Stories From Our Communities

**Rose Njiro – MIMUTIE WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION. **

To say the truth, I find it difficult to find the right words to say about my journey with WFT because it is a long journey. What surprised me from the onset was the fact that although our organization was young and without a track record with meagere resources having been established just in 2012 WFT-T took an interest in our work and accorded us the respect that we thought was reserved for big organizations. Age wise we are grown however resources wise.

It is surprising because in today’s world small community organizations are faced with considerable challenges in securing funding but for me since in 2007 when I came to get to know Mama Mary through TGNP.

The trip itself is memorable because when I first came in 2006, I was afraid of the tarmac roads! At the time we were 45 women to a meeting convened by TGNP.

We were afraid of slipping on the tarmac road being from Maasai communities, we had never seen such a thing and it looked like you could slip and fall! Mama Mary made it possible for us to come all the way to Dar es salaam. Mama Mary was then the ED of WFT. In 2017 we applied for the first time for a grant from WFT and we were awarded 10 million shillings.

When we got that grant, we celebrated for 5 days! Because we said this much money cannot be finished! We managed to put up systems in Maasai leadership structures where we were able to influence the community through WFT grant something that has never happened before. We now have women in Maasai leadership structure so now we have a structure led by women that (39:22).

Is actively involved in fighting against all forms of violence against women and children in Maasai communities.

JANETH MAWINZA - WAJIKI I’m not entirely sure where to start but I must speak.

The journey was long from where I started from. The struggle started when I was an entrepreneur after I had quit working for NGOs. I fell economically to a point where I was reduced to selling juice on the streets.

One day which is in a way the beginning of my safari and this determination I was watching television and they were broadcasting a women’s festival. I was very interested to find out more so I started asking around where would I meet these women who are meeting and celebrating their successes!

Where were they?

Why was I on the street?

Every time I would get back around 11:00 pm and setting down my bucket of juice and turn on the TV I would see these movement women in the midst of activism! I went to talk to my neighbour told her every time I see these women who look successful on TV meeting and discussing their issues, but where do they meet?

She told me lets inquire. After asking around my neighbour informed me that it was true, and people say they meet in Mabibo! We agreed to go find them but my friend didn’t have bus fare, I told her I will provide the fare but we need to go and meet these bold and empowered women. That was the beginning of my going to TGNP Mtandao at Mabibo but the journey stated through those TV broadcasts.

From then I became an activist, I started seeing bold women talking, meeting with one another and there many of us who were inspired and encouraged by these women. This was for me the fountain of empowerment and activist actions. It was here that my activism started and later grew.

TGNP steered us and taught us through seminars and trainings. Through TGNP I came to learn about WFT where we were connected through TGNP to go and do cleaning work at their offices. We went to clean at WFT and while we were going there, I said to myself we also have issues to address so I told them I come from Mwananyamala where there are many forms of violence and we have done 1, 2, 3, 4 so we also like to be part of this movement to ensure women are emancipated.

We continued to work with WFT and Dada Mary, Just let her be called Dada Mary, let her be called a vision bearer because when she heard about our work and activism she asked where are WAJIKI? Let us look out for them.

In truth from there we started to be funded by Women Fund Tanzania in 2015, we implemented the first project and when we came back with our results they were impressed and they supported us again through unsolicited funds!

They themselves called us! Go and continue with the work you have started! That is when we started the anti-sexual corruption (Sextortion) campaign. As for this campaign I personally cried.

The day we were being trained through WFT where our understanding of sextortion was sharpened. I asked myself,

What is this? Because I realised that I myself was a victim of sextortion!

I realised that the reason I was terminated from work was because of sextortion. I cried a lot that day. But I found solace and encouragement and I vowed to fight to ensure that these inhuman acts of sextortion are eliminated in our society. It was obvious that for this to happen the entire community and especially at the community level must be educated and sensitised to understand what sexual corruption is and how it affects the community at large. It was with great personal satisfaction to me that we were able to launch this campaign at Leaders grounds where people celebrated and vowed to fight sextortion. That day had a very personal significance for me as a woman and a s a victim of sextortion. I felt vindicated by this campaign and I believed that the monster that victimised me was finally going to be addressed! It meant that the enemy who got me fired from my work was now in the open and that others will be spared what I went through and be saved from the inhumanity and pain.

**MSAFIRI MWAJUMA MARIAM - SUKITA **

My name is Msafiri Mwajuma Mariamu.

My journey as an activist and transformed male I can say has been very successful although in the beginning the journey was filled with patriarchal mentality because I believed that a woman was meant to be subjected to the male authority, that women cannot be leaders.

I was happy to see men being at the helm of all aspects of social life including ten cell leaders, kitongoji leaders, menders of parliament or president. Even at home I believed that a man was by default the head of the family.

I come from a family that cruelty against women was open and rampant and the example I like to give is of the history of my own mother who my father abandoned early on while I was six years old.

From that time, I witnessed my mother playing multiple roles of parenthood, guardian, my protector, leader and my mentor in my life’s journey.

Until I became independent. The contribution of my mother in my upbringing is the motivation for my decision to change my name from Msafiri Shabani Kamoni to Msafiri Mwajuma Mariamu. I wanted to appreciate and value the contribution of my mother. She was the role model of a leader that I looked up to growing up.

My mother played many different roles; She took care of us, saw us through school, clothed us and fed us through income from her petty business. I still remember how she would carry me on her side, my young sibling on her back and a heavy load on her head while being handicapped on her leg and suffering from diabetes.

In 1998 I met Mama Mary while she was working with TGNP.The the time she was in the company of other feminist activists the likes of Mama Gemma Akilimali, Mama Shekilango, Mama Ruth Meena.These women were spearheading GDSS platforms where different seminars were being conducted. We were being taught many things such as extension, feminism, patriarch and strategies to dismantle patriarchal power.

These trainings were instrumental in my growth in the agenda and in shaping my ideological understanding of inequality and its impacts.

The training also made me to question my own role in being a defender and a proponent of women rights and in protecting those rights and saying no to violence against women and children.

I sat down and considered how statistics show that men are leading in perpetrating violence against women and therefore I felt that I have a responsibility to educate men about the effects of violence. I realised that I was the change that was needed to start the wheel rolling because change begins with me. Since then, I have carried the banner against all forms of violence against women and the effects it has on the community as a whole.

My message not only stops at the negative effects but I also elaborate on the benefits of believing in the inherent potential bestowed on women and girls in general. Our Agenda From the beginning SUKITA decided to work with ending violence as an overarching agenda but we have also focused on sextortion and how it affects women and girls. Another related agenda is women and leadership. I firmly believe that women can and should be leaders and that from experience we know that women have demonstrated that in some instances they are better than male leaders.

WFT contribution to SUKITA

Women fund Tanzania trust is a liberator of community-based organizations operating on the margins of mainstream NGOs. Organizations such as ours have long been forgotten and neglected but through WFT funding we have been capacitated to acquire working tools, equipment, and infrastructure that has enabled us to reach the community much more effectively. WFT has built our capacity and confidence to get close to the government and work with them. The list is long: TAKUKURU, TAMISEMI, President’s Office and Local governments to name but a few. This has enabled us to receive a trophy as an entity that has managed to push forward and advocate for women equality agenda. As we speak WFT has enabled us to have an office with furniture. We no longer have to work from our homes. This has enabled community members to reach us more conveniently and access our services.

Funding eco-system

To be honest WFT is very different from other funders. This is because WFT does not discriminate. They work with different stakeholders from the lowest rungs of society. For instance, our organization comes from Mabibo locality which is a very poor neighbourhood, their funding goes to other communities that are marginalised such as Mansese, Longido, Loliondo and other remote villages.

Their guidelines and requirements are basic where one does not require one to have higher education to apply. In most cases one just need to know how to read and right and have a transformative idea to qualify for a grant. Another thing is their accompaniment support which supports grantees to articulate their ideas in a co-creation fashion which builds our capacity as well as strengthen our ownership of the agenda we work on.

Another aspect which I believe is very important is that even when you do not get a grant, they will still continue to pull you into the movement building processes and involving you in different interventions, building your capacity through networking and training and collaboration. But above all WFT has managed to continue to be our advisers and thought leaders in different issues and acting as our guardians whenever we need their supportive parenthood.