Treasures of Africa KIDZ Project
Treasures of Africa KIDZ is project which provides total education sponsorship for orphans and other vulnerable children in Tanzania. After running an orphanage in Tanzania (Treasures of Africa Children’s Home) for 15 years, Hidden with Christ was able to place all the orphanage residents in Christian families and focus its efforts on providing the highest level of private education available to its students in order to prepare them for future leadership. We currently sponsor students from Pre-school to University. Architectural plans are currently being developed for building of a Secondary School which will be called TREASURES OF AFRICA LEADERSHIP ACADEMY. Consider making a donation to the Treasures of Africa KIDZ Project to help us continue to educate the future leaders of Tanzania. Click Here to Donate.
Stories of How the TOA KIDZ Project is Impacting Lives
A BOY NAMED ALI
It is perfectly natural to wonder if donations given toward good causes ever actually have an impact or change even a single life. This story is for all those who wonder.
A four-year-old boy named Ali, lived in a village in Tanzania, East Africa. He slept in a mud and stick house with a dirt floor. His father was nowhere to be found(later discovered to be in prison) and his mother had just died. He and his 6-year-old sister were left in the care of their 12-year-old aunt, the sister of their dead mother. They were all hungry. But worse than that, they were hopeless as to how they could go on without any way to find food or help.
Someone in the village, aware of their desperate plight, brought their situation to the attention of the authorities. One day a social worker appeared and took them all to an orphanage called Treasures of Africa Children’s Home, in the nearby town of Moshi.
Ali blossomed overnight. The sudden infusion of nutritious food provided without fail three times a day, strengthened his body and encouraged his soul. Astonished by the kindness of strangers who provided clean clothes, a real bed inside a house with concrete walls and floors, made little Ali think he had arrived in heaven. He felt safe for the first time in his young life. His dynamic personality, which had been hidden under a veil of worry, too great for a child to bear, seemed to develop out of nowhere.
It soon became apparent that Ali was very bright. He quickly learned English and became the translator for even older children in the orphanage. Because of the generous donations of supporters of Treasures of Africa, Ali was enrolled in a private school where he was taught in English. The local government school was taught in Kiswahili, and without learning English, a child in Tanzania cannot go on to higher education including High School. And everyone knew this boy was destined to go beyond the average education level in Tanzania, which is grade seven.
The long and steady generosity of donors to the mission of Treasures of Africa to educate and raise up future leaders for Tanzania, took little Ali through one of the best Secondary Schools in the country. Ali (who now goes by the name “Sam”) graduated from Advanced Secondary School and is currently in his third year of Machame Health Training Institute - a medical college on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He plans to become a Medical Social Worker, working in a hospital where he can help others who have suffered trauma like he and his sister experienced.
Every donation given to the Treasures of Africa KIDZ Project is a seed sown into the life of a child like Ali. It paves the way for change to come and to transform a life situation from tragedy to victory. It may take years to see the fruit, but the fruit does come. Ali is proof of that.
HOW GENEROSITY CHANGED A LIFE
The tears came so easily...and unexpectedly.
It was about 7:30 in the morning when I pulled up to the bus stand in Moshi, Tanzania. My task was simple, to deliver Irene and her possessions to a bus headed for the big city of Dar Es Salaam. It felt like such an impossible yet miraculous moment. This girl who had begged on the streets of Moshi 14 years ago was now headed to the LAW SCHOOL OF TANZANIA to begin the last phase of her journey to become an Advocate (lawyer).
Now about those tears. They began streaming down my face as we sat in the car waiting for the arrival of that bus. I was thinking back to the early days just after Irene arrived at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home. She was a scared and hopeless 12-year-old whose mother had died. She had fled the abusive home of a drunkard relative who forced her to beg on the streets for food. I thought, "Where would she be today if she never came to live at Treasures? Where would she be if compassionate people had not donated their hard-earned money to help orphaned and abandoned children on the other side of the world?"
Then suddenly, a hollow-eyed sunken cheeked boy of about 9 years appeared at the car window. Motioning that he was hungry, he put out his hand to beg for alms. The stark irony of the moment was not lost on me. 14 years ago...Irene was that child begging for food money on the streets of Moshi. Now the mature confident young woman sitting next to me was headed to Law School. The tears would not stop.
So many people with generous hearts have donated and helped the children at Treasures of Africa over the years. Irene is one of many whose life trajectory was totally altered through GENEROSITY!!
(And regarding the boy begging for food money...of course we helped him, but he disappeared into the crowd before we could get details of his situation. But I am watching for him on the streets, and I am confident I will see him again.)
Generosity changes lives – Thank you for being a conduit for the power of generosity!
Yusuphu’s Story
As years pass by and donors give generously to help feed, clothe, and educate orphans and other impoverished children, I believe it is good to read a success story of the outcome of one such child. I pray the following true story will encourage the generous souls who continue to sow seed into young lives on the other side of the world through the Treasures of Africa KIDZ Project.
When Yusuphu was 12 years old, he was sent to live at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home, in Moshi, Tanzania, after the death of his father. His mother was sick with the same illness which took his father’s life, and she could not afford to send him to Secondary School, as she was barely able to feed him and his younger siblings. Through the generosity of donors, Yusuphu was sent to a private (rather than government) Secondary School, while living at Treasures of Africa, where he was taught in English, instead of Kiswahili, which is the national language. Fluency in English was necessary if he ever wanted to attend a college or University. All institutions of higher education in Tanzania are taught in English.
The week before Yusuphu was scheduled to take his Secondary School National Exams, which would determine if he would be allowed to attend college, his mother died. He was devastated. Now both his parents were gone. He was so shocked that he wondered if he would be able to even concentrate sufficiently to sit for the National Exams. But because there was no “make-up” exam offered, Yusuphu was forced to take the exams the same week his mother was buried. Many people were praying for him. In answer to prayer, Yusuphu passed his exams.
At that point in his life, Yusuphu was already ahead of the national average of education levels in Tanzania. The average Tanzanian has 6.1 years of formal education. For orphans, the statistics are considerably lower. But the generosity of donors allowed Treasures of Africa to continue to support Yusuphu’s attendance at an Advanced Secondary School which prepared him for university level classes. Once he completed his Advanced Secondary School, Yusuphu applied to college in America. He was accepted, and once again the generosity of donors helped to bring him to the USA for university study.
At the end of April, 2022, Yusuphu graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Finance from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He plans to study for a master’s degree and then return to Tanzania to help his home country. He dreams of one day running for the presidency and helping his nation move forward.
Does donating money to help orphans or the impoverished ever make a real difference in the life of a child? Let Yusuphu’s story encourage you with a resounding “YES!” And who knows, one day it may even be the catalyst which helps bring change to a nation.