Adolescent life in Tanzania

Last May the Government of Tanzania and the UN Children’s Fund together published a revealing report, entitled “What is life like as an adolescent in Mainland Tanzania”? I have chosen some of the salient facts from the report to compare and contrast with our children’s experience. In most cases, our children achieve much better outcomes. However, it is important to note that the data includes all rural areas which are generally much less developed than urban ones such as Dar es Salaam, and, to a lesser extent Mkuranga. Only 25% of Tanzanian adolescents have birth certificates. This adversely impacts their ability to access education. health services and of course jobs. When children arrive at our Village it is rare for them to possess birth certificates and we spend a lot of time making sure they obtain them. (Birth dates are sometimes estimated!) By the time they start primary school around 90% of our children have certificates, and with our checking, almost all have a birth certificate by the time they leave.

8 in 100 are covered by medical insurance. Until this year I could confidently say that 100% of our children are covered. However, the government has recently changed the rules to require registration via schools. The better schools should cope but our Relatives Support Programme children, who attend a variety of very poor schools, will be harder to cover. 25% of older adolescent girls (15-19 years) have anaemia. There is a lack of fresh vegetables in the standard Tanzanian diet and hence a shortage of iron. In the past, a few of our girls had been prescribed iron tablets. I am happy to say that the greens the children eat twice a day, supplied by our farm, seem to have made this problem a thing of the past. And of course, we include fresh greens in our bimonthly food package for the children in our Relatives Support Programme.

23 in 100 older adolescent girls have been pregnant. This percentage is ten times that of the UK and represents a huge reduction in potential for these girls who almost always feel obliged to leave school and work, if at all, in the unregulated market. Over the past 15 years, we have had three teenage births at Malaika Kids. All our older adolescent girls are now offered birth control which is supplied free at the local hospital. 14% of all students completed Form 4 in 2021. Form 4 is the O level (GCSE) year. We are proud that around 80% of our children at the Village complete their O levels. When older Swahili-speaking children come to us it is unfortunately not possible for them to go on to English-speaking secondary education. In this case, after primary school, they normally go on to practical training courses such as carpentry and plumbing.

2 in 10 pass basic Maths at O level. Here Malaika Kids needs to make better progress. This year four of our children received their O level results. One achieved 9 passes, two got 7 and one 5. However, only one of these children received a pass in Maths. 55% of adolescents are in employment. Of that total the vast majority are on small family plots. While the job market for our children continues to be extremely challenging, we are delighted that many have found employment.

As you can see, our children are doing very much better than the general population. Over the last fifteen years, we have learned a lot about caring for our children and I am sure we will make further progress in the next fifteen!

With grateful thanks for your kind support.

Alan Edwards Malaika Kids UK Chair

Adolescent life in Tanzania

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