As in many other African countries, there is a severe and widespread HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tanzania. HIV/AIDS is a serious challenge and if left uncontrolled, complications will continue to arise. Many hospitals, clinics and local NGO’s facilitate HIV/AIDS testing, counselling and awareness campaigns. Collaboration with local groups and organizations helps foster awareness amongst local communities, help prevent infection and loss of life, and improve the lives of those already infected. As a volunteer at a Tanzanian HIV/AIDS project you can support the ongoing efforts to stop the spread of HIV.
You can help with counseling at the HIV/AIDS department one of the four public medical centers in Arusha we partner with. These are Mt Meru hospital, Levolosi hospital , St Elizabeth hospital and Kaloleni hospital. You can also help at St. Lucia Nursing Home and Orphanage. This orphanage was started as an adult hospice for those dying of the AIDS virus soon became an orphanage for HIV positive children. Hospice patients came with children and once deceased, the children stayed because they had no other place to live.
What will you do?
The ultimate goal of the project is to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS. To support this goal, you are involved with educating and providing awareness the community. Examples of tasks on our volunteer opportunities are:
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- - To provide counselling for affected and non-affected people about how to live a healthy life.
- - Assist with delivering medication to patients and explaining how to use it.
- - Go into rural villages to deliver medicine and counselling
- - Assist with finding donations in the form of food, clothes and medication.
If you are going to assist at the orphanage dedicated to children living with HIV/AIDS, you will help with spending time with the children (colouring, reading stories, movies), with taking them out to places in town for swimming, lunch or games and you can assist with administrative tasks for the orphanage.
