One Problem, Two Solutions by Abby Cohen

 Jambo!

Today we visited two centers for children that address the issue of poverty in different ways. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, there are two ways to address ongoing issues: downriver and upriver. Since our arrival, we have been to various schools, NGO’s, centers for children, and governmental institutions. During our intersession class, we also learned that some organizations and programs actually perpetuate ongoing issues pertaining to children’s rights. This is partially due to these organizations taking a down river approach among other things.

In the morning, we headed to Moshi. We first visited Amani center for street children. Amani focuses on creating a safe space for children living on the street and aims to reunify the kids with their families. Additionally, Amani provides financial assistance for the kids up through university or other vocational programs.

The Amani director gave us a tour of the facility. Inside were the dorms, classrooms, and counseling offices. Every child living at Amani voluntarily goes there. Once they arrive, they receive counseling services and attend classes in house until they are ready to go to a local school. This was the first organization we visited that provided full counseling services to help the children through their trauma.

While we toured the indoor area, we encountered someone laying on the floor upstairs. Initially I thought the person was a child, but the director informed us that the person was 25 man that’s lived at Amani since it was established in the early 2000’s. We learned that he was abandoned as a toddler likely because he’s autistic. Fortunately, Amani is a safe space for him to live.

The outdoor area was amazing! The kids had a lot of space to play and socialize. We had a pretty intense soccer tournament where professor Cook made a goal twice! I was never a gifted athlete, so I played one-on-one soccer with a young child for most of the play time. I loved watching all the kid play together and just be kids.

Overall, I really enjoyed learning about Amani’s mission and ongoing impact on street children in Tanzania. I love that Amani takes the kids as they are with their trauma and gives them the tools to unpack their experiences and learn how to be children again.

We went to lunch at Blossoms Cafe in the afternoon with Amani’s director. The lunch was lovely, but as I’ve quickly learned, Tanzanian dining takes exponentially longer than American dining. We had a great time chatting, eating good food, and hanging out with a local kitty!

After lunch, we went to Neema International. Neema takes a slightly different approach to address poverty than Amani. Neema primarily focuses on children coming from low income homes to provide education. Their ultimate goal is to break the cycle of poverty. Additionally, Neema provides housing for children that are determined to have no family. About 250 students attend Neema in which 50 live there full time. Their classroom size is capped at 20 students which is entirely different than the 100 or more average class sizes we observed at the public schools.

I asked the director at Neema if there is a reunification program similar to Amani. He responded that social workers and the local government have determined that the 50 children living at Neema have no families to go home to. It’s safe to say that I’m slightly skeptical about that answer.

Our experience with the kids at Neema was quite a bit different than at Amani. At Amani, we just went out and played with the kids whereas the kids at Neema were told to come to us and answer our questions. I felt awkward in the moment because I could tell that all the kids wanted to do was play. I talked with a boy in his early teens who told me he’d been living at Neema since he was in kindergarten. One of my highlights from that day was talking with him and learning about his experience there. In turn, he attempted to teach me some cool tricks with a basketball. I’d like to believe that I was an enthusiastic student, but I was not nearly as skilled as him.

One thing that really struck me during my conversation with the Neema student was that he asked me if we were coming back the next day. I had a hard time answering that question because I know that many children who grow up in an institution even like Neema often develop attachment/detachment issues. Although I’m enjoying our time here going to all sort of places, the guilt I feel being a transient in these kids’ lives is impossible to mitigate.

Overall, I thought that the different approaches to a similar underlying issue was quite interesting. Amani focuses on street kids and reunification with their families whereas Neema focuses on education for children whether or not they have a home to go to. Quite honestly, I’m not sure which approach is better. Nonetheless, I think that trying different approaches to address the effect of poverty on children’s rights is crucial to eventually find what works. I hope that we find that answer sooner rather than later.

////Abby Cohen