Tanzania | Cameras for Kids

In conjunction with a US based NGO, Make a Difference Now, we had the pleasure of spendign time with 20 children from Kilimanjaro Kids Care Orphanage in Himo, Tanzania.

I brought with me 5 Aussie girls from Melbourne. We helped the children with their reading, writing, art, played with them and of course I brought some cameras with me.

Kilimanjaro Kids Care is situated in the Himo region of Tanzania, near Mount Kilimanjaro. The orphanage is small, with a couple of rooms shared between 20 children, a basic kitchen where their meals are prepared and an outside latrine. The children were between 6 and 18 years old, most of whom were single or double orphans, many of them from heartbreaking backgrounds.

I whipped out my laptop excitedly during one of our workshops to show them the photos they'd taken, and Subira said to me, "but Madame, we don;t have electricity today. We haven't had electricity for some time". This reminded me of the reality of Africa once again. It is a luxury to have electricity. In fact, it is a luxury for the children if they had more than one meal a day, if they had clean drinking water and water for bathing. All that most children in the western world take for granted is a luxury for these children at Kili Kids Care. It's a luxury for them to have an education.

We wondered about the volunteers temporarily entering their lives, then leaving again, and the impact this has on the children. However the confidence and abilities that these children displayed was a testament to the amazing work that the NGO and Theresa Grant has done. Thank you for having us.


The Children: Jacky | Revo | Subira | Neema | Omega | Mary | Christina | Edward | Innocent | Peter | Joseph | Exsuper | Gifty | Eliona | Benny | Shaban | Mwenda | Upendo | Christopher | Jones