The Children's Home

At least once a week I go with other language school students to the Children's Home that is just a couple kilometers from the Language School. The Children's Home is run by Tanzanian Catholic church and is staffed mostly by Tanzanian nuns. It is not called an orphanage because a large portion of the children still have a living father. In Tanzania if a mother dies and leaves a baby behind the baby usually also dies (especially if the child is less than a year old) so the Children's Home will keep babies after their mothers die and the fathers come and pick them up when they are about 3 years old. The fathers and family usually come and visit the children, but they leave the daily feeding and care up to the nuns. Apparently the system works well. Many of the mothers have died from AIDS. The children are routinely tested and if they are found to be positive they are sent to another HIV positive orphanage. Some of the children have lost both parents and they will stay in the orphanage until the become adults. The Children's home is connected to both a primary and secondary school that serves the surrounding area so the orphans do get a good education.

I have not put up a post about the Children's Home before because I didn't have any pictures. The nuns generally don't like people taking pictures of the kids, but this week we received permission to take a couple of pictures.

When you arrive at the Children's Home you are immediately surrounded by about 15 children all yelling "wageni!" (guests). Some of the more outgoing/aggressive children grab your legs and beg you to pick them up. It is really fun to play with the children, give then piggy back rides and just hold them. I also try to seek out and pay attention to some of the more shy children who usually don't get as much attention as the more outgoing children. In the picture above I am holding one girl and getting my hair unbraided (for the second time that day) by another.