Kisedet was created in 1998 in the village of Kigwe to provide support to children from poor families and orphaned children who lived with their grandparents.
In 2001, it moved its operational center to Dodoma, opening the short and long-term reception center ‘Shukurani’ and then in 2009, given the growing phenomenon of street children and young people, Kisedet opened a day reception center (drop-in center).
In 2010, the NGO brought a piece of land in the village of Chigongwe, (about 30 km from Dodoma), where the construction of the long term shelter begins.
Over the course of these 25 years, Kisedet is not only active through its reception homes but implements other projects aimed at improving the education of children and young people, microcredit projects and parental education seminars aimed at their families so that they can have the skills to independently support themselves economically and to educate their children without resorting to physical and psychological violence.
Below are the completed projects.
Pole pole Kigwe:
From 2005 to 2009, Kisedet managed a vocational school called ‘Chumakiu’ in Kigwe, where 30 girls and 47 boys studied. It was aimed at children already supported by the NGO in the ‘Watoto’ project, who did not pass their year seven primary exams, or who did not want to continue secondary school.
It offered courses in tailoring, welding, carpentry and a compulsory course that included agriculture and livestock.
From 2000 to 2015, still in Kigwe, Kisedet also opened a hostel which hosted around 20 secondary students per year from neighboring villages who were supported by Kisedet. These boys attended secondary school in Kigwe, but not being able to go back and forth every day from their village of origin, they needed a hostel to live in during their school years. From 2007, the hostel also hosted street children with whom the NGO began to get in contact. Kisedet was forced to terminate the project since the vocational school was free, KISEDET asked the government to finance the teachers’ salaries however, the latter refused and KISEDET was no longer able to finance itself.
Darasa bora:
Translated as ‘beautiful classroom’. From 2000 to 2021 the project was aimed at public primary schools. Kisedet supplied the school, partly thanks to the collaboration of the government from a management point of view and with the contribution of parents, the construction and renovation of classrooms, staff accommodation and the supply of desks and teaching materials (books, paper, chalk, pen , etc…).
This project was implemented in the villages of Kigwe, Mpinga, Chahwa, Itigi, Chigongwe and completed the construction of 47 classrooms, 13 flats, 15 offices and the supply of approximately 850 school desks.
Vocational training center Veyula:
In 1993 in Veyula, (a village near Dodoma), a professional school called the “Veyula artisans’ union” was founded under a mango tree by two local artisans.
The school also welcomes children who have not completed their compulsory studies. They provide welding, tailoring and carpentry courses but they want to expand and include electrician and hotel management courses.
After the death of one of the two founders, the school was moved to another location in the same village, and Dominic (the remaining founder) who was president of the board of KISEDET for a few years, contributed to the building of 2 classrooms, an office, the renovation of the school kitchen, a gazebo for outdoor lunches and with the collaboration of Agata Smeralda, the men’s dormitory.
Afya, Vikongwe na walemavu:
Translated as “Elderly and disabled”. In 2006, a hospital dispensary was built in Mpamantwa in the Bahi district to which the inhabitants of three nearby villages still go to today. The project also Included supporting the elderly of the villages in the Bahi district, near Kigwe, the village where KISEDET was born, through food and medical care. The Dodoma region is famous for an eye disease called ‘Trachoma’ and Kisedet contributed to the costs of hospitalization and eye surgery for affected elderly people, to guarantee the recovery of their eyesight and consequently the possibility of maintaining their grandchildren independently. In fact, most of these elderly people lived with their orphaned grandchildren.
Shukurani arts group:
From 2009 to 2017, this group of children and young people hosted at the Shukurani shelter was active, practicing traditional dances, acrobatics and songs. It was a wandering group with the aim of raising awareness to its public about the phenomenon of street children and young people. Over the years they recorded two CDs and a DVD and participated more than once at the Bagamoyo international festival.
The group disbanded after the boys grew up and the teacher, due to personal problems, no longer had the possibility to continue with the project.
Translated to “new generation”. It’s a project focused on minors that began thanks to the social organizations of Dodoma, grouped under the leadership of USAID/Pact and subsequently Railway Children Africa, to promote projects on HIV.
The main objective was to ensure that children and young people living alone on the streets had access to various HIV/AIDS health services and nutrition, as well as supporting vulnerable low-income families.
Kilimo:
This was an agricultural project aimed at the residents of Kigwe village to introduce them to an alternative method of fertilizing and sowing the land so as to obtain a plentiful harvest.
The project was created in 1998 and ended when the Chigongwe center opened in 2010.
