Mkombozi is a unique Tanzanian organisation in that it is increasing its focus on supporting children's mental health, in addition to offering basic services and responding to physical needs.
Currently, Mkombozi is recruiting specialist staff who are experienced in the mental health field with traumatized children. Mkombozi's psychosocial support services will be improved and scaled up with an emphasis on resilience building practices such as group therapy, opportunities for children to discover their talents through the arts and sports, and a "roving mobile school" that works to build the self-esteem of children on the street.
Originally designed by a Belgian organisation (www.mobileschool.org) to serve children who live / work on the streets, the "mobile school" consists of five interconnected boxes on wheels. These boxes slide in and out of each other and provide for a constantly changing and transportable classroom. Mkombozi's Street Educators move the mobile school to various disadvantaged locations, where they conduct activities from a variety of educational exercise cards. The cards vary in level of difficulty and contain a broad range of educational material. The core themes are literacy, mathematics, health care education and human rights, and it is also possible to create new educational themes, such as clean water conservation, hygiene, and waste/pollution awareness. Travelling through the streets of Arusha, the mobile school presents educational material in a lively and engaging manner. We aim not only to educate, but also to have fun and to teach street-involved children that they are valued members of their communities.
Notably, Mkombozi is also entering a 5 year research partnership with the University of Zurich (Centre for Disaster and Military Psychiatry) whereby we will conduct pioneering research to evaluate how Mkombozi's sports and play, education and mentoring programmes build children's resilience. This extends research at Harvard University which suggests Mkombozi’s children outperform their peers (at home and on the streets) in educational aspiration and achievement.
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