Areas of primary focus for the 2010 period include:  

1. The Wonder Welders project in Dar es Salaam Tanzania was selected for funding in 2010 and awaiting their financial project plan.  Diana Henderson of GWG is the local contact there.

2. 2.Funding for expenses (e.g. mailbox, administration, conference, website)
   

Proposal for Funding for Recycled Glass Workshop at Wonder Workshop, Msasani, Dar es Salaam.

SYNOPSIS

1. •Who we are: A Tanzanian registered NGO that trains and employs disabled men and women in Dar es Salaam to recycle waste materials and create attractive artworks.
   

1. •Why we started: So that disabled Tanzanians, who were begging on the streets, could learn new skills and generate their own income.
   

1. •What we need: Funds for the expansion of a recycled glass workshop.
   

1. •Why: In February 2009 Wonder Workshop facilitated a training exercise sponsored by the Finnish Foreign Ministry. Mr Jukka Isotalo http://www.ecolum.fi a highly skilled Finnish glass artist came for three weeks to train four existing members of Wonder Workshops carpentry/glass workshop and two employees of another local NGO, Africraft. However, after the training came to an end it has become evident that in order to take this training forward to achieve the best possible outcomes it requires further financial assistance and help to source certain products which are crucial in the technical processes taught by Mr Isotalo.
   

INTRODUCTION

Since its launch in 2005, the Wonder Workshop has transformed the lives of more than 40 physically disabled Tanzanians, many of whom were begging on the streets, by giving them the chance to learn new skills. They are now able to generate their own income to support themselves and their families with skills they are proud of.

It is now a growing business with a strong social responsibility to improve the lives of marginalized Tanzanians by enabling them to achieve their full potential through sustainable employment. 

Registered NGO No: OONGO/0919VRN: 10-019498-TTIN: 103-956-129

P.O.Box 70045, 1372 Karume Road, Dar-es-Salaam. Tanzania Tel:+255 22 2668491 Mob:+255 754 051417info@wonderwelders.org For details of our products and more information: www.wonderwelders.org

CASE STUDY

Name: Daniel Maurus, 50, from Mozambique/Lindi Joined WW: May 2007 Job Title: Welder Disability: Born able bodied but stood on a land mine in Mozambique in 1970, losing one leg above the knee.

What were you doing before you joined the WW? After the accident in Mozambique and because of the war there, my family fled to Lindi in southern Tanzania. In 1999, as there was little work there, it was decided that I should go to Dar es Salaam to try and earn some money by begging from all the wealthy businessmen at the traffic lights. Things did not work out the way I’d hoped. Dar is an expensive place to be if you have no income and no family to help out so I ended up sleeping in the Mnazi Moja public gardens in town at night and begging on the street during the day in the hope I’d get enough to be able to buy myself something to eat. It soon became clear I was never going to make enough to send back to Lindi, let alone enough even for a bus fare for me to go back so I was stuck...until I got the chance to join the Wonder Workshop.

How has WW changed your life? I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was when my friend Roma told me that my name had got to the top of the waiting list. I now have my own room which I have been able to rent with my salary from Wonder Workshop and I am saving up in the bank account the workshop helped me open so that when I take my leave in August I can return to Lindi for the first time and try to find my family and bring them some money as I had promised to do so nine years ago.

Please see images below taken at a show held at the workshop when the products were launched.

After the training came to an end it became evident that in order to take this training forward to achieve the best possible outcomes it requires further financial assistance to source certain products which are crucial in the technical processes taught by Mr Isotalo. Wonder Workshop with its five years experience in creating viable means for disabled Tanzanians to earn a sustainable income through creativity recognizes the importance of establishing the project soundly from the outset in regards to machinery as well as training in order to make the project profitable in the long run.

The motivation behind this project is to utilize the training that has already proved to be a great success to guarantee the future of this glass project. The demand for this style of recycled glass product has already proven to be extremely popular with our customers, and there is huge potential to expand further with ranges of drinking glasses, more household lighting ranges etc. Further expansion of this project will create opportunities to employ more disabled and marginalized Tanzanians.

For more information Email: PeopleBridgeCharity  A time to please give!