Blog: Health Matters

I recently read the following quote in Jane Goodall’s book, The Book of Hope, which is a wonderful and very appropriate summary of the Target Program Health (TP4). The quote reads: 

We need to have realistic goals to pursue, as well as realistic pathways to achieve them.

In addition, we need the confidence that we can achieve these goals, and...

• FGM

As we approach the final phase of the Target Project Health, the Target Team has been reviewing our education and awareness efforts over the previous three years. We are proud to say that FAWCO women have engaged and become increasingly fluent in the language of female genital mutilation (FGM) during this period. When we started, many of us felt trepidation...

• FGM

One of the objectives of S.A.F.E., FAWCO’s current Target Project, is to “Empower five local communities to adopt positive social norms which uphold the human rights and health of all community members through community sensitization and public declarations against female genital mutilation (FGM) by respected community leaders during two annual Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) ceremonies over the two years...

To write a blog on the medicalization of female genital mutilation was not easy! There are vast numbers of articles dedicated to the topic. I therefore decided to keep the blog short and to include several interesting articles that you can read following this short introduction. 

The UNFPA describes the medicalization of female genital mutilation (FGM) as “situations in which...

The physical consequences of FGM are well described – both short-term (pain, hemorrhage, infection, fractures and death due to severe blood loss and acute infection) and long-term (gynecologic, obstetric and urological complaints). But what about the psychological impact of FGM? What are the immediate and long-term psychological effects on the women and girls who are forced or persuaded to undergo...

Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania is, as its name implies, a place of hope. Girls and young women arrive at the Safe Houses daily, fleeing FGM, forced marriage and all manner of gender-based violence. Much like a family, Rhobi Samwelly and her staff provide care and comfort, but rather than putting bandages on skinned knees, they arrange medical care,

In this final part of the Travel Readiness series, we will concentrate on first aid kits and the management of chronic medication.  

A few general thoughts:

• The contents of a travel kit ideally need to be tailored to the need, age and destination of the traveller. 
• You should always have one or more kits with bandages, etc. with you: one...

In this second of a three-blog series on travel readiness, we are going to look at the importance of travel vaccination.  

Vaccinations can be classed as follows:

Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. – Ibn Battuta

(This is part 1 in a three-blog series on travel readiness. Part two will focus on the importance of travel vaccination and part three on first aid kits and the management of medicaton, including chronic medication.)

Traveling is slowly opening up and we...

Do you have 10 minutes? Did you know that you can introduce the FAWCO Target Project in 10 minutes or less at a board meeting or general club meeting as an option for your club’s fundraising?

Audience: 

For FAWCO Reps and Club Presidents

Purpose: 

To help your Club understand and become an advocate of Safe Alternatives for Female Genital Mutilation...

• workshops
• FGM

Many of us probably grew up with a parent, an aunt or uncle or a grandparent who smoked, and have seen the significant impact that this had on the lives of people around us. Well-known smokers include Winston Churchill, who famously said, “My rule of life prescribed as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars and also the drinking of alcohol...

• smoking
• tobacco

May 23 is the International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, a UN observance day that was started in 2013. The...

In the predawn stillness, Little Rhobi could hear the rhythmic breathing of her younger sisters and brother beside her. She sidled out of bed, her feet silently hitting the dirt floor, and passing them with a final glance, slipped outside just as the sun began to rise. Her feet carried her quickly toward the jungle, a route chosen to avoid...

At the age of thirteen, Rhobi Samwelly was forced to undergo female genital mutilation. The procedure nearly resulted in her death, a situation painfully common in Tanzania. Because of this, Rhobi vowed to make the elimination of FGM her life’s work. 

Although the practice of female genital mutilation is illegal in Tanzania, many girls and young women are still forced...

Original poem written by Mary Adams, AWC The Hague.

I have now laid my knife down.

I remember always in the Springtime

the aunties whispering special things are going to happen!

They held her arms

They held her legs

I crouched in ritual

My cuts brought blood and respect.

I remember always in the Fall season

the...

Herewith a brief interim report on the 2020/2021 cutting season. 

Overview of the number of girls at the Safe Houses end January 2021  

Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania (HGWT) accommodated 434 girls at the two Safe Houses during the two-month seasonal cutting period. The reconciliation was done in collaboration with Police Gender Desk officers, Social Welfare, a psychologist and Hope...

World Cancer Day, on February 4, is an important observance day for all kinds of cancer. Too many women still suffer from cervical cancer, which is a highly preventable and treatable disease. Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in women and the fourth most common cause of death from cancer in women, according to the...

• cervical cancer
• HPV

Girls often arrive at the Safe House of Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania (HGWT) late at night with just the clothes on their backs. Those arriving on foot have to navigate from remote, rural areas in the dark. Girls know about the Safe Houses as a result of awareness sessions done at school clubs or community awareness outreach programs. 

1. Female genital mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
2. FGM is found on ALL continents except Antartica. The countries with the highest prevalence are Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti and Sierra Leone. 
3. The practice has no health benefits for girls and women.
4. FGM has numerous and...

Welcome to Tanzania, or rather, the United Republic of Tanzania (or Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania in Swahili.) 

The name ‟Tanzania” was created from the names of the two states that unified to create the country: Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The name ‟Tanganyika” comes from the Swahili words tanga (‟sail”) and nyika (‟uninhabited plain,” ‟wilderness”), creating the phrase ‟sail in the...