Information letter #32, Perspective of our Tanzanian partners

Beatrice Loibanguti Laizer and Esther Paul Ndiimu are two young teachers. Both women are project supervisors in the Women Empowerment department. Their main task is to conduct training courses at the ECLAT Women Training and Development Centre and to help women in the local villages to apply what they have learned in their everyday lives. They have both been employed by the organisation since 2017.

It is always a moving moment when villages like Oltepeleki celebrate the handover of a school project. In August, ECLAT handed over the Lenaitunyo, Loosiririmi and Bembereza primary schools, and in autumn Fred Heimbach and a small group of visitors were able to witness the handover of another girls’ dormitory at the secondary school in Emboreet (in addition to the Donyonaado, Oltepeliki, Orkiringo and Sumawe primary schools). Due to the long distances, secondary schools in rural Tanzania are boarding schools. The number of pupils in Emboreet has risen considerably in recent years. The girls now all have their own bed if they live on the school grounds.

The fact that a good, reliable supply of clean drinking water is one of the basic human rights shows how important water is for a society. In an environment as arid as the Maasai steppe, people experience this necessity all the more keenly. The well project in Sukuro and the two water filter projects in Narakauo and Naiti ensure a greater supply of clean drinking water for the inhabitants of the villages. They come to the water taps and obtain for themselves and their families water that is both hygienic and clean.

My name is Beatrice Loibanguti Laizer. I am a Maasai woman aged 31 years. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Arusha. I am married and have two children.

My name is Esther Paul Ndiimu. I am a Maasai woman of 32 years and I have a degree in Education from Arusha Teachers College. I am married and have two children, a girl and a boy.

“As project facilitators, we enjoy providing training to women at the Women Training Centre. Different groups visit the centre every week and are instructed in a range of topics including personal hygiene, nutrition, water and sanitation, hygiene, poultry keeping, soap making and community micro-credit management. We also spend time with the women in their groups in the villages mentoring their activities. In this way, we ensure that the training provided at the centre is actually implemented in the households. As Maasai women, we understand the challenges that pastoralist women face. They are expected to devote their time and energy to the development of the family, even though they have limited economic skills and little time to improve their own situation.

Our main task is to ensure that these women understand their role in the economic maintenance of their families and to strengthen their self-confidence.
Through our mentoring activities, we have seen a gradual economic and social transformation taking place in the women’s groups and in individual women. For example, through the training, the women have noticeably improved their knowledge and skills, their confidence, self-esteem, assertiveness and personal hygiene.
They have learnt to earn and save their own income, take out small loans and to pay them back within the agreed time. Most have started a small business either as a group or as individuals selling foods such as sugar, tea leaves and cooking oil in the villages. There are groups that engage in joint economic activities such as making soap, grinding maize flour, keeping chickens and making traditional jewellery with multicoloured beads.
We feel very privileged to work in a team that is committed to helping women change their lives stories, overcome poverty and to experience personal social and economic growth.”