Interview Story - Overcame a Challenge

Ten years ago, I traveled with my husband to Tanzania, East Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, one of the seven summits of the world. While there, we asked to be taken to an orphanage in a small village where we could visit with the children and gift them with food.

We went to the Klingon Orphanage in Mtu Wa Mbu, a rural village at the base of Lake Manyara, a popular tourist safari destination. I met the director of the orphanage and spoke to him at length about the donor base for the orphanage as it appeared to be quite destitute. He explained that they received inconsistent donations from tourists and other business people who stopped by the area. He seemed soft-spoken and sincere.

I returned to the United States and thought about the situation for a long time. I determined that I had the capacity to return and provide support to the orphanage long-term.

Action: First, I needed to do my due diligence and investigate the situation more closely and learn all that I could about the orphanage, directors, and staff in order to verify that this was not just a business deal for people who exploited children (which is not uncommon in developing countries). The social worker was aware of the orphanage and said “come and see.”

He was vague but I trusted that the government’s social worker would be forthright and inform me if he had any concerns for the children or integrity of the directors. Two years later, I returned with a friend to conduct a needs assessment and with the intention of starting a non-profit organization to provide backing and support so that the orphanage could become a home of dignity and opportunity for the children.

One of the clergies of my church in Africa came to the village with me to provide translation and support while meeting with the directors, staff, and mayor of the village. Satisfied by my information collecting efforts, after two weeks on-site, I returned to the US with my assessment in hand and began planning and learning how to start an NGO.

I also began raising money from friends because it was reported to me that the orphanage director was unable to make rent and the children were going to be evicted. I was extremely concerned for the welfare of the children, so raised $3000 from friends to help shore it up until we could officially organize.

After a few weeks, my clergy friend called me and said that he had gone to visit and help the orphanage and felt that things were amiss. He reported that this situation with the director and assistants was not what I thought it was. It turned out, that the orphanage was all a sham. The so-called “director” had recruited children from poor families to have their children come to live in an “orphanage” where foreigners would provide a better life for them.

This turned out to be a money-making scheme that kept the children poor while the director and staff filled their own pockets. It was a terrible blow. The children did not come from good situations. I was concerned about their welfare so I called the UNICEF office in Dar Es Salaam and asked for help in making sure the orphanage was shut down but that the children would be protected and cared for appropriately.

They contacted the local government who immediately investigated and shut the operation down. I spoke to the social worker again who said he knew where each child came from and would get them back to their families, which he did. I contacted another very lovely orphanage in the village run by a no woman, and she agreed to accept the two children who had no home in which to return. And I contacted my friends who had donated, explained what had happened, and reimbursed the donations to those who would accept them from my own personal funds.

Additional interest points: I eventually learned that the local social worker knew the situation for what it was all along, but did not tell me. He was given money by the director to stay silent. I felt terrible disappointment from the deception that was displayed in this situation.

I became friends with the woman from the other orphanage and lamented my situation. She empathized with me explaining that she had also worked at the Klingon Orphanage years earlier, learned of the corruption but had also had her life threatened for attempting to expose the operation. She had felt the same disappointment that I did but somehow, it was an impetus to return and start her own orphanage under her own direction and supervision. She said that I had learned the painful lesson that outsiders must learn about social work, which is that poverty and greed drive some people to take advantage of those who are well-meaning to provide for themselves, even at the expense of vulnerable children.

Her success in building her own beautiful orphanage softened my resolve to pursue a life-time dream of working in the humanitarian sector. I decided I would go back with the skills to really make a difference and when the time was right, I entered a graduate program at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in NYC. I just completed a Master’s Degree in Public Health and Humanitarian Action.