Wezesha

MDGs—extreme poverty, education, gender equality/empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, HIV/AIDS

About Us
Wezesha is based out of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with the central focus of supporting girls in our community who leave school due to unexpected pregnancies. These girls, who end their education early, are left without any vocational skills and vulnerable to sexual exploitation and HIV. The girls we work with are often from poor families and have no support for their children or futures.  We currently provide free training in tailoring, entrepreneurship, and Batiki making (an artistic printing process). We also support HIV awareness and advocate for human rights within our communities.

Our Community
The Kipwa slum where we work within Dar es Salaam has more than 500 girls from ages 13 to 18 who have dropped out of school. With a population of 400,000 people, Kipwa has only five public primary schools, two secondary schools, and no public hospital. With most people living on less than a dollar a day, the main economic activity is small-scale business, though unemployment is also high.

Our History
Because the education policy in Tanzania does not allow pregnant girls to continue with school and there are no public vocational centers available to these girls, there was need for us to start Wezesha. We were only recently registered as a Non-governmental organization in Tanzania, having just formed ourselves in July 2009. Starting small, we have a vision for continuing to expand to other communities within Dar es Salaam, where AIDS and disenfranchisement are perpetually growing amongst young women needing support for productive lives.  Our founders and staff all have grown up in Tanzania and experienced the challenges of life in Kipwa, and these experiences spur our aspirations to make a difference.