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YES Alumna Provides Food for Orphanage

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In Zanzibar, orphaned children in lower income, rural communities are cared for either by their extended families or other arranged caretakers. Some are cared for by older siblings, which the government has termed “child-head households.” Others are cared for in orphanages by caretakers, with little or no help from the government or other sponsors.

Because of poverty and no support or funding from local government in the area, the caretakers must provide a majority of their own funding for taking care of the youth. Take Saida, a guardian of the Saipho orphanage in Kwerekwe, Zanzibar, as an example. Saida cares for 20 children at the Saipho orphanage, a job that’s not easy for a single guardian with no permanent job other than as a caretaker. To provide for her children, Saida makes soaps and oils and then sells them on the Tanzania mainland.

Nadra Salim (YES alumnus 2008-2009, Zanzibar, Tanzania, hosted in Arcadia, OK by ASPECT) noticed that Saida needed help getting food for the children so she reached out to others. One of Nadra’s family members living in Newcastle, UK has gotten involved with an organization called Women’s Empowerment. The organization provides funds to those in need, creating more opportunities to empower women.

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Nadra sent information about Saida’s efforts to care for the children to the organization with hope they could give Saida something in return for her caregiving work. What she received was funding to purchase raw foods for the orphanage. The bundle Nadra bought included 25 kg of rice, 10 kg of wheat flour, 10 kg of white sugar, 20 liters of cooking oil, 5 kg of beans and 5 kg of peanut stone, all of which went directly to the Saipho orphanage.

According to Nadra, the surrounding area of the orphanage isn’t fit for the kids to play, but without additional funding from sponsors or the local government, the children can’t move elsewhere. The Saipho orphanage started seven years ago, and Saida has done her best to work with what she has.

“There aren’t other orphanages in the area under the same poor conditions,” Nadra said. “If there are we haven’t found out about them yet. Saida’s work with these children shouldn’t go unnoticed.”

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