Irene Nyagawa
Irene Nyagawa
My name is Irene and I am 12 years old. I live in Ninga village which is in Njombe Region, south of Tanzania. This was me last week in my church outfit for Easter.
This is my house where I live with my mother and baby brother Stefano. I like our house because its clean. I help my mother with the house chores.
This is my baby brother Stefano, he is 7 months old and learning how to crawl.
This is my ‘bibi’ (grandmother), mother and brother Stefano. My father lives in Dar es Salaam so I don’t get to see him very often.
We don’t have running water in our house, so we built a well. I usually help my mother to get water from the well. It is a hard job though. One day I hope to build a house with water and electricity.
This is where I sleep in our house. My bed is just next to the dining table and only a curtain separates the rooms.
This is our living room and dining room – and that is the curtain I was talking about. My room is just behind it. I usually help my mother cook. We always wash our hands before eating and then we pray.
This is where my mother works. She owns this shop which is just near my school. And that is my uncle Emmanuel – he helps my mother at the shop. They sell everything at the shop and the money helps to pay for me to go to school and for basic needs like exercise books, pens, and soap etc.
This is my church. I am a roman catholic. I like going to church with my friends, it makes me happy.
This is my school. It is called Ninga Primary School. I am lucky that my school is very near to my house – about a 10 minute walk. Thanks to UNICEF support we are getting new windows and doors at the school.
At my school we are very lucky we get one a meal a day. Our parents contribute flour, maize, beans etc. But we don’t have a place to eat, so we sit outside. When it rains, it’s horrible!
Now that I am in grade 7 I sleep at the school because we have to study a lot more. This is where all the grade 7 girls sleep, we are 32 girls. There is no electricity or running water.
This is where we shower outside and that is our toilet. This is where we keep our things. We will be staying here until September when we do our national exams for finishing primary school.
Me and my friends hanging outside our dorm. From left to right, that is Lucy, Dina and Calista – we are all in grade 7.
I really like studying. I like studying with my friends because then we can help each other. Here we are studying English.
I really like our new toilets. It’s a huge difference compared to the old ones. Now we have tiled floors, doors, water and soap to wash our hands and the toilets are always clean. Now the girls have privacy and feel safe to use to the new latrines because they doors and locks. I really thank UNICEF because this has made a big difference for us.
Look at our old toilets! I am so happy that UNICEF gave us new toilets, because it makes a huge difference. Now we like our school even more and don’t have to keep missing class because we are sick.
Look at the difference. That is the new toilet and that is the old one. The old ones were so dirty and stinky, they always made us sick. Many students, especially girls would not come to school because of the bad toilets, which had no doors!
We now also have a special toilet for children with disabilities.
We are so proud of our new toilets and we clean them twice day for good hygiene.
This is our new washing area. After using the toilet we wash our hands with soap and clean water. This helps to keep us healthy and free from diseases like diarrhea.
I am the Chairperson of our TUSEME (let’s Speak Out) Club. In our Club we learn about child rights, educate our fellow students, sing, dance and perform dramas – it really helps to build our confidence. I love our TUSEME Club because it has helped to eliminate gender discrimination, for example now boys and girls do school chores and not just girls like before. Here we are performing a drama to the Swedish NatCom about our school needs.
I really like our WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Club too, because we learn and teach our fellow students about good hygiene and sanitation practices. We now know the importance of boiling water before drinking it, washing our hands with water and soap before and after eating and keeping our environment clean by throwing garbage in a dump.
When I’m not in school, I like to play jumping rope and ‘redi’ dodgeball with my friends. Look how high Dina can jump!!!
I love going to school and studying. My dream is to become a teacher.
My name is Irene and I am 12 years old. I live in Ninga village which is in Njombe Region, south of Tanzania. This was me last week in my church outfit for Easter.
This is my house where I live with my mother and baby brother Stefano. I like our house because its clean. I help my mother with the house chores.
This is my baby brother Stefano, he is 7 months old and learning how to crawl.
This is my ‘bibi’ (grandmother), mother and brother Stefano. My father lives in Dar es Salaam so I don’t get to see him very often.
We don’t have running water in our house, so we built a well. I usually help my mother to get water from the well. It is a hard job though. One day I hope to build a house with water and electricity.
This is where I sleep in our house. My bed is just next to the dining table and only a curtain separates the rooms.
This is our living room and dining room – and that is the curtain I was talking about. My room is just behind it. I usually help my mother cook. We always wash our hands before eating and then we pray.
This is where my mother works. She owns this shop which is just near my school. And that is my uncle Emmanuel – he helps my mother at the shop. They sell everything at the shop and the money helps to pay for me to go to school and for basic needs like exercise books, pens, and soap etc.
This is my church. I am a roman catholic. I like going to church with my friends, it makes me happy.
This is my school. It is called Ninga Primary School. I am lucky that my school is very near to my house – about a 10 minute walk. Thanks to UNICEF support we are getting new windows and doors at the school.
At my school we are very lucky we get one a meal a day. Our parents contribute flour, maize, beans etc. But we don’t have a place to eat, so we sit outside. When it rains, it’s horrible!
Now that I am in grade 7 I sleep at the school because we have to study a lot more. This is where all the grade 7 girls sleep, we are 32 girls. There is no electricity or running water.
This is where we shower outside and that is our toilet. This is where we keep our things. We will be staying here until September when we do our national exams for finishing primary school.
Me and my friends hanging outside our dorm. From left to right, that is Lucy, Dina and Calista – we are all in grade 7.
I really like studying. I like studying with my friends because then we can help each other. Here we are studying English.
I really like our new toilets. It’s a huge difference compared to the old ones. Now we have tiled floors, doors, water and soap to wash our hands and the toilets are always clean. Now the girls have privacy and feel safe to use to the new latrines because they doors and locks. I really thank UNICEF because this has made a big difference for us.
Look at our old toilets! I am so happy that UNICEF gave us new toilets, because it makes a huge difference. Now we like our school even more and don’t have to keep missing class because we are sick.
Look at the difference. That is the new toilet and that is the old one. The old ones were so dirty and stinky, they always made us sick. Many students, especially girls would not come to school because of the bad toilets, which had no doors!
We now also have a special toilet for children with disabilities.
We are so proud of our new toilets and we clean them twice day for good hygiene.
This is our new washing area. After using the toilet we wash our hands with soap and clean water. This helps to keep us healthy and free from diseases like diarrhea.
I am the Chairperson of our TUSEME (let’s Speak Out) Club. In our Club we learn about child rights, educate our fellow students, sing, dance and perform dramas – it really helps to build our confidence. I love our TUSEME Club because it has helped to eliminate gender discrimination, for example now boys and girls do school chores and not just girls like before. Here we are performing a drama to the Swedish NatCom about our school needs.
I really like our WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Club too, because we learn and teach our fellow students about good hygiene and sanitation practices. We now know the importance of boiling water before drinking it, washing our hands with water and soap before and after eating and keeping our environment clean by throwing garbage in a dump.
When I’m not in school, I like to play jumping rope and ‘redi’ dodgeball with my friends. Look how high Dina can jump!!!
I love going to school and studying. My dream is to become a teacher.
