About

Street Children East Africa

Street children are a big problem in East Africa as in the rest of the world. My name is John. I was born and educated in Norwich. I joined the Royal Navy aged 15, after leaving the navy worked with computers then discovered that I needed to do something useful with my life. I had been working in computers for 12 years and felt that it was time for a change I have been working in Tanzania as a volunteer with Kigamboni Community Centre (KCC). Early in 2009 during a meeting with Robert Webster at St Mary’s Church Attleborough, I learned of a need for help in Jinja -Uganda at Mama Jane (a charity for orphaned children). I decided to go out and see how I could help.
After a month at the charity ‘Mama Jane’ building computers and teaching orphaned children how to use them I found out about Street Children at a charity called Children’s Resettlement Outreach (CRO). CRO’s aim is to rescue some of these children, feed them, clothe them, and educate them; aiming to get them back to their parents or guardian. Unfortunately, they have to go back to the streets at night! I felt that there was a need to help these youngsters and that need continues today.

However, after three months I learned from those that I was working with at CRO that there was a similar problem throughout East Africa, with well over a million Street Children. I decided to go to Tanzania and off I went to the village of Kigamboni. Here I helped an organisation called Kigamboni Community Centre (KCC) who were educating about 80 drop out school children (potentially future street children) and were also organising activities like acrobatics, computing, dancing, drama, football and singing. Also KCC were offering additional education to another 100 children. KCC now have nine Street children in an Outreach situation joining in all these activities. These children are also back on the streets at night with all the associated hazards and disadvantages that that brings!

Sadly there are many more children living on the streets begging and getting into trouble. My aim for the immediate future is to get four Street Children accommodated together and in the care of local responsible adults in Kigamboni. Here they could be fed properly and clothed, educated. The children and their parents or guardians would then be encouraged to receive some counselling, hopefully enabling the children to return home where they belong.

To do this it will be necessary to purchase, bunk beds and mattresses, other furnishings, cooking utensils, etc; in fact everything to build a home. It goes without saying that this will cost a lot of money; not as much in Tanzania as it would in the UK but still lots. I intend to return to Kigamboni, Tanzania in November for three months and would like somebody to accompany me for all or part of that time. Your talents would be invaluable in helping these street children. There is a lot of work to do and perhaps scope for a couple of hours play each day amongst palm trees and on sunny sandy beaches (with warm water).