ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN SUPPORT NETWORK {OVCSN}
Is a non government organization founded in 2011, in Tabora Region by Mr. SADATH .A. MWAMSEMA and mr. SHABANI KIGUMI. It established in order to provide support and care to orphans and vulnerable children in Tabora Region. The care given to OVC within the programme varies according to their needs and to the social-economic situation of their
care givers. OVCSN is primarily concerned with very poor children who have many specific needs for their emotional, physical and spiritual development. Support is given to full orphans (children under 18 years of age who have lost both parents) and partial orphans (children who have lost one parent and the remaining parent is sick)
A vulnerable children is any child bellow 18yrs, who is either currently experiencing, or is likely to experience lack of adequate care and protection. The OVCSN currently provides support and supervisions for over 40 children who have lost one or both parents due to HIV infections and 10 children who have infected by HIV/AIDS(HIV positive). The following services are provided:-
MATERIAL SUPPORT
(A) food support: Child headed households and family headed by the helderly in need of this assistance. However, limitted storage space and funds means that not all of those in ineed can be assisted. (B)School assistance: many children face numerous finencial problems after losing their parents or even when the parents are sick.this affects the possibility of continuing their education.The OVCSN maintains these children in school, by paying school feeesand school supplies. School visits are made to follow up the child progress. (C) Family Assistance: Thhe OVCSN offfers support to extendedfamily units taking care of orphans. case-workers evaluate individual situation to identify those really in need. Thi assistance goes mainly to child-headed households and to the elderly caregivers (mainly grandmothers) so that they can purchaise some essential household items depending on the identified needs. (D) Vocation Trainning progremme; vocation training courses are aimed at providing knowledge and skills that enables students to obtain employment and a productive status in society. The employment may be either fomal or informal. Children successfully completing their causes are then trained in small bussiness management and are given small grants to assist them in starting their own bussiness
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
(A)Youth Awareness semminers: These are specific semminers on targeted problem areas eg; drug and alcohol abuse and they specifically target teenage- OVC who are on the borderline of risky behaviour. (B) Home visits: home visits allow evaluation of the real needs and informed decision making on accesing services. They also contribute to the mediation of familyconflicts. (C) Office interviews: Child in needs visits the programme's offices. social Workers carry out interviews, which help to build up relationships, identify and analyse problems and seeksolutions. (D) Residentiial Grieving Groups: in these one week session, children are helped to reliese the anger and grief coused by the traumatic death of their parents. They learn to see themselves more positively and to find way forward for their lives. (E) Memory Work: Stigma and discrimination arround HIV and AIDS prevents many PLWA from disclossing their status to their children and many die before being able to do so. Grief and bereavement become harder to overcome when children discover that a parent's death was due to AIDS. Memory work is a chief centered process that encourages families to communicate openly about HIV and AIDS. It is best done while the parents are still alive but can also be extremely usefull for orphans even after their parent's death. It empower children to cope with the impact of HIV and AIDS on the family as a whole and on their own capacity to continue positively with their lives. We can't ask Orphans and Vulnerable Children to contribute financially to those services as they are already under a considerable burden. We therefore have to find the funding up next. You can support projects like these by becoming a home sponsor today. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE CHANGES
