegenüber den hunderten Menschen, die durch die Gruppe repräsentiert werden. Die Grundlagen für dieses Handeln sieht PIUMA in den stolzen tansanischen Traditionen der Demokratie und der Gerechtigkeit für die Armen. Im letzen Jahr hat PIUMA für mehr als 2000 Menschen HIV Testungen und Beratungen in den Dörfern Maketes durchgeführt. Makete Distrikt liegt in der ärmsten Region Tansanias und hat eine der höchsten HIV Raten im Land.

Für weiteren Kontakt und Information:

Jackson Mbogela, +255 787 410 315 (English and Kiswahili) oder
Wema Sanga, +255 783 099 324 (Kiswahili)

Since the organization’s lock-out from facilities supported by the donor EAWM of Austria, the people of the Bulongwa area have been unable to access services of even minimal quality.

The full story is available at http://www.fr-online.de/in_und_ausland/politik/aktuell/?em_cnt=1358515&sid=9

English translation to follow.

Hii ni taarifa ya ujenzi kwenye Jengo la PIUMA, tunashushukuru kwa misaada ya wafadhili na marafiki wote wa PIUMA kwa michango yenu mnayotoa kwa ajili ya kuisaidia PIUMA kwa mambo mbalimbali.
Mpaka sasa jengo letu la PIUMA vyumba vilivyoisha kusakafiwa ni nane, katika hivi vyumba nane vyumba vine vinaendelea kupigwa dari, vitapakwa rangi na vimefungwa milango tayari. Lakini vyumba vingine vilivyobaki hatuna fedha kwa ajili ya kuendelea na ujenzi, hivyo basi mpaka sasa ujenzi umesimama.
Endapo tutapata msaada wa fedha tutaendelea na kusakafia chumba kikubwa cha katikati, veranda na ukarabati wa vitu vingine.
Pamoja na nguvu kazi za wanachama bado tunahitaji msaada wa fedha kwa ajili ya kuweza kukamilisha zoezi hili.
Malengo yetu tulipanga kuwa endapo tutamaliza jengo haraka mwezi wa tisa mwaka huu tuwe tumeshahamisha ofisi kwenye jengo letu la PIUMA.

Ahsante.

UTANGULIZI: Kikao cha kamati zote za PIUMA kimefanyika jana tarehe tajwa hapo juu kwa ajili ya kuwaelimishwa wajumbe wa kamati kujua wajibu wa kazi kwa kila kamati, kikao kilifunguliwa saa 4:00 asubuhi.
Mwenyekiti aliwaeleza wajumbe kuwa tumetembelewa na mgeni toka Canada ambaye amekuja kututembelea, na mgeni huyu amekuja na vifaa vifuatavyo.
- Compyuta, kamera na begi ya compyuta.
Mwenyekiti aliwaeleza kuwa mgeni huyu amekuja kufungua website ya PIUMA, kuwatembelea wanachama wa PIUMA pamoja na vikundi vyake. Ametumwa na Royal kuja kufanya kazi nasi, atakuwepo kwa mwezi mzima.
Alimkaribisha mgeni ili ajitambulishe, mgeni alisema kuwa yeye anaitwa Gabe Maldoff. Wajumbe walishukuru kwa ujio wake huyu mgeni na kumpokea kwa kuimba wimbo wa PIUMA.
Wajumbe waliokuwa wamehudhuria walikuwa 28 kati ya wajumbe 41 katika kamati zote, katibu Mkuu wa PIUMA aliwasomea wajumbe wajibu wa kila kamati.
1. KAMATI YA UTENDAJI
Kamati hii ndio kamati kuu itawajibika na mambo yote yanayohusu mambo yote ya PIUMA pamoja na kuwajibisha kamati ndogondogo na viongozi wa PIUMA.
2. KAMATI YA FEDHA
Kamati hii itawajibika na mabo ya fedha za PIUMA, kuandaa bajeti, kuandaa ripoti, kudhibiti pesa, na mambo yote yahusuyo fedha.
Kamati zingine zote zitawajibika kwa kufuata wajibu wa kila kamati na kamati hizi zitapeleka maombi na maazimio yao kwenye kamati ya utendaji na kamati hii ndio yenye kutoa uamuzi wa mwisho.
Mwisho kikao kiliahirishwa kwa kuimba nyimbo za PIUMA. Kikao kiliahirishwa saa 8:00 mchana.

The Financial & Planning Committee was established one month ago in order to oversee PIUMA’s use of money. The committee will look into the allocation of resources and will have to be consulted in the drawing of PIUMA’s future budgets. To best prepare the new committee for its upcoming tasks, today’s meeting suggested scheduling a seminar with Mr. Rayben Sanga, PIUMA’s financial advisor, upon his arrival from Dar es Salaam next month.

The meeting today, which drew 24 members from villages as far as Makwaranga for a festive singing of the PIUMA song and collective feast, also proposed training PIUMA volunteers in home-based care treatment. With the arrival of a new VCT nurse as early as July 1st, PIUMA hopes to hold a seminar on the second week of July to train its volunteers.

In the past, seminars on home-based care have been provided to PIUMA members through the Makete NGO, Tunajali, and conducted by the Lutheran Church. It is hoped that with PIUMA’s own VCT nurse, home-based care seminars will be able to reach a greater PIUMA membership.

From July until December of last year, PIUMA’s Bulongwa-based Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCT) and its mobile outreach clinics to surrounding villages provided testing to more than 2,000 people.

Because of a change in PIUMA staff, the local District Medical Officer (DMO) revoked permission for the organization to continue with the VCT. This unacceptable situation has continued for more than five months.

The Coordinating Committee is calling on the DMO and the District Commissioner to give PIUMA permission to re-open its clinic immediately. PIUMA Clinical Officer Juma Nzige says that all demands of the DMO for clinic resources have been met. A further demand by the DMO to send staff for a month of specialized training has been characterized by a local health professional and HIV expert as “not reasonable”.

“No one else is required to do this in the region or in the country,” says this expert.

PIUMA supporters suspect this bureaucratic opposition by local officials is part of a sustained campaign to suppress PIUMA that has been going on since the organization publicly criticized local health and church officials for theft and corruption.

“Our people are dying,” says PIUMA Executive Officer Taimu Sanga. “We are pleased that our local NGO partners have recognized that we are best at this and support us with the DMO.”

On Saturday, June 21st, Highlands Hope affiliate NGO, Chakunimu, held an information session in the village of Mlevele, just outside of Njombe. The session was used to spread awareness of HIV and the importance of testing.

Using several teaching methods, the session focused on expelling local myths about the virus. An address to the entire crowd of 450 presented the information in a straightforward manner, while small group discussions allowed the villagers to ask more personal questions. Songs repeated information given with a catchy tune, which eventually had many of the villagers reciting the lyrics. Lastly, a role playing exercise had the crowd rolling in laughter as it compared traditional treatment methods with modern medicine.

Chakunimu operates within six villages in the surrounding area, and has made its presence known. Aside from weekly information sessions rotating through its constituent villages on topics ranging from HIV awareness to environmental concerns, the NGO has been an important leader in community building projects.

In Nyumbanitu, one of the villages within which the NGO operates, a new health center is nearing completion. The large red testing center and planned maternity center, built by the villagers with minimal government help, will be the first center for Highlands Hope`s mobile testing program. The program will bring Highlands Hope nurses to the various villages where they operate in order to reach those who cannot make the walk into Njombe.

After the information session in Mlevele, organizers got together to evaluate Chakunimu`s work. The only criticism to surface was that only three village chairmen attended, and in the future they should strive to have all six present. However, the most resounding comment was that of the Wald Executive Officer who praised Chakunimu`s work and suggested that it expand to more villages.

The solidarity visit by Canadian Friends of Highlands Hope to Makete District has been made possible by the support of the senior economics class of Lindsay Place High School among others.

Gabe Maldoff

Finn’s Facts: Lutheran leaders should censure graft culprits among them

FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE,
DAR ES SALAAM

THE country’s northern tourist enclave of Arusha town will this week play host to a high profile Lutheran Church leaders’ conference. Lutheran World Federation leaders will convene at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) to discuss several issues pertaining to its global members’ activities.

This LWF conference is being held in the country at a time when the government of President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has gone head-on to tackle high level graft in public office.

The church, specifically the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), has played a leading role in denouncing high profile graft among public officials. During annual Christian commemorations such as Easter, Christmas and the like, ELCT leaders have used the opportunity to call on their followers to emulate the life of Jesus Christ by practising honesty, courage in defending the church and justice while leading a simple life.

But this time around, the ELCT and some of its so-called Northern partners are in the dock. Graft, embezzlement and cheating allegations have been made against some personalities at ELCT, its German partners, Nordelbisches Zentrum f�r Weltmission und Kirchlichen Weltdienst (NMZ) and Arusha based Lutheran Mission Cooperation.

There are serious concerns that some church officials at ELCT and particularly from the Southern Central Diocese of Iringa, NMZ and LMC are engaged in acts which are contrary to the moral teachings of Christ and in some cases, acts which border on criminal offence.

When I first got the allegations against an NMZ seconded employee, Reichenbach Vogt Ingeborg who worked as treasurer at SCD between 2003/5 when audit reports from the diocese show misappropriation of funds, I took a task of contacting the Germany-based institution and the individual but so far no response has been made.

Ms Vogt Ingeborg’s tenure at ELCT/SCD left several stories of loss of EUR 100,000 and some 270m/- cash lost through graft and thefts. Several church leaders who faced allegations at ELCT/SCD were booked by the police in Iringa Region but later left free following a visit by a former prime minister.

There are serious allegations on how some ELCT/SCD church leaders at Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital collaborated with some dishonest Ministry of Health and Social Welfare officials to close down a properly functioning HIV/AIDS clinic which used a German made Cyflow CD4 Counter machine and replaced it with an American made FacsCount CD4 Counter and threw away most of its volunteer personnel including an Austrian medical doctor, Dr Rainer Brandl in 2005.

Today we are told that the FacsCount machine at Bulongwa is no longer working and that people living with HIV and AIDS through their association, PIUMA, are dying or going through the worst suffering because some dishonest ELCT/SDC leaders have betrayed their trust. The church is seriously in need of cleansing itself before the public in Makete where the country’s worst cases of the HIV/AIDS virus are found and yet some greedy people are cashing on human suffering.

Dr Brandl and some PIUMA members accused the LMC of collaborating with ELCT in making sure that funds from the Northern partners such as NMZ and the government goes to BLH where graft is the order of the day and past culprits have been left off the hook

Serious allegations have also been made against leaders at LMC, NMZ and ELCT/SCD but have often been dismissed. In the worst act of defiance against allegations of wrongdoing at ETCL/SDC the NMZ published articles recently stating that all is well in Tanzania and that its German members can continue to bankroll projects which ordinary people on the ground argue are simply misappropriated by few dishonest individuals on the ground.

The LMC secretary Lars Hofgren from Sweden, vice chairman Manfred Scheckenbach from Bavaria in Germany are among the names being accused of continuing to work with ELCT/SCD by backing them financially while ignoring graft allegations being made against its leadership some of whom have been forced to resign.

But LMC’s secretary Mr Hofgren dismissed all the allegations made against the charitable institution arguing that LMC and ELCT/SCD are completely different entities with different managements. They only have a memorandum of understanding to work together.

Lutherans in the country and the general public who benefit from generous contributions being made by the ELCT/SCD at Bulongwa and elsewhere want to see action taken against few individuals who are shaming the church by their immoral conduct.

The LWF should also censure some of its own high profile members from LMC, ELCT and NMZ who have formed a cartel whose conduct and activities are a disgrace in the eyes of Lutheran faithfuls and the general public. The LWF must seriously be seen as an anti-graft crusader especially among its hierarchy members.

PARTICIPANTS
Evangelista Kayombo chair/Counselor TANWAT
Leonila Samlongo counselor Ikonda
Rose Msigala counselor Ikonda
M. Msigwa counselor Ikonda
Onolina Mahenge Treasurer Ikonda
Potania Mfuse PMCTC counselor Ikonda
Andrew Auruku Laboratory Tech volunteer TANWAT
Batseba Betty Liduke Counselor /Coordinator Tanwat

Apologies
Tasilo Mdamu - Secretary HHT- Advanced diploma student – Iringa PHC
Elekia Msigwa – HBC Counselor TANWAT
Anahilda Mtega – Adherence Counselor TANWAT

AGENDA
Opening
Reading of past minute
Matter rose from past minute
Other matters
Closing

Before opening of the meeting prayer was done to bless all which is going to be discussed during the meeting

Opening
The meeting was been opened by HHT chair E. Kayombo by explaining on why the number of participants is not satisfactory. The meeting was opened at 10:15 am

Reading of past minutes
One participant read the past minute carefully followed by questions and addition from other participant generally the participant agreed the minute.

Matters rose from the past minute
Computer Training
Ikonda nurses reported of four nurses who have already started the training and they need fees for the 3 program which is remaining. HHT coordinator gave them 240,000 Tsh which is a fund for training. Nurses who are on Computer training this time are
• Rose Msigala
• Leonila Mfuse
• Potania Mfuse
• Onolina Mbilinyi

Registration of HHT network
Participants decided together to register officially HHT and from now the process of registration to be prepared and those participants who are in Njombe to go on with registration.

Other matters
Planning for other training for nurses will be of benefit to HHT nurses as this will be easy to know how many nurses should be attending the training. Participants insisted that those nurses who are not yet under gone secondary education should be helped to reach the level of secondary and 5 nurses from HHT nurses are not yet done the secondary examination one is going to sit for secondary examination this year 2008 the remaining should arrange for next year where by almost 300,000 Tsh is needed for them.

Conclusion
Every year at list 2 nurses to join Diploma or Counseling and budget for it should be done so to know how much will be needed every year. Other participants said at list Three million Tsh is needed every year for the Diploma training for 2 nurses.

TOPIC OF THE DAY
The selected topic was not made as the clinician who was supposed to present it was in theatre for emergency work. The topic was spared for next meeting.

Next meeting will be held on September but the date should be announced later as this will depend on the student from Canada arrival.

The meeting was closed at 1:30 noon by Chair who thanked all participated for their presence.

Prepared by
Mrs. Onolina Mbilinyi
Treasurer HHT

PIUMA Advisory Committee member Jackson Mbogela is very involved with planing the project.

“PIUMA has wanted to be online for a long time,” he says. “We are looking forward to Gabe’s time with us.”

PIUMA was founded on World AIDS Day, 2005. It quickly established a reputation for tough advocacy on behalf of its members, including demanding an end to corruption in public health services. Last year, it began operation of its own voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services, taking HIV education and testing to villages in Makete District where no testing had been available before.

More than 2,000 people benefitted directly from PIUMA’s VCT services. The organization is proud to have made its contribution to Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete’s national testing campaign.

Unfortunately, HIV services are generally ineffective and inaccessible to most of the people in the more remote parts of Makete District. Makete is the poorest region in all Tanzania and thought to have one of the highest prevalences of HIV infection in the country. Efforts by a number of NGOs and international agencies to establish adequate care have been insufficient and unsustainable, often due to corruption and mismanagement in the provision of health care by public, NGO, and Lutheran church officials.

Support for the PIUMA website project comes from the senior economics students of Lindsay Place High School in Pointe Claire, Canada, who held a “24 Hour Famine” to raise funds to support Highlands Hope and PIUMA.

PIUMA is imara kama simba - strong like a lion!

On behalf of Kibena Women’s Association, I thank St Georges School for a very big help to smoothen the work of KWA . We thank you very much ST GEORGE’S SCHOOL FOR THEIR DONATION OF 1365 USD which we just received recently .

MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL.

Thanks,

Betty Liduke for Kibena Women’s Association

The Kibena Women’s Association provides regular support to more than twenty orphans, including food, school uniforms, and academic tutoring. The Association also sponsors a community-wide gathering of orphans and vulnerable children each Boxing Day.

PIUMA is rushing to complete work in order to move its Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Centre from rented premises to the new site as quickly as poossible.

The VCT is not operating at the moment as negotiations continue with the District Medical Officer over equipment issues. These negotiations are expected to be completed next week.

Work continues on PIUMA House interior

The entrance fees and the revenue of selling CD´s of more than EUR 2,600 will al go to support PIUMA’s efforts for PLHWA in Makete District.

The two well-known musicians from Austria und Germany were performing as volunteers and were temselves active in securing sponsors, who covered the costs for the rent of the concert hall and the advertising.

Diane Borisov, chair of the Committee made specific reference to an interest by the Neuroscience mission in relation to neuropathic pain (a widespread and chronic effect of under-treated HIV) and offered specialty knowledge and resources from other missions.

The Committee has pledged that “the MUHC Nursing Department will support this initiative with content experts” and will explore with Highlands Hope the possibility of MUHC Nursing experts workng directly with their Tanzanian counterparts.

The McGill University Health Centre is one of North America’s leading advanced health care centres and its Research Institute has the largest, most-cited concentration of medical and life science researchers in Canada.

This week PIUMA’s General Secretary Anna Mwinuka and its new staff coordinator Taimu Sanga are in Dar es Salaam to process the organization’s permit for its Voluntary Counselling and Testing services offered at PIUMA House in Bulongwa and through the organization’s village-based outreach program. Last year, PIUMA counselled and tested more than 2,000 people in Makete District as its contribution to the President’s national HIV testing capaign.

Both the District and Regional Medical Officers have endorsed the application and PIUMA is now completing the paperwork for its formal licence from the Ministry of Health. PIUMA is the first patient-led HIV testing initiative in Tanzania and has plans to expand its services to include a full range of HIV care and treatment options.

Another member of PIUMA, Nasibu Ntullo, has just completed a seminar on HIV /AIDS Training for Youth in Dar es Salaam. He is returning to Makete. PIUMA has identified youth and children affected by HIV as a priority for action by the organization.

HIV prevalence in the sexually active population of the district is thought to be close to 20%. Availability of education, testing, and treatment remains, unfortunately, inadequate across the entire district.

The members of PIUMA who will attend are Esterina Swalloh from Mwakauta and Nasibu Ntullo from Utanziwa, both committed volunteers and accomplished local HIV activists.

While in Dar es Salaam, the PIUMA representatives will meet with the Dar-based members of the PIUMA Advisory Board.

Increasingly, PIUMA is being recognized for its leadership in Makete and invited to participate in training events, with the support of local District authorities.

In January, Ofesa Sanga and Alanyibata Sanga attended a two week training program in Njombe on fighting the stigmatization of PLWHAs. Ofesa and Alanyibata praised the training , saying that they learned a lot regarding human rights and stigma.

PIUMA sees basic health care, including access to HIV counselling, testing, and treatment, as a human right. The organization’s work is rooted in deep Tanzanian traditions of individual respect and democratic decision-making at the village and district levels. PIUMA is proud to be a contributing part of the greater national effort to fight the AIDS pandemic. It has, for example, sponsored clinics that have tested more than 2000 people in the past 10 months as its contribution to President Jakaya Kikwete’s campaign to test all Tanzanians for HIV.

As its name says, PIUMA believes that people can “test and live in hope” — pima ili uishi kwa matumaini!

PIUMA members march for solidarity and awareness in Makete District

Earlier this school year, two Secondary V Economics classes were visited by well-known Quebec broadcaster, Mr. Royal Orr. Mr. Orr is a member of Canadian Friends of Highlands Hope Hospital, an organization that includes Mr. Terry Mosher (Aislin of The Gazette) and Lindsay Place High School Vice Principal Mr. David Abracen.

This group works to build partnerships between Highlands Hope and Montreal health care institutions, such as the McGill School of Nursing and the Family Medicine Group at the McGill Faculty of Medicine. It also furnishes medical equipment and underwrites the cost of staff training.

Last year, one of our Secondary V Economics class donated a laptop computer, which was taken by members of Canadian Friends when they visited Tanzania last summer and given to the Highlands Hope nurse-counselor network. This year’s class is determined to maintain this tradition, and so they will be holding this upcoming Famine to raise funds which we be used to buy requested medical and technological equipment. This equipment will be taken directly to Highlands Hope by members of the Canadian Friends organization.

The Secondary V students are seeking donations from the local community and will be gathering to fast together as a gesture of solidarity with the nurses of Highlands Hope and the people of Njombe and Makete Districts, especially persons living with HIV-AIDS.

PIUMA’s former Coordinator, Jackson Mbogela, is preparing to go to the Netherlands for advanced university studies as a a recipient of a scholarship from the Ford Foundation and has become a member of PIUMA’s Advisory Council.

PIUMA is eager to get its new staff members in place and restart its counselling and testing services as well as its mobile clinics in villages in Makete District. PIUMA tested thousands of individuals in its testing drive beginning in the summer of 2007 as its part in the nation-wide testing campaign launched by the President of Tanzania, Mr. Jakaya Kikwete.

PIUMA also anticipates renewing its commitment to outspoken advocacy on a range of health and humans rights issues, including its repeated calls for an end to corruption in the provision of health care in Makete District.

Congratulations to Taimu and Juma.

Kwa pamoja tutashinda! (Together we can accomplish all things!)

The project links McGill University’s School of Nursing with nurse-counsellors in the communities of Njombe and Makete in the Southern Highlands region of Tanzania. HIV-AIDS is creating great suffering and hardship there; estimates of HIV prevalence in the adult population range as high as 20% in the region and the majority of patients in hospitals the east African nation are living with the complications of AIDS.

“We are honoured to be working with the professional nurses of Highlands Hope of Tanzania and with nurse leaders like Betty Liduke from Njombe,” says Madeleine Buck, Associate Director of the McGill School of Nursing. “We are very excited that we have completed our preliminary work of project development through the efforts of our two Highlands Hope Fellowship holders and are now integrating students from our School’s Global Health Studies section into our efforts.”

Nursing students Andra Leimanis and Jacqueline Bocking are studying Kiswahili and preparing the research/teaching projects that they will be taking to Tanzania in the fall of 2008 to implement with Highlands Hope of Tanzania and with the TANWAT Company Hospital in Njombe as part of their studies at the M.Sc level in Global Health.

“A growing number of globally conscious individuals are looking for a way to effect global health change,” says Buck. “Many of these individuals have started looking towards nursing as a means to gain practical skills and knowledge that will enable them to work in international settings.
The McGill School of Nursing’s two-year Global Health Studies option provides students with global health content throughout the program. Students complete their final year clinical component in an overseas placement to further help them to develop the skills needed to work internationally.

The Global Health Studies section sets out to prepare nurses for the challenges of working with diverse populations in limited resource environments with a philosophy stressing the importance of understanding the inherent power dynamics, equity issues and ethical dilemmas that arise through this work. It is based on a belief that we have much to learn from one another.

Ms. Leimanis and Ms. Bocking will be looking at home-based care and antiretroviral adherence challenges in TANWAT Company Hospital and Villages. The TANWAT Company Hospital in Njombe is a training partner with McGill’s School of Nursing.

The work of these students extends efforts by McGill nurses Christina Clausen and Sylvie Lambert who went to Tanzania in 2006 and 2007 as McGill Nurses for Highlands Hope Fellowship holders. Ms. Clausen worked to identify opportunities for McGill University partnerships with Highlands Hope of Tanzania clinical agencies and Ms. Lambert developed and implemented a pilot training module on pain assessment and management with Highlands Hope nurses in Njombe that is a template for the development of the McGill School of Nursing Clinical Training Series that the Global Health Studies nurses will be building on next fall.

“It was a life and career-changing experience to go to Tanzania,” says Highlands Hope Fellow Sylvie Lambert who is now pursuing post-doctoral studies in nursing. “Our colleagues in Africa face almost unimaginable challenges, but their spirit and dedication is an inspiration.”
Canadian Friends of Highlands Hope is honoured to support McGill Nurses for Highlands Hope in their efforts to:
• Expand professional nursing relationships across continents.
• Provide instrumental resources to support sustainable Nursing projects originating from the Highlands Hope Nurse-Counsellor Network.
• To facilitate the Highlands Hope Nurse-Counsellor Network in establishing South-South funding sources and partnerships.
• To assist Highlands Hope Nurses in documenting and disseminating their knowledge and the outcomes of their nursing interventions.
• To provide educational and research opportunities for McGill University Nursing students.

For more information about Highlands Hope of Tanzania, visit their website at www.highlandshope.com. For interviews, contact:

Prof. Madeleine Buck
McGill School of Nursing, (514) 398-4155.

Royal Orr
Canadian Friends of Highlands Hope, (819) 432-0420.

On the 25. 2. 08 and 21.2., the committees sat together and discussed following topics:

Solidarity march:
In the discussion about the solidarity march, the budget issue was questioned because in the review of the previous march, we remember that the budget was prepared not well enough, we had money problems. We are afraid the budget will be finished too fast again, it should be prepared early enough.

Doing the solidarity march is very good, and we know that the budget for it would not be the same like our administrative one. If the budget is prepared very well, that the march could be really good and it would be easy.

The is hope for a big success for PIUMA marching into the villages:
- we can reach areas which PIUMA has not reached yet
- PIUMA could attract new members
- There can be teachings about HIV/ Aids and people can be tested
- People can decide if they are free to get counseling from the PIUMA`s
- Even PIUMA members can prove and test their health in this way

Nutrition program:
It was decided that we should be with an nutrition program, but without buying the grinding machine. The 1500 dollars of the Canadians should be used for the PIUMA`s building, as the will to finish it is very strong.

Choir project:
It was agreed, that we will go ahead with the choir- project, after getting the needed financial resources from Jackson. Then the training can start.

PIUMA VCT- Center:
PIUMA`s VCT- center was closed down because the nurses have been intimidated. We got a a letter from the doctor in charge of BLH (Bulongwa Lutheran Hospital), which said, that the VCT has to be closed because there is no staff and the leadership has left PIUMA, so they can not care for their patients properly.

The General Secretary and the Chairman are going to meet the District Coordinator for HIV/ AIDS to discuss this issue.

Ahsante

Witness Ngumba.