ARUSHA CHILDREN CENTER
Friday, July 26, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
www.arushachildrencenter.blogspot.com
We are doing this Safari to get
money to support this guy who have grown up in the street as a street children
and homeless and for more details you can visit www.africanisafaris.blogspot.com
OR
www.safaribookings.com
OR
www.safaribookings.com
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
About Us
Mission and Vision
Arusha childrencenter takes advantage of
their home city of Arusha as a hub of international tourism, and seeks
to engage tourists in a meaningful two-way exchange. Tourists are
welcome to learn the real stories and lifestyles of everyday
Tanzanians, through volunteering at the ACC Center as well as taking
cultural and natural excursions with the ACC Team. In return, the ACC
Center uses tour fees to improve the facilities and increase the
resources that they can offer to the community of homeless youth in
Arusha, who come to ACC for physical, economic, and psycho-social
support.
Director’s Message: Dear Friends,
When you come to Arusha, you will no doubt see the beauty of my country: the splendor of Mount Kilimanjaro looming on the horizon, the lush grasslands where lions, giraffes, and elephants roam about your safari car, and the vibrant culture and strong will of the Masaai, who have always, and will always, live pastorally off of our land.
But you will also see, without a doubt, the tragedy of my country – the dejected and pleading faces of the street children who crowd our back alleys, who come to the streets to beg for your money and who will engage in crime or prostitution if need be, to survive.
When you come to Arusha, you will no doubt see the beauty of my country: the splendor of Mount Kilimanjaro looming on the horizon, the lush grasslands where lions, giraffes, and elephants roam about your safari car, and the vibrant culture and strong will of the Masaai, who have always, and will always, live pastorally off of our land.
But you will also see, without a doubt, the tragedy of my country – the dejected and pleading faces of the street children who crowd our back alleys, who come to the streets to beg for your money and who will engage in crime or prostitution if need be, to survive.
On the surface, Arusha’s street children seem
harsh and mean, but if you watch them carefully you will notice what
is missing from their lives. Our street children quite simply lack
love and care, having been abandoned, physically and sexually abused or
orphaned in their infancy and childhood, by parents who suffer from
struggles like poverty, alcoholism, and HIV/AIDS. They then become
susceptible to these struggles, and in the shadow of such blessed
natural beauty, a human tragedy continues in our city.
I was born on the street by a homeless mother who abandoned me, where I endured not just physical struggle of finding food to eat and a safe space to sleep at night, but also the hopelessness and despair of having neither love or support, without any sense that I mattered to the world.
My life was saved in the year 2000 at age 14 by two community leaders who built a small center, Children for Children’s Future (CCF), where street children were free to come and go to fulfill their physical and psycho-social needs: food, beds, counseling, and educational activities.
By my mid-twenties, I realized the need to do
more than what this shelter was offering, understanding the need for
long-term planning and a sustainable business model to our charity. We
could not continue surviving based on local church charity alone, and
the unpredictable charity of tourists who we aimed to involve in our
work.
As Director of Arusha Children Center’s services to the homeless youth of Arusha, I am now taking the lead on designing and implementing our new service strategy. As you will see explained on this website, we welcome individual and group tourists who will be traveling to Arusha, and we offer a series of tour packages that will provide our Arusha Children Center with financial support, and in exchange, offer visitors a fuller, more true look at the community to which they have come.
We do this not to showcase poverty and struggle, but to raise awareness of it and take meaningful action to end it.
We cannot do this alone, and for too many years I have watched
tourists come into o and out of my city, missing the opportunity to
leave this place better than when they arrived. Shouldn’t all tourism
stick to this model?
I warmly welcome you here on our online home, and to our home in Arusha, Tanzania. Please contact me with your questions and to arrange your visit at emmyjohn2005@yahoo.com.
Karibu sana (You are most welcome),
I warmly welcome you here on our online home, and to our home in Arusha, Tanzania. Please contact me with your questions and to arrange your visit at emmyjohn2005@yahoo.com.
Karibu sana (You are most welcome),
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