Herdis House is a vocational school for young girls and boys in the village of Liuli, 30 kilometers from Mbamba Bay. The home is run by the tireless Christina Chiwendi. Since receiving a new sewing machine for training from Einar Johansen in 1998, she has taught disadvantaged young adults how to sew.

Now, Christina leads a training center aimed at providing young people with opportunities to improve their living conditions through better nutrition, knowledge about agriculture, cooking, and most importantly, opportunities for income-generating work.

At Herdis House young people become tailors, and when they graduate they recieve a sewing machine which enables them to start their business.

During the pandemic, the students sewed face masks that were sold locally in Norway and Switzerland. After the pandemic, Trixie Wagner contributed to repurposing these masks into new products for sale, such as advent calendars, gift bags, and other items.

At Herdis House the students produce many different items, and a small selection is for sale in or webshop

The training center is named after the late Herdis Jørgensen, a teacher from Oslo/Finnsnes, who was very interested and engaged in our work in Tanzania. Herdis visited the project in February 2009, making a significant contribution. Sadly, she passed away on March 31, 2010, and could not continue the work herself. However, it's carried on, in part, through Herdisheimen.

When Einar established the Tanzania project, he had a clear vision of empowering the people along Lake Nyasa to develop their own community. He was particularly focused on strengthening women, who took care of the families and had a significant influence on the children. This was the background for establishing Herdisheimen, where dozens of girls, and now also boys, have received education as tailors, thereby increasing their income potential and leading independent lives.