Our journey began in Moshi, Tanzania . . .
Our Project
Who We Worked With
In conjunction with our U.S.-based organisation called Make A Difference Now, we worked with 20 gorgeous children from Kilimanjaro Kids Care Orphanage in Himo and also helped with setting up of the Rooftop of Africa, a restaurant in the Moshi region of Tanzania.
Kilimanjaro Kids Care
We had the pleasure of helping 20 beautiful children with their reading, writing, art and photography and we all had a ball!
Kilimanjaro Kids Care is situated in the Himo region of Tanzania, near Mount Kilimanjaro. The orphanage is small, with a few rooms shared between 20 children, and basic kitchen where their meals are prepared and a latrine outside of the main house. The children: Jacky, Neema, Omega, Revo, Subira, Mary, Christina, Edward, Innocent, Peter, Joseph, Exsuper, Gifty, Eliona, Benny, Shabani, Mwenda, Upendo, Christopher and Jonasi, are bewteen 6 and 18 of age. Most of them are single or double orphans, some from heartbreaking backgrounds.
I thought, "at least these children have a roof over their heads and clothes to wear", when I first arrived and started the photography project with the older kids. I whipped out the laptop excitedly during one of the workshops to show them the photos they'd taken, and Subira said to, "but Madam, we don't have electricity today. We haven't had electricity for some time". It is a luxury to have electricity. In fact, it is a luxury for the children if they had more than one meal a day, if they had clean drinking water and water for bathing. It is a luxury for them to have an education and know that will continue so they can be what they want to be when they grow up! Mary who is 13 said to me, "I want to be someone when I grow up Madam, because I want to pay back my grandmother and to those who have been good to me!"
It was amazing to me to see the difference between these children and others who are not as fortunate...yet. With the help of volunteers from all over the world, the children at Kids Care spoke with confidence, read extremely well and were doing amazingly in school! It was more than worthwhile knowing that the little time that we spend with them , either reading, writing, drawing, taking photos or simply playing, it is providing them with possibilities... allowing them to dream and live that little bit more!
Rootop of Africa
The Rooftop of Africa is a restaurant based in Shanty Town, Moshi. We got our hands dirty with paints and solvents, got the cleaning rags out and helped get this amazing project to its finish point. June 2010 is the date when the Rooftop should open its doors! What has this got to do with helping the children you might ask? A significant portion of the proceeds will go towards the children's educations!
Stay tuned for updated info on this special project!
OTHER PROJECTS | Zambia | Uganda | Cameras for Kids | Tanzania
About Moshi, Tanzania
Tanzania is situated in East Africa. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is estimated that more than one million of its children have been orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. Over half of the work force is between the ages of 15-29. Around 80% live in the rural areas. Only 8.5% of the work force has post primary education or training. 41% of rural women are illiterate compared to 24% of men.
Moshi is situated near the Kenyan border, in the northern region of Tanzania. This is where the the Dream Big photography workshop will be based.