“You must teach children how to dream!”
From Dreams to Reality
Between 2005 and today our goal has been to support Tanzanian children to move from their dreams for themselves to the reality of productive lives that also benefit Tanzanian society.
Ali was an early benefactor of the sponsorship program when the 12 year old AIDS orphan followed Carol around his village, offering his drawings of jungle animals as a gift. Today Ali is a government-employed accountant who is married and the father of 2 little girls.
Mesca lived in a tiny rented room with her aunt and dreamed of a career in healthcare. Today she works in a medical laboratory at a hospital in Central Tanzania.
When orphaned by AIDS, Gifti was constantly shifted between the homes of various relatives but managed to complete her schooling with the strong psycho-social and other support from Pamoja Project staff. Gifti is now a village social worker, helping families deal with many of the challenges she faced as a child.
At 18 years old, Beatrice showed up at our offices lacking financial support but carrying a passionate wish to be trained as a beekeeper. We supported her 2-year training program, and she now supervises one of the largest beekeeping/honey producing women’s collectives in Northern Tanzania.
Although not all the children who have been in Pamoja Project programs have had such overwhelming success, all of them have benefitted from psycho-social, financial, and educational support they have received. It may be a cliche, but we expect all of them to pay it forward.
All photography provided by Carol Parker, Craig Hale and Catherine Monserrat