Community Service in East Africa-John Ahere

CHAPTER ONE

1.0. Introduction

This report is about the Tanzania Red Cross written after community service fieldwork by eleven students from the East African Uongozi Institute, between 04th and 10th July , 2002. The Community service involved working with the Red Cross in the Dar es salaam International Trade Fair[DITF] which was on at the time and we were allocated to work at the Red Cross tents at the Fair ground to help administer first aid to any casualties

.

The East African Uongozi Institute is an international Cooperation and collaboration primarily involving four institution of higher learning. The University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Nairobi, the Makerere University and the University of California at Los Angeles. One of the main activities of the Institute is to conduct Uongozi School for leadership development. The 'maiden voyage' of the first Uongozi school took place in the summer of 1998. Every year, the school rotates between the three East African countries. University students from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, North America, and other African countries attend the programme each year. A community service component is included in the programme to enable students to translate theory into practice and to appreciate the fact that leadership is not just the exercise power but also to serve people.

1.1. Background to the study

Red Cross is a worldwide movement working towards the alleviation of human suffering through the power of humanity .It was first established by Henri Dunnant, Swiss businessman. He was on a business trip, when he felt touched by the victims of a war between France and Italy. He saw how the soldiers needed treatment, the women and the children too were wounded and needed food and clothing. He took them to a nearby clinic for treatment at his own expense. When he returned to Switzerland, he sold the idea to his friends who also sold it to others. These initiatives resulted into a society aimed at helping people during war. Since the Swiss flag host a white cross they decided to symbolise the society by a red cross. Hence, the Red Cross Society is represented by a red cross inside a white background (see appendix 1). The headquarters of the movement is in Geneva, Switzerland.

However, some countries especially those not of a Christian origin did not like to use the symbol of the cross. During the war between Turkey and Russia, The Red Cross Society could not enter Turkey so the society decided to give an alternative of the Red Crescent (see appendix 2).The movement was then the movement established the federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent[IFRC]. However, these are not different entities, they only have different titles and any country is free to choose any one of the symbols at the time of signing for membership.

The Red Cross in Tanzania

* The Tanzania Red Cross Society which was established by the Tanganyika Red Cross Society Act No.71 of 1962, is part of this world wide movement The Society in order to run its operations smoothly and render humanitarian services to the level acceptable, has set up four (4) departments:

* Relief,

* Logistics,

* Health

* Finance and the Administration.

The logistics department: is headed by the logistics coordinator and assisted by Field logistic Coordinators is further divided by four sub-departments: transport, workshop, warehousing and procurement.

Relief Department Then there is the relief department which the victim is normally massaged with liniment, after which bandage is tied around the sprained area . For wounds or cuts iodine is applied (the wound or cut area), after which a gauze and plaster are used to cover it. Other things in the first aid kit include gloves, and medicines like panadol, aspirin and magnesium as pain killers. However the volunteers only do the above, they are not supposed to treat people since they are not medical personnel. For serious cases, they transfer the patients to the nearest medical centre. For our field study in the sabasaba trade fair, the Red cross always took patients with serious injuries to the Mikocheni health Education Network. All these services are offered free of charge except when the patient in question is taken to a medical centre or hospital.

The Finance and Administration department is the overall in charge of all personnel and administrative matters it is complemented by the security unit which ensures security of the TRCS/IFRC assess and volunteers/delegates, the finance unit which determine and keeps track of all financial needs and movement as per approved budget, ensure proper financial transactions and records within a predetermined time. Currently, these operations are manned by at workforce of about 431 employees.

Funding of the TRCS

The source of funding for the TRCS is mainly through donation activities notably from the Canadian Red Cross, German Red Cross, Australian Red Cross among others, all through the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

1.2. Objectives of the study

The general purpose of the study was to relate theory and practice of community service by the students but the more specific objectives were:

* To establish the activities of the TRCS

* To serve the community as potential leaders

* To find out the challenges that TRCS is facing

* To come up with possible ways of over-coming the challenges identified in the

study.

1.3. Scope of the study

Geographically, the study was carried out in the headquarter of the TRCS in Upanga, Dar es Salaam from where we were allocated to work with the Red Cross at the International Trade Fair which was going on. At the trade fair grounds, tents had been set up form and we were stationed in these tents waiting for information about any casualties.

Within this place and time, we dealt with some casualties

to whom, with the Red cross volunteers already there, we administered first aid. Some tents were in within the trade fair grounds while others were in the Vodavillage where a children's football pitch was. The number