JBFC Girls Get Defensive

A few months back, we announced that JBFC was one of five non-profit organizations chosen to participate in a pilot program to bring self-defense training to girls in the Mwanza region of Tanzania. This training is designed to empower girls to identify potential danger, to act with confident independence to get to safety, and if necessary, know how to physically protect themselves. 

Miss Deo, our Early Childhood Coordinator who doubles as a matron in the Girls' Home, and Felista, our campus Social Worker, attended a week-long training camp in May and began teaching the basics to our Secondary School girls. Here is an update on how the program has expanded.


JBFC's residential girls are getting stronger, faster and tougher, thanks to our new self-defense training program.

The program started back in May with two of JBFC's female leaders attending a self-defense workshop in Mwanza. Miss Deo recently attended another monthly review session and received her certification for the first two levels in self-defense training. Our trainers have now completed nearly 50 hours of instruction and will continue with monthly reviews until next April.

Over the next four months, our trainers will start learning from their peers. All of the participants from the four partner organizations will visit each site to see how everyone is putting self-defense training into practice. The group will visit  JBFC in December.

Miss Deo says she's been really impressed by the JBFC girls' progress over the last three months. "The girls are gaining confidence," Miss Deo said. "[They can] stand and defend themselves. They no longer need to depend on another person."

The Secondary School girls have now completed 12 weeks of training, meeting for two hours every week since June. In August, JBFC expanded the program to include the Primary School girls (Grades 2 and up). Our 7th graders were sidelined while they prepared for the national exams, but they will start participating in September. Before the end of the year, the girls will participate in a two-week training workshop with Miss Deo and Felista.

The older girls have eagerly welcomed their younger sisters in the self-defense training.

"The primary girls are doing wonders in self-defense and already catching up to the big girls,"said Leticia. "Because they are training from a younger age, when they get older they will be even better than us older girls!"

Imma agreed. "It is more fun with the younger girls in the training," she said. "I think it is good for them to learn."

And the younger girls are thrilled to be included.

"It's fun and will help us one day against an enemy," Salome said.

"It is so amazing to learn," Dotto added. "It will help us in the future and it is fun."

"It's good, I like it. It helps us know how to defend ourselves," said Zai. "If someone tries to do bad things to us, we can protect ourselves."

Read our original Self-Defense Training blog here!

Guest Blogger, Melinda Wulf, is JBFC's Administrative Director in Tanzania.

Welcome to the Family

JBFC’s SUV rumbled through campus, kicking up the dirt road as it went. No one really paid any mind, until we saw who emerged.

It was a cluster of JBFC’s residential girls, a matron, and a little girl clutching their hands with fear written plainly across her face.

I’ve worked for JBFC for almost five years. I have never witnessed a new girl being brought to campus before this moment. And now I realize I didn’t really know what it meant for JBFC to be a family.

JBFC is home to more than 50 girls now, about 43 of them live on campus. With our secondary school graduates moving off of campus and on to higher education, JBFC had eight beds to fill. We have added six new girls this year alone, which is the most new girls we’ve had at once since JBFC’s beginnings ten years ago.

The newest addition was trying to make herself as small as possible, which wasn’t hard. We were told she was eleven-years-old, but she looked closer to seven. She was tucked behind one of the older girls; her eyes darting over the other girls in the yard and the tan-colored buildings surrounding her.

And that’s when the JBFC family swelled to welcome her.

I saw the older girls gently nudge her forward, wrapping an arm around her thin shoulders. The other girls dropped what they were doing -- games were halted, chores abandoned -- and they came in ones and twos to hug the newcomer and speak a few comforting words. She was wrapped in love again and again.

And then, they all went back to what they were doing: games resumed and the prep work for dinner continued. They managed to acknowledge the moment without letting it become overwhelming. They gave her special attention without making her a spectacle. They simply made room in the family for one more.

I have never seen a truer expression of what JBFC is.
And the effect on the new little one was almost instantaneous. It only took a hug or two for a shy smile to cross Vero’s face. And it wasn’t an hour later that she joined in those games, was sandwiched between her new sisters for prayer, and welcomed to the dinner table to eat her fill (which was considerable!).

There’s a reason we don’t use the word orphanage at JBFC. Because we are a family.

A family that’s a haven for girls who haven’t had the easiest time in life. A place where they can feel safe and supported; where they can love and be loved; where they can share their hardships and band together to overcome them.

I’ve had a lot of proud days at JBFC (not least of which was watching our graduates cross the stage last December), but this ordinary day will go down as one of them.

Blogger Ashli Sims is JBFC’s Chief Operating Officer in the U.S. She has just returned from a month at JBFC’s campus in Tanzania.

JBFC Ambassadors

Our busiest time of the year for volunteers on our campus has come to a close.  Staff in Tanzania said goodbye to our final school group in early August, and are settling in for a quieter fall without many guests on campus.  


Though things are winding down for the year in terms of volunteers in Tanzania, in the U.S. we hope they are just getting started.  Students, families and interns who visit our campus have such a vital role in our mission.  They are the ones who have seen what we do first hand and are most equipped to share their experience, the relationships they made, and the hope that our model brings to the children we serve.  They are the ones who can tell the stories of girls who are coming out of their shell for the first time, or growing into amazing leaders in Girls Government.  We know that they are our very best promoters. 


In fact, we call them ambassadors.  They are the ones who represent JBFC to their families, schools, friends and communities once they return from their visit to our campus.  Our ambassadors have a crucial role, and we’re so grateful for all they do.  From bake sales to school clubs, ambassadors in the past have done so much.  

Students from Bronxville High School did a brick by brick campaign, selling virtual bricks for $250 to build our secondary school.  

Other ambassadors have asked friends and family to support JBFC for their birthday or Christmas gifts.   One ambassador was able to raise enough to purchase a classroom set of tablets for our school.  

It’s so exciting to see what can happen when ambassadors can use their gifts and passions to help our mission. 

We are eager to hear of the plans of our volunteers who just returned from campus.  Many are already talking of forming a club or giving presentations at their school.  We are hoping that this fall many of our summer volunteers will get their friends and family to participate in our virtual Kilimanjaro climb, Trek Tanzania.

We love supporting our ambassadors by sending them materials, pictures, and resources to share JBFC’s mission with their friends and family.  In 2017, we will have three specific projects that we hope past volunteers will help support when they return.  Whether that’s just sharing pictures and stories of their trip to people who don’t know about JBFC, organizing a fundraiser or party, or saving a portion of their allowance, our ambassadors have already done amazing things for JBFC, and we know that they will continue to be our biggest cheerleaders and some of our most creative fundraisers! 

If you visited JBFC this summer and are interested in planning an event or activity as an ambassador, please contact us, we’d love to help and support you!

Guest Blogger, Diana Booren, is JBFC's Volunteer Coordinator. 

2016 Volunteer Highlights

JBFC's COO in Tanzania, Seth Diemond, Administrative Director, Melinda Wulf, and Logistics Coordinator, Paula Casimiro, represent our international staff on our flagship campus in Tanzania. They welcomed nearly 100 volunteers, both returning and new, to our 70-acre campus on the shores of Lake Victoria. While these volunteers have made hundreds, if not thousands, of memories with our girls, students and workers on our campus, here's a sample of some of our team's favorite moments from the past three months.

Community service

Watching the success of all of the community service and peer-to-peer projects this year was outstanding and will have a lasting impact on our campus and our community. From Sarah Lawrence College's help with family literacy to Steamboat and Deerfield's work with permaculture to trash pick-up and Malaria awareness, our visitors this summer helped launch community service and outreach programs with long-term impacts and benefits for our community. 

 

Olympics

One of our favorite days on campus this summer was the Olympics Day that Lawrenceville helped organize with our Dean of Students, Mr. Samo and some of the JBFC girls. We invited Mavuno Village, a nearby organization, to participate. It was all-around fun during the school break. 

 Returning volunteers/interns/chaperones

One of our favorite things every summer is to see both the way our returning volunteers/interns/chaperones have grown and changed since their last visit as well as seeing the pure joy of our staff, students, and girls when a familiar face pulls up in the car from the airport. Just more proof of how special these friendships are!

Work with our younger students 

We loved seeing the Holland Hall chaperones and students work with our youngest kids at primary school. Our kids loved it and we think it was a great and rewarding experience for the students from the U.S. 

Prayer Time

Brunswick singing "12 Days of Christmas" at their last prayer time will not be forgotten any time in the near future!

Children of Africa Day

The entire day's luau-themed celebration and the ensuing water fight (that claimed Seth's phone) was one to remember. Holland Hall students as well as Molly and Anna Sokolosky did a wonderful job planning what turned out to be a super fun day, and a great way to celebrate all of our girls! Click here to see more photos from Children of Africa Day 2016.

We would like to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of our volunteers this summer for the wonderful memories! Please come back soon!

Checking Out the JBFC Library

Update: JBFC launched its library in 2013 with only a handful of books. Our library is now a point of pride for JBFC's students and teachers. We have the only lending library in the area and its now a place where our volunteers, students and their families can come together to share the joy of reading. Read below to see how our library has evolved over the last three years.

In the spring of 2013, we reported that thanks to a very generous donation from a supporter, a library had been built on the Kitongo campus for the Joseph and Mary School students. A handful of volunteers spent the summer decorating the walls of the large room with colorful reminders of how reading can inspire the imagination, however the handmade shelves in the library only contained a handful of books.

To fill the library, JBFC launched its Book by Book campaign, which aimed to fill the library with thousands of books.  The goal of the library was to serve not only the JBFC residential girls, students, and staff, but also the local community.


Literacy is a major issue in Tanzania, where nearly one in four people are illiterate. With the help of our volunteers from Sarah Lawrence College earlier this year, JBFC has worked hard to fight this problem head-on by implementing a new literacy program that targets JBFC students and their parents.



Each class in both the Joseph and Mary Primary and Secondary Schools visits the library once or twice a week for more than an hour. Reading has become a favorite pastime for many of our residential girls and students!



But it's not just our Tanzanian community who get to enjoy the library. Through our Reading Buddies program, any visitor to our campus gets to spend a little time in the afternoon reading a book and helping our residential girls develop a better understanding and command of English. The library has served as another stepping stone in helping build friendships between our girls and guests.

Over the past few years, through countless volunteer suitcases and duffle bags, more and more books have been added and cataloged to the JBFC library. We now have over 3,500 books!

If you are interested in donating dollars or books to our Book by Book campaign, please be sure to check out our guidelines by clicking here.

Thank you to everyone who has so generously donated books to our library, and to everyone who is helping us break down barriers to literacy, one book at a time.

You can read our original blog about the library here!

Meet the Girls: Class of 2016

Last year, JBFC graduated our first class of secondary students, including eight of our residential girls. Those girls are now continuing their educations at Form 5, colleges, and vocational schools around the country and we will continue to keep you updated on their progress.

This year, the Joseph and Mary Secondary School's graduating class will feature four JBFC residential girls. We would like to take this time to introduce them to you as they head toward their final semester of Form 4.

Kulwa

Kulwa is the President of the Girls' Government this year. Her favorite subjects in school are Math and Science, and she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. In addition to helping organize and run the Girls' Government activities, Kulwa plays on the JBFC football team as their goalie and enjoys singing and drawing. Kulwa and her older sister, Sophie, who graduated last year, were among JBFC's first residential girls.

Neema

Neema's favorite subjects in school are English and Biology. She hopes to be a businesswoman when she's older, so she can have shops and sell clothes, food, and accessories. Neema loves to play soccer, cook pizza, read, and swim. She is in the Music club at Joseph and Mary Secondary School, sings in the JBFC choir, and is an amazing singer!

Rose

Rose is a very diligent student at Joseph and Mary School, and she enjoys Civics, Geography, and English. When she grows up, she wants to work for a nonprofit organization like JBFC, so she can help people like her sisters and herself. At school, Rose participates in the Creative Writing club. She is also a member of the JBFC choir and JBFC football team, and loves to cook and dance. She loves to make her sisters laugh and is known on campus for her sense of fashion!

Vero

Since the day she arrived at JBFC, Vero has been a great help to the matrons and a wonderful role model for all the girls. She is very kind-hearted and is well-respected by all of the younger girls at JBFC. She enjoys going to school and is an attentive and inquisitive student and hopes to be a journalist when she grows up. She loves dancing, playing soccer, and eating pizza!











For every 10 girls enrolled in primary school in Tanzania, only about four transition to secondary school. Just 41%. And even fewer actually make it to graduation day. At JBFC, we're so proud of a hard-working students. They're beating the odds and they couldn't do it without your support. If you're interested in helping them attend higher education, please click here.

Trek Tanzania

Mount Kilimanjaro has long captured the imaginations of adventurers. Standing at 19,341 feet above sea level it is Africa’s tallest peak.

Climbing “Kili” is on a lot of people’s bucket lists. And about 35,000 tourists attempt to make the trek every year. Only about half reach the summit, including two of JBFC’s own (Melinda Wulf, our current Administrative Director has climbed Kili three times! And our former Assistant Director, Kayci Hebard, also made it to the peak).


You may not be able to travel to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro, but you can walk in the shoes of a trekker (in a matter of speaking) and help JBFC at the same time.

Last year, our co-worker, Alyssa Doty, had a light bulb moment. We’d love to say she was reading Hemingway’s "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" or on a hike through Green Country, when she got a flash of inspiration, but she says she was probably surfing the internet. Her idea was simple: If you can’t make it to the mountain, let’s bring the experience of climbing the mountain to you.

And JBFC’s virtual Kili climb, Trek Tanzania, was born.

Trek Tanzania will kick off on October 24th and run through October 28th. During those five days, we’re inviting JBFC supporters to walk the same distance it would be to climb Kilimanjaro.

That’s 45 miles or 89,480 steps in five days.

You can go it alone or recruit friends to help you reach the goal.

And it’s all for a good cause. Trek Tanzania will benefit JBFC’s medical clinic. Our clinic aims to provide access to healthcare for JBFC’s residential girls, students, workers and their families. Typically, we see 20-25 patients a week for everything from scrapes and cuts to malaria and typhoid. Next year, we’re hoping to expand our clinic to provide more diagnostic testing and treatment for common ailments like malaria and parasitic infections.

You can help us bring better healthcare to JBFC’s community by participating in Trek Tanzania. You can click here to register for the climb, then click here to start a fundraiser to get friends and family to sponsor your trek (please register, before starting your fundraiser).

If you don’t want to fundraise, but still would like to attempt the virtual climb, you can still sign up (again, please register) and just pay an entry fee of $20 per person. Everyone gets a Trek Tanzania t-shirt (if you would like your company’s name featured on the back of the shirt email us at info@jbfc-online.org for sponsorship options).

We hope you will join us in Trek Tanzania (JBFC’s US Staff has a team, click here if you want to check us out). You and your friends and family can get fit and help make the world a healthier place.