RULES, AND PERSONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY FOR
VOLUNTEERS WHILST AT BWENI SECONDARY SCHOOL

Please read all parts of this document carefully and contact us immediately
if there is anything you do not understand. When you sign this form, you are signifying that youhave read and understood both the Rules and the Personal Health and Safety statements.

Important Rules

Although we don’t want to dictate how our volunteers conduct themselves, we do want to ensure that our volunteers behave in an appropriate way, and respect local standards of dress and behaviour. Unfortunately, it has been necessary to bring in some important rules (details below) to safeguard your fellow volunteers (present and future), the staff at  Bweni Secondary School, and the property itself, and also to protect the integrity of the charity.

If any of these rules are broken, then, our managers/coordinators, have our full authority to ask the volunteer(s) concerned to leave the programme and Bweni immediately, and no money that has been paid to MIDEF to join the volunteer programme will be refundable.

Drugs

Absolutely NO DRUGS are to be brought to or used at Mafia Island,  Bweni Secondary School or  Bweni Beach.

Local Boyfriends or Girlfriends

We are aware that some of our volunteers might have sexual relationships with boys or girls from the local community, and some might be tempted invite them for a stay with them in the Bweni or local beach hotels. Apart from being very risky from a personal health viewpoint (the number of people with STI’s in Tanzania , and in Africa generally, is very high compared to those in most countries in the West), this also raises a number of issues which are as follows: 

1. As MIDEF Africa will be involved with educating the local community, we expect our volunteers to lead by example and not engage in casual sex with members of the local community or other Tanzanians from outside the local area. 
2. Such relationships will make future volunteers easy targets for members of the local community and may give the programme we run here a bad reputation. 

3. Any intimate relationships formed between a volunteer and a Tanzanian from either the local community or outside the local area will inevitably lead to raised expectations on the part of the Tanzanian boyfriend or girlfriend. Such expectations cannot be fulfilled as he or she will be left behind when the volunteer leaves Bweni or Mafia Island, and they will also have little or no prospect of being able to emigrate to the volunteer’s home country. 

4. Some high value items have been installed at Bweni Secondary School, e.g. solar panels and solar batteries. Also, volunteers keep their valuables (money, passports, cameras, etc.) in their chalets. Any visitors to Bweni Beach can “case the joint” and this could pose a security risk. 
Therefore, we have reluctantly been forced to bring in the following two rules: 

1. Volunteers must not conduct sexual relationships with members of the local community or other Tanzanians from outside the local area either in the chalets or anywhere else on the property. This includes sleeping on the beach. 

2. Volunteers must not invite any Tanzanians, either from the local community or from outside the local area, and especially curio boys from Kilindoni , etc., to come to visit them or to stay at Bweni Beach. The exception to this rule is that anyone from the local communities with whom volunteers are working on a project may visit them at Bweni Secondary School during working hours.

Personal Health and Safety Whilst at Bweni

We consider the health and safety of our volunteers and staff to be a high priority and aim to avoid any incidents as far as possible. You should be fully aware, however, that local standards of health, hygiene and safety are likely to differ from those in your home country. It is your own responsibility to take every step to ensure your own safety and well-being at all times. We have made every attempt to make you aware of the local issues but cannot take any responsibility for individual incidents. Everyone staying or working at Bweni Beach does so at their own risk. 
We would ask that you take note of the following points in particular:

Vaccinations

You should consult your own doctor well in advance of your planned departure date as it is your own responsibility to confirm individual health/immunisation requirements.

Please note that we strongly recommend that you take a malaria prophylaxis. As malaria and cerebral malaria are prevalent along the lakeshore, we recommend Malarone (proguanil/atovaquone) or Lariam (mefloquine) — doxycycline and chloroquine/paludrine are probably not effective in our area of Tanzania — but please consult your doctor.

Travel Insurance

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have made adequate provision for your personal belongings and your own health, including repatriation in the event of a medical emergency.

Personal First Aid Kits

These are strongly recommended. There are better equipped medical facilities health centres and Hospitals at  Kilindoni which is recommended in the event of a medical emergency.

Drinking Water and Food Safety

The drinking water at Bweni Secondary School comes from a borehole and is safe to drink without treatment with water-purifying tablets. There is a solar fridge in which all perishable foodstuffs can be stored.

I have read and accept the above statements.

Signed: __________________________________________________________

Name (please print): _____________________________________________

Date: ____________________________________________________________

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