Dear editor

I came to Tanzania in June of 1993 as an educational volunteer for the United States Peace Corps and subsequently taught Math and Physics at Hegongo Secondary School in the Muheza-Tanga Region. Following my Peace Corps days, I returned to Tanzania and have worked for over a decade helping to assure a brighter future for the children.  Presently I live in the village of Lasso Kirua Vunjo and I support and sponsor over 16 children throughout the country.  I am very proud of my oldest four who currently are attending the University of Dar es Salaam. Some of the children have been with me for over 14 years.  Some are orphans while others come from very poor families (Chagga, Hehe, Bena, Kinga, Maasai and other tribes of Tanzania).

Just prior to Christmas last year, I visited Stanbic Bank in Moshi to withdraw 200,000 /=  from their ATM machine for the children’s Christmas.  The machine malfunctioned and did not dispense my funds.  I then visited a Mrs. Assey, one of the bank managers, and was told to come back the following day.  The next day, I returned with a printed copy of my Internet Bank transactions. Mrs. Assey reviewed my records  and  the previous day’s ATM transactions and verified that YES, the money had been deducted from The Roch Charitable Trust Orphans Fund (The Bank of America account). At that point, I expected her to give me the money (as is the practice of Standard Charter or Barclay’s Bank branches).  She informed me that this was an International Affair and that I must contact my American bank.  I told her that I had used other banks’ ATM machines and that my money was always returned to me immediately in the event of a malfunction. She left her desk for a few minutes and when she returned, said the matter was “Out of the Bank’s Hands”. In other words, sorry, but you just lost your Christmas Money for the children. The next week, I visited the Arusha branch of  Stanbic Bank with my Internet records and was told the same thing by their branch manager.

I later contacted my Bank of America branch officer and was told that the Tanzanian bank should have returned the money to me immediately.  He said that there was “NO WAY” that they could recapture the funds once Stanbic had debited my account.

As Trustee of The Roch Trust, I have directed the Trust’s legal counsel to file theft and fraud charges against Stanbic Bank, the Directors of the Bank, and the specific Managers of the Arusha and Moshi Branches whom I personally contacted in hopes of resolving this issue.   I am  writing this letter to the Editor of the Arusha Times to alert future customers of Stanbic’s ATM machine policy TO BEWARE!

Babu Bob (Robert Manire) – Trustee of The Paul and Delilah Roch Charitable Trust.

Do you know basic rights of children?

Did you know…?

Children have rights? Child Rights were created in 1990?

They were created by the United Nations? They were created because children needed special help and protection? Some of the basic rights include…

You have the right to know your rights!