A Worthy Cause
A Worthy Cause
Wed, March 22, 2006 - 4:11 AM
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I recently returned from volunteer work in Africa where I met a wonderful group of orphans living at the TunaHAKI Shelter for Street Kids. One of the kids is 11-year-old Colman Msafiri. When he was 6, his father died, and he was left in the care of his mentally ill mother. She left him at a bus stop and she told him to wait for her. He waited at the bus stop for one week, but his mother never came back, and he was forced to live on the street. Now Colman lives at the TunaHAKI Centre for Street Children in the village of Moshi, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania, where he receives shelter, food, clothing, medical care, education, and instruction in acrobatics and dance. Thanks to TunaHAKI, he now dreams to be a professional artist.I want to bring the children of TunaHAKI to America to study with professional gymnasts, acrobats, aerialists, dancers and other artists. The children are so eager to learn, so hungry for knowledge - any chance to study with professionals will exceed their wildest dreams. They will be able to see first-hand that there is a future in their art if they continue their professionalism and training. It will give them something of inestimable value, and that is hope. This exchange trip abroad would have long-lasting effects in their local community. The ultimate goal of TunaHAKI is to become self-sustaining. Word of the trip would spread like wildfire and TunaHAKI would receive national publicity in Tanzania, which means more people would want them to perform at local functions, which means more income for the Centre. Word would also spread to other street children. They will hear about the TunaHAKI street kids who worked hard and got to take an airplane to another country, and they too would want to work hard. It would undoubtedly lead to the rescue of more homeless children from the streets.
In addition to studying, the children really want to meet and perform for other homeless kids, here in America (something they specifically requested). I also want to hold fundraisers so we can build them a permanent home. They have no source of permanent funding (the kids wear old clothes, sleep three to a bed, and all money goes toward food, education, and medical care). I am looking for corporate sponsors, organizations to get involved and raise money, individual donations… Maybe groups interested in acrobatics or in helping orphans, or groups interested in connecting to Africa… These are truly wonderful kids and this trip could be a turning point in their lives. For more information, contact Scott Fifer at fiferscott@netscape.net. You can also learn more about the kids by visiting www.tunahaki.com/.
