Advertisement
Published: October 29th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Outside Tumaini's House
With her Aunt who she lives with. During my time in Tanzania, there were two girls who really stood out for me . . . Tumaini, who wants to become a doctor and Furahini, who wants to become a secretary. Both these girls represent over 100 children from the village where I worked who are orphans (meaning one or both parents have died or left them) and not currently going to school. I was fortunate enough to meet both of these girls and decided to visit their homes to learn more about their daily life.
I knew where Furahini lived, but had not been to Tumaini’s home and there are no addresses. Luckily I had taken a picture of her so I carried that with me as Shija, Karolyn and I walked around the village. The first person I showed it to knew her and it just so happened we were standing in front of her house! I think the photos here will give you an idea of both girls’ living situation. In addition to seeing the girls’ living situation, I also wanted to get a better understanding of the educational system in Tanzania. One of the directors at CCS had been a Headmaster in the Tanzania
Tumaini at Home
She was very surprised and excited to see us. school system and was very helpful with information and gave me names of couple schools locally to contact.
On the eve before my departure I was finding it difficult to imagine leaving Tanzania without helping Tumaini and Furahini’s dreams -- really, their human right -- become a reality. I didn’t know exactly what to do, but I figured I would start with visiting the schools, getting as much information as I could and take it from there. And, from there, all the stars began to align.
After visiting a private Secondary School and an English specialty school, I paid for the enrollment forms, collected the bank information for each school, contact information for the teachers and asked Shija to have both girls meet me at our office the following morning. In reading all the responses from previous blog entries, I knew getting sponsors to help pay for their schooling would not be an problem and some friends had already asked about these girls in particular. I figured when I got home I could figure all that out.
We all met at the Upendo office and I explained to Tumaini and Furahini that they had both touched my
Tumaini's House
Shija and I talking with her aunt about helping other women start businesses. hearts and I was committing to help finding them sponsors and a way to realize their dream of going to school. In addition to a sponsor commitment they would be required to make a commitment of keeping their grads up, communicating with their sponsor each term, and during term breaks they were to volunteer 10 hours per week with Upendo Foundation so others in the community would see the importance of locals giving back to their own community. In addition, longer-term, when they are finished with school and have their first job, they are to find another girl to mentor and give 10% of their salary back to their community as they choose and share that with their sponsor. I explained to them this was something I learned from my parents and because of this practice, and the giving of others, that I was able to be here with them today. We also discussed the importance of upholding their commitment so over time, we could expand this opportunity to other children as people begin to see their success (and I get home and figure out all the other details!)
I couldn’t have imagined a better high as this moment,
and what a way to culminate my trip. I ran back to CCS to catch the shuttle to the airport. After getting know Peter, our driver, and Abraham over the last three weeks, I decided I would enlist them to help me with my new project. In addition to paying for Furahini’s school fees, she also needed help with daladala (bus) fair which is about 15,000 Shillings (about $10) per month. As we were on our way to the airport I had 20,000 Shillings left in my pocket. I gave it to Peter and Abraham with written instructions on delivering the money to Furahini and the additional 5,000 Shillings they could keep between the two of them.
When I arrived back to London, I called Shija and was happy to hear that Furahini received the money and was at her first day at school at Lemnas Training Centre to begin her English studies. :-)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0293s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
suzy
non-member comment
you are changing their lives, so great.