Ipogolo is home to some of the poorest children and families in Iringa and is heavily in need of funding to support them. My journey on Friday took me to this part of Iringa where i had the privilege of meeting some families here, they opened up their homes to me and the children spoke to me about their family and there day to day activities.
I was given the chance to visit these families via the charity FISCH. This charity as previously mentioned follows children on the streets and takes them in to their care, they help fund their education from the age of 8yrs until they reach 18 and are able to help themselves. The follow-up was to meet the children’s family who have been taken off the streets and just see how they live and life for them and their families. The first home we visited was the home of a 16year old boy Best, he lives in a mud hut with his mum, 2brothers and 2sisters. The bedrooms can just about fit a single bed in the room and they are shared by 3 people, the rooms do not have gas heating or electric heating but instead they use coal fires in their rooms, this really upset me seeing this because even i had trouble breathing or seeing through the fumes and these kids have no choice but to sleep through it to stay warm on the nights. I met his mum and she welcomed me into her home and said i was most welcome to look around and take photos, it was so hard to walk around as it was very dark, very cramped and they shouldn’t have to live that way. i gave her a big hug and thanked her for letting me be a guest in her home.
The second home we went to was another boy now a member of FISCH and he lived with his mum and 4 siblings as they had lost their dad to tuberculosis and she had to support the family alone. Of course she cannot afford to do this and the children are lucky to get a meal a day and it is so heartbreaking to watch all these kids running around laughing, they were running up to me and taking pictures, smiling at me and the sad thing was i knew they did not know where their next meal would come from or when it would be and at most it would probably be cornbread or rice.
The final house we visited was where a girl named Ellen lived, she lived in this mud hut with her 6 brothers and sisters, it consisted of 1 bedroom and 1 living room/kitchen. The bedroom had a coal fire in the corner which made it really hard to breath and the living room they would use the table to light gasoline to cook meals. At this point i could not hold back how upsetting it was to see these living conditions, there were children everywhere and they all piled into the room we sat in and i could not believe how full of laughter and energy they were. I tried so hard to hold back tears but these kids and listening to how they live and what they have to go through to put water and food on the table was absolutely heartbreaking. We sat and listened as they talked about their life and that their mum is unable to look after them on her own so the 7/8yr old girls will bring up the babies and they will go out and look for home essentials on their own. It is not safe and children get taken away from their homes for child trafficking, child labor, to steal drug deal and it was so hard to listen to them tell their stories of how they try to avoid being caught up in all that and how they have to learn to survive from the age of 3, we forget how lucky and how blessed we are but i pray God will protect them.
As we started to leave there were a bunch of about 15 kids aged from 3 to 8yrs all waiting outside and surrounding us, i took selfies with them and they loved so much seeing themselves on camera and they just laughed so much and then ran away before running back to ask for more pictures and if they could see themselves again. The idea of having a phone where you can actually see yourself, the squealed with laughter and were just so happy to have me take their picture, i was so choked up by them and i really wished i was able to do so much more for them too.
As i finally managed to drag myself away from them, i kept looking back and waving as they continued to giggle and wave back, sounds so silly but it was moments like that that made me all the more grateful for what i have and make me want to give so much more to villages like this one. We walked back out of the village and grabbed a taxi half way back to the main bus depot, there we saw another boy from FISCH who had been taken in and was currently getting ready to sit his exams, he explained to the co-ordinator Joseph that he had not been for the last week because his mum had died and he hadn’t told anyone. At this moment i just broke down in tears, he is 15years old and has been dealing with losing his mum most likely from TB or HIV and was looking after his siblings on his own. Joseph could not believe he had not mentioned it to anyone, but these are street kids and are not used to being able to ask for help, they are being taught there are people to go to at times like these, he just hadn’t realised because it is not something he has had before.
It is days like this i am so thankful for taking the opportunity to come out to Africa and see first hand the lifestyle of the Tanzanians and spend time to get to know them and their families and this is something i will treasure forever. I have a busy week ahead as i will be visiting schools to get uniforms made for the children, help in some construction work on a school being built as they have very little help and support and i will be visiting a babies orphanage who have either lost their parents to HIV or been abandoned.
I hope whilst i am here i can make a difference in shape or form and whilst i am here i know there is much work to be done. I appreciate you can’t see pictures of my work so far and the people of Tanzania but i will upload these once i can which will probably be once back in the UK. For now i will keep posting about my time here and hope you continue reading.
SaimasCharityTravels 