Zawadi and Neema Crafts
Please check out our blog for information of what we are doing in the local area and the progress that Neema Crafts and making. We will try and update the progress report as often as possible but as we are sure you will understand the christmas period is very busy and we unfortunately have exams in January!!!
Here is some information on the Neema Crafts workshop and some information about the project that we have set up.
Neema Crafts was started in October 2003 by the Diocese of Ruaha by Susie and Andy Hart, two CMS missionaries from St. Mark¹s Church in Harrogate. Its purpose is to provide handicrafts training and employment for deaf and physically disabled people in the Iringa region, Tanzania, and also to change negative attitudes towards people with disabilities in the local community. Local employers are invited to see how skilled the workers at Neema Crafts quickly become when given the opportunity to fulfil their potential. The high quality of their work is changing the attitude of local people towards disabled people.
Work is nearly finished on the new Neema Crafts Centre, which will provide permanent workshops, physiotherapy rooms and conference rooms for teaching, (since many of the disabled workers have missed a lot of schooling), and Susie and Andy would like, where possible, to buy equipment locally which will further benefit the local economy.
This is where Zawadi comes in! Zawadi was set up last year by a group of pupils, who are now in year 13 who wanted to support the Neema Project by raising funds to improve its workers lives. Zawadi meaning 'gifts' in Swahili aims to provide medical equipment, medical treatment and workshop equipment for the disabled workers at the Neema Crafts Centre.
Although we had a fantastic first year, raising over £8500, money is still needed to buy more equipment for the centre, which will soon be able to employ more then 100 extra disabled people as out-workers. We are hoping to raise even more money this year by registering as a charity in our own right, so don’t forget to address your checks to ‘Zawadi’ rather then ‘Neema Crafts’. We are hoping to develop links with more schools and churches and bring in the next generation of ‘zawadians’ to carry on the good work. In the next few month you will even be able to donate online once our paypal account is up and running!