Who We Are

Faraja Centre Community-based Health Care (CBHC) in Singida has carried out HIV-related interventions since 2002, beginning as an outreach of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, Makiungu Hospital to mitigate the effects of the HIV epidemic. Faraja was officially registered in Dar es Salaam in September 2005 under the Ministry of Home Affairs as an FBO working with the Catholic diocese of Singida. Later in 2017 we were recognized by the Ministry of Health, Community development, Gender, Elderly and children as the programme had expanded from voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) activities to a comprehensive programme with social, developmental and outreach components of awareness raising and home based Palliative care.

More recently, in July 2016 the staff of Faraja Centre became aware of another reality deeply affecting the lives of the local people. As we went on our outreach visits to the villages and “house to house” counseling and testing, there were “rumblings” that all was not well. The village elders and some government leaders expressed concerns that teenage girls had gone to a few cities and were never heard of again. They could not understand how girls were offered “clean work” in boutiques, hotels, restaurants and some private houses but had never called their parents to say how they had settled into their new jobs.

Our work now includes awareness raising on Human Trafficking using Standard Radio and 33 Community Health workers. We have a staff of 18 including nurses, doctor, social worker, accountant, secretary, security and counselors.

Faraja Centre CBHC is a non-profit faith based organization (FBO) located in Singida town, within Singida Municipality in North Central Tanzania. It is administered by the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM), an International Missionary Congregation of Catholic of women religious, founded to bring the love of God to others through a service of healing. Their charism (special gift) as Medical Missionaries places them in the world of health and medicine, for the service of the universal Church. They were founded by Marie Martin in Nigeria in 1937 to bring the love of God to others through a service of healing. They follow Christ, who “went about doing good,” healing the sick and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom. They serve preferentially in missionary situations where the need for human development is great and the people are awaiting the liberating and healing power of the Gospel. Their motto is: