Child Hope and Sunshine Nursery, Ubaruku, Tanzania

Hi, my name is Jiri and as you can see from the profile photo, thats right, its all about schools!

I know, you have heard this before and I know there are a lot of people like me, some fake, some real. The ball is in your court.

Here is my story:

In 2015 I was fortunate enough to manage a small safari lodge on Tanzanian Swahili coast, along with my wife Michelle. It was a dream job and over next two years, we have fallen in love with our work, the bush and the wildlife, but more importantly, we have equally fallen in love with all the people we have had the privilege to live and work with.

Among them was none other than Peter Anthony Mbota, who literally walked into our lives one sunny afternoon and became our new barman. Peter was smart, honest, strong, loved by guests and staff alike. But he kept to himself and we knew very little about him. Until the day, when he came back from his first holidays and he wanted to talk to us. For Peter going home and to visit his family was an ardours exercise. While most of our staff were either locals or commuting from Kilimanjaro region, Peter came all the way from Rujewa, a rice growing district close to Malawian and Zambian border. Peter sat us down at the bar table, made us his signature Pina Colada and told us there was a problem. This we were used to. Our staff always came to us with “big” problems. It would usually cost us few bobs to solve these “problems”. But this was different. Peter, very articulately, spoke of his family, his village, Ubaruku, his people and of the children in the village. But not just of any children. He told us about children with problems. Problem of arm, problem of brain, problem of legs, problem of eyes, problem of the head etc.

He would see them sitting outside the local primary school, not being allowed into the classroom. They were simply hoping to overhear some of the lesson, to learn. Peter went to every school in the area, only to find out, that these disabled kids had no right to be educated, because they were different! He felt something had to be done, so he decided to set up his own charity called Child hope Tanzania and started renting small disused building in the village centre, as the first classroom. All he wanted from us, was to put him through right people and see if anyone could help him with funding. We were immediately awestruck; we didn’t expect this at all. And we were keen to help. In coming days, we have tried everyone we knew, but more people we spoke to, more we felt this is going to be a lonely task. In Tanzania and in Africa in general, disability education is not supported by the government and most such schools are privately funded. Providing parents are willing to send kids to school at first place. To have a child with disability is, in most cases, a death sentence. As blatant as this might sound. Parents are usually ashamed to have a child that is not perfect, in generic sort of sense. They don’t just feel ashamed, they also feel they have sinned, did something wrong and got punished, hence their “imperfect” child might be a punishment and so it’s better to hide it from the view. Literally. Children are often locked up in tiny, windowless rooms, in animal pens or worse, death being their only salvation. And this is what Peter felt he should do. To get these kids out and give them a chance.

And so, a few months later, me and Peter jumped on the plane, first time for him, and flew to Ubaruku. At that time, Peter had already 25 kids in the classroom, some of them severely disabled, just shuffling on the floor, unable to afford a wheelchair. Among it all stood Dafroza, Peter’s little sister, his first teacher. So young, yet so strong and incredibly patient. Peter was like different person altogether, it felt like an angel walked through the door, he was made for this. Kids were hugging him, calling his name, it was really heartbreaking to watch. The building he was renting had a rough look, barely standing. I remember the first moment I walked in, a large chunk of the wall peeled off and landed between the kids. It was a sign. I realized right there that we had to build a school for him. Later that day, Peter took me to a block of land his father gave him and deal was done. But it wasn’t as straightforward as we thought it will be. It never is. Life interfered, our marriage fell apart, I moved to Kenya and Peter moved up back north, where he ran a small pub under majestic Kilimanjaro. It took another year to have the school built, largely thanks to Global Learning foundation Michelle was part of. We will be forever grateful to those who donated money and helped us realize ours and Peter’s dream. And it was just in time. Peter and Dafroza managed to convince parents of almost 30 kids to bring them over and suddenly, the school was full and second teacher had to be hired from the moment it opened. Child Hope has finally became a reality, a school, where students with physical and mental disabilities can come together to learn, mothers can come together to offer support, 2 nutritious meals per day are supplied, and 2 teachers employed to deliver lessons every school day.

Unfortunately, our best efforts and planning came to swift end when Covid showed up and turned the world on its head. Michelle’s company gone bust and with it, the funding. We were paying everything from out of our own pocket, trying desperately to make ends meet, not let anyone down and also trying not to be one of those whities who run off when going gets tough. Because we have promised Peter from the very start, we are in this long term and the fact that almost 8 years later, I am sitting here and writing these lines is testament to it.

At that time, we were looking at how we could finance the school independently, to at least cover some wages and food. We were growing vegetables, tried chickens and eggs, set up stall in the village, Peter even almost ended up working as porter in one of the upmarket hotels in Dar es Salaam to supplement the school. Luckily that didn’t happen. Instead, we put our heads together and came up with genius plan, to build a second school! This time a regular nursery, where we would charge a fee. Small, but enough to cover the cost of running Childs Hope. As many of you know me, I am not the one who asks for help, so I have financed the whole thing myself, with exceptions of few generous benefactors, who chipped in. Luckily, having steady job helped and I was able to finance both Child hope and building of new school. Plus pay for teaching degree for both Peter’s siblings too! Finally, Sunshine Nursery opened its doors in December last year and has been running strong since, currently offering education to more than 30 kids, split into two classrooms. And more are applying each term. Peter now suggesting a third building, but this is where I have to draw the line. Temporarily.

In July this year, I was finally able to make a trip to Tanzania and see everything with my own eyes, rather through Peter’s terrible photos (he knows he is hopeless). I have not been in Ubaruku for many years and I was naturally very excited to see both schools and Peter of course. I was really proud what we have achieved, but seeing everything first hand, we knew we wouldn’t be just be sitting around. Over few afternoons we have made a plan, stuck a budget to it and got to work. All the money we have brought with us were gone in a week. But it has bought us extra piece of land to grow spinach for sale, new 100m deep borehole, numerous pumps, brand new toilet block, water tanks and lot paint. We have also given away lot of money to the most desperate women and to their children, whose very severe disability doesn’t allow them to attend school anymore. This money would allow them to start their own small business, be financially self-sufficient and not rely on handouts. Seeing first hand dedication of these mothers to their children, who they love and conditions they live in, was the most heartbreaking part of our journey.

So I guess, the question is, why have I written all this? Well, as hard as it is to ask, I need your help. Please note, this is just my own initiative and I don’t have a charity set up, therefore none of it would be tax refundable. It would be just a gift. Gift that would make a huge difference to children in small village in Southern Tanzania, you have never heard of. To children that have very little or nothing and this is they only shot at something, education at least. And it would be an enormous help to me and Peter, the most extraordinary and generous person I have ever met!

We are very fortunate that so far we have been blessed with bunch of generous people who did lot of heavy lifting and helped us over the years to get us where we are now. But as life progresses and everything is evolving, so do our schools. Thanks to growing rice industry, the township of Ubaruku is growing, with more and more people coming to seek employment and bringing their families along. Including children, who in desperate need of education. Good education. And over the years, Peter managed to build a good name for both of the schools and they are now sought after institutions. Therefore we have no choice to start thinking about some adjustments and inevitably, expansion.

So here is what we are planning to do and pay for in months, years to come, from the smallest to the biggest. While some we can cover and save up for ourselves, the rest we might need a help. We dont expect this to happen overnight, we in for long haul, but you just never know:

1. Laptop and phone - essential for everyone who runs any sort of business these days, nothing fancy, just functional, ideally with Microsoft Office.

2. Exercise machine for Child hope - some kids with muscle disability, need regular exercise to maintain their muscle flexibility and though it might not fix their disability, at least, it wont make it worse.

3. Borehole and water pump for Child hope - we are currently ferrying water from Sunshine, in the jerry cans, in the van, to supply kids with water for drinking, washing and cooking. Once we can drill some sweet, clean water, this will take care of things.

4. Generator - this is a big one, as it will save us lot of money and effort of renting one. With no power around the schools, the only way to operate water pump in the well, is with generator.

5. At least two wheelchairs, nothing fancy ... just to roll couple of kids around the school.

6. Small guesthouse - this is quite big undertaking, something for the future. At Child's hope, being the only school in the area to cater for disabled kids, we receive lot of request from parents bit too far for daily commune and we cannot offer them any housing to accomodate the kids. So a small building with couple of rooms should be able to address that.

7. And the rest is just for the regular upkeep and maintenance.

Your help will be hugely appreciated. We will finish it with or without you, but with your help, it will be done quicker!

Kind regards

Jiri Haureljuk