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Today was my last day of meetings with government officials. This time I spent the morning talking with the manager of MVC (Most Vulnerable Children) at the department of social welfare. He was a young, vibrant man who spoke fluent English, so we conversed for quite some time about the needs that are present in this land. He was extremely helpful, providing me with a great deal of information. Although he didn’t have hard copies of current statistics for all the regions in Tanzania, codes and ethics involving children’s homes, and legal acts involving children in Tanzania, he emailed everything he had on his database the same day. All these docs were sitting in my inbox by the time I made it out of the city and back to the mission base here in Mwandege. I don’t think I’ve ever that kind of speedy service from an African government department!

Although I haven’t gone through any of the docs, I took some notes during the meeting that will help to paint a picture of the need that exists here in Tanzania. At present there are 750,000 registered children in Tanzania who are in a vulnerable state. The term ‘vulnerable’ is an umbrella that covers a range of subclasses, one of which includes abandoned or orphaned children. To my great surprise there are only 90 children’s homes that are registered with the Government of Tanzania. Of that 90 they collectively house and care for 4000 children. Only 4000. This 4000 is not subtracted from the 750,000 children on the vulnerable list because children who are housed in children’s homes are no longer considered to be in a vulnerable state. It’s a sobering thought to think there are three quarters of a million children in this country who are in a vulnerable state.

The manager of MVC confirmed most of the information I received on Monday regarding the areas that are in most need. It seems as though I might have finally found a place to open this home.

At this point in time I need to let things settle. I need to return to Australia and get my head around all the information I have received. I have a pile of legal documents to sift through and I need to pray hard about where to go from here. At the moment I need to complete my studies and possibly complete a grad-program in paediatric nursing. I reckon I have about 18 months left in Australia before I’m free to start this work. In the mean time I can start working through the legalities that are needed to set up a home.

After leaving the city, Karume and I stopped in at a children’s home that was on the outskirts of Dar. An American organisation established the home in the city nearly 20 years ago. The organisation had originally rented a house but then the project expanded, forcing them to develop a purpose built facility on the outskirts in 2006. They built for 50 children but now they have blown out to 150. They had a few infants there, the youngest one being only 5 days old. The mother had abandoned the newborn in the back of a dalla-dalla (mini bus). When I heard the story whilst standing in the room full of infants my heart confirmed to me that I’ll spend the rest of my life rescuing these young lives.

My work here in Tanzania is done, at least for now. I’ve seen the things I needed to see and spoke to the people I needed to speak to. It’s been a very fruitful reconnaissance. I’m now looking forward to some much needed R&R in Kabale, Uganda.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 1:26 am and is filed under Ponderings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.