Society

War without borders

By Jordan Brown 

A war is being fought right now.  It is happening all around you.  Every person you know is a potential soldier in this war.  Every single one of us has a chance to rally behind the cause.  This war is not like other wars we read about; there is no one enemy to hate or rivals to kill.  This is a war being fought across the country – from Arusha to Dar es Salaam, from Zanzibar Island to Mount Kilimanjaro.   We all have a need to fight – to stand up and defend the rights and futures of the children across Tanzania. 

Right now there are children in need of help.  Some are hungry.  Some are sick.  Some are abused.  While the stories that define them may differ, they all share something in common – their future is in jeopardy.  The time is now to shed a light on the war being waged against the impoverished lifestyle so many Tanzanian children wake-up to each morning.  The time is now to set them on a path for a brighter future.    

My home lies across the Atlantic Ocean – almost 8 000 kilometers away.  Canada.  That is where I was born and raised.  I have spent the winter here in Tanzania at Camp Joshua, a Christian school created by LOHADA (Loving Hands for the Disadvantaged and Aged) located in Arusha.  The school itself houses and boards over 100 children from the ages of 5 to 15.  While my time there has been a hectic array of construction and maintenance, there are some things I have learned about the children along the way. 

The children of Tanzania are the source of a brighter future.  It is through them, and only through them, that this beautiful country can stand on firmer legs than it ever has before.  The children I have spent my time with come from pasts that are too horrible to retell, from neglect and beatings
to outright abandonment.  Yet what continues to amaze me is the
strength these kids, who have every right to misery, display everyday. 
They want to learn, they want to laugh and they want to dream. 

I will be the first to admit that I had an extremely slanted view towards Africa before I arrived here.  Yet after learning through the people and the culture I have come to realize that while life in Canada is certainly different from life in Tanzania, the importance and desire to protect and nurture our youth are the same.             

Right now, organizations like LOHADA are fighting to protect the children of Tanzania.  They are sheltering them, clothing them, teaching them and providing them with positive experiences that will shape them into strong and moral individuals.  Perhaps most importantly, organizations like LOHADA provide the children of Tanzania with something more: the breaking of chains that bond so many of the impoverished children across the country to lives of work and sadness, instead of the constant joy of learning every child should be entitled too. 

A war is being fought right now over the children of Tanzania.  To lose it would be catastrophic to the future of this amazing country.  We must not lose it.  We will not lose it.  Every Tanzanian must be a warrior, a soldier for the future of the children and a guardian of their right to learn and enjoy a happy childhood.

[ Back ] [ Up ]

[ Home ]

Copyright © 2001 -  2006  Arusha Times.  E-mail: arushatimes@habari.co.tz