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Published: March 9th 2010
I met Stephen in very special circumstances. One day, a few week ago, I was at the orphanage site in Shangarai when I noticed Japhet talking to a woman I had never seen before. When I approached them I saw that she was handing him a paper and he signed on it. It was a list with people's names and the money they were giving her. I asked what was it for and he said that the lady, Rosie, was going from village to village asking for money to pay his son's school fees. She was also carrying a copy of a report from the school with his marks from the year before (he had finished primary school with top grades), a letter from the school headmaster and a photocopy of the registration form. To be able to start secondary school, she needed 305,000Tsh so around £150, which means a fortune for most people in Tanzania.
I looked at the list and there were quite a few donors already and a total of about 15,000Tsh. Japhet gave her 2,000. I told him to ask her to meet me there the day after so I could give her some money as I
had nothing on me and sure I wanted to give more than 2000.
I did not have any doubts about her because if a mother is capable of walking from village to village looking for help to take his son to school, well, it was obvious she could not afford it otherwise and she really wanted him to study; I though to myself :" what an amazing mother".
The morning after I could not make it to Shangarai but sent a text to Japhet asking him to get her number.
well, nothing happened till the other day he gave me a copy of all those papers; I called her (with the help of Muba, my personal translator) to check how much she had so far. It was 105,000 Tsh but still 200,000 short. I asked her to meet me at the school with her son the morning after; I wanted to meet the headmaster first cause I am very happy to help but to the right people.
I had a chat with the headmaster but the knew nothing about him cause he had net enrolled cause he had not paid the fees; I went then to talk to
the account manager and after waiting a long queue of students, I sat there with him. I learnt that the school, Mount Meru school, is supported by the Rotary Club to help women's children who work at Tengeru market. Tengeru market is a local vegetables market in a village called Tengeru where women go to sell their production of fruit and veggies; it is quite an amazing place.
I paid for the fees and asked them to walk in; Stephen is very shy and he looks like an 8 years old kid; I assume it is caused by malnutrition. The account manager warned him that if his grades were bad he would lose their help and mine so he had to work very hard. You should have seen the happiness in their eyes!!! Rosie hugged me and kissed me in the neck, not sure I that has any meaning. He did not have a uniform so after stopping for a soda we went to get him a uniform, light yellow trousers, white shirt and grey V-neck cardigan. After that, I left cause I was suffering the heat and I still had to go to buy more books for Kundaeli. It
was a mixture of feelings: happiness and sadness often come together. Happiness for being able to help and sadness for not being able to do more.
Yesterday, on my way to the central station I met her; I asked her about Stephen and she said he could not make it to school cause he had no shoes….I thought shit! I forgot about his shoes as they will never allow him to go there with either flip flops or other shoes that are not black. I could have bought him a nice pair at the market for 8000; she was looking for money to buy the shoes so I have her money to buy them and wished her good luck; I also made sure she had my number so she can call me if there is anything they need. I will go to the school after the exams to check on his grades.
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Bryan Smith
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So.... i have lived ni Tanzania for quite soetime and i was waiting for the rest of the story where Rosie tells the author that her son is dead and upon further investigating the author finds out all her "feee's" and tuituion were actually spent on beer, these types of tricks are always played! Never, and i repeat never, hand funds directly ovder to a Tanzanian. Always go through the NGO as at least they have some sort of transperency.