Community building, locally and globally

Hellen Fejto Urio is a social worker at the Tanzania Gender Networking Program. She found Qibei's community's management model very inspiring and was impressed to see the committee has developed a platform to engage senior residents both physically and socially. Hellen noticed they have established an effective and organized platform to engage the elderly through various activities such as dancing teams, handicraft workshops and walking clubs. She said, "Through this platform, the elderly can communicate and socialize with each other," adding, "In my country, lacking such platforms to engage in community activities, the senior citizens stay home most of the time and have a limited social life. But we are all human beings who will fare better when engaging with people around us." Hellen said she plans to use the experiences and practices of Qibei residents' committee to establish similar committees or platforms in her neighborhood and help the elderly become more active members in the community.