A Life Off the Streets: Meet our boys

Believe in Me: A Life off the Streets

Meet our boys

I told you all in last months newsletter that we would be starting a new program Believe in Me: A Life off the streets. Now it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the boys that we met and we could not forget. 

But first, I want to introduce you to a new WIL Team member, Thomas Loy. 

Tomas was on of the first people that my husband and I met when we came to Tanzania. One of the first people we could trust and one of the first we called our friend. Tomas was a street boy himself and was sponsored by an American at the age of 8 to go to school. He slept where these boys slept and he went to the same drop center to get food. Tomas is now 24 years old and in college. He has really beaten all the odds and he wants to give back and help children living on the streets the same way that he was helped. He knows that without sponsorship he never would have gone back to school and he would not have the opportunities that he has now. He will be the director over this program and a mentor to the boys. We could not do this without him and his dedication to helping boys that are still on the streets.

Meet Robinson

Robinson's smiles just kills me! Every time he smiles he puts his teeth over his lower lips and he loses any kind of "toughness" he has gotten from being on the streets. Boys have to get tough fast in order to survive but I never forget that they are just boys.

Robinson has been on the streets since last December, when we first met him. His father passed away and his mother could no longer afford to send him to school or feed him. He was forced to leave his mother and try to find work on the streets. He is 12 years old and finished standard 6 before his father passed away. We met with Robinsons mother and let her know that we met Robinson living in the streets and that we wanted to help him get off the streets and make a better future. She was very happy and thankful that we have met Robinson and so are we. Tom tells me that Robinson is quite the soccer player! I can't wait to go to his games and cheer him on!

Meet Nicolas

Nicolas is the littlest of our boys and the youngest we met on the streets. He is 10 years old and has been on the streets since he was 8. We did not get a very full story from him but we know his parents both passed away when he was very young and his grandparents could not take care of him. At 8 years old he had to start sleeping on the streets of Arusha. He must have been so frightened and he is still very shy and I think a little scared of us. I am sure he has been traumatized by his life on the streets and I can't imagine what he is going through, but Tom can, and they have already formed a special bond. We will be visiting the boys often to help them adjust to their new lives.

Meet Colin!

Colin was a bit shy when we first met him but soon he opened up and let us see what a funny and fun kid he really was! Colin is 11 years old and has been on the streets for one year. His mother is a prostitute and his father is unknown. His mother started having mental health problems around 1 year ago and was unable to care for Colin so he left for a life on the streets.

We met with Colin's mother and she is happy that Colin will have a chance to go to school and she has worried about him living on the streets but is just not able to care for him.There is a sadness about Colin's mother and I truly believe that if she could have taken care of Colin she would have. Mental illness is a problem in Tanzania because most of the time it is treated with street drugs and alcohol that just make the problems worse. 

We hope that Colin's mom can get the help that she needs so that they can have a close relationship like Colin says they once had.

A huge thank you to our sponsors for giving these boys a chance for a better life, a life off the streets.

Thank you all for your support!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child living on the streets please contact me at walkinlovetanzania@gmail.com. We met a young girl, age 12, named Karen that could really use someone to believe in her. Are you that person?