The following history was part of the welcome program when we visited in 2024:
MANYARA HOLISTIC CENTRE (MAHOCE) was formed in 2007 from the idea of Joshua Johnston who came as a cultural tourist to the District of Babati, Hanang and Mbulu, Tanzania.
The
idea come after he saw street children in the Babati area. More than 15
members of the community responded to his call. The aim was to change
children’s lives for the better and help them find the love and care
they missed. The main purpose was to provide children living in
dangerous environments with food, safety, shelter, clothing, health care
and education. Also to provide parents with parenting tools so that
children would not run away from home.
After
submitting the MAHOCE Constitution to the Ministry of Interior Affairs,
MAHOCE was registered as a Non-Government Organization (NGO) on
February 27, 2007 with registration no. 09NGO/1991.
Joshua asked his friends and parents to create a tool to fund MAHOCE with donations, and HARAMBEE FOUNDATION was formed. Harambee is a Swahili word which means "Let's pull together."
Later
MAHOCE had to apply for registration as a Children's Home. The request
was accepted by the Ministry of Health, Social Development, Gender,
Elderly, Children and Special Groups and was granted a license on
01/08/2022.
Since the
establishment of MAHOCE, it has succeeded in reaching many children and
helping them. Many have been able to realize their full potential and
become independent in their lives. This year (2024), MAHOCE is
serving 98 children at various levels of education, 31 in primary
school, 4 in MEMKWA education, 47 in ordinary-level and 5 in
advanced-level secondary school, 2 in middle colleges, 4 in
universities, and 5 are waiting to go to advanced level 5. Twenty-six
of these children live here at the Centre.
MAHOCE
has a board that sits four times a year to evaluate the operation,
along with 7 employees: a Matron, Patron, Teachers, Community
Development officers and a Coach.
The biggest goal was to provide permanent housing to raise children. At first, we rented in various houses and faced the risk of rising rent costs, forcing us to move the Centre several times. We are very grateful to Alpha Delta Kappa for your financial support building a permanent home for children. As a result we will no longer move. This reduces the financial cost of paying rent, which can help us reach more children and increase our self-sustainability.
Our building contains the following areas:
- 3 Offices including Reception, Director's Office and Teacher's office.
- Two dormitories, a girls' dormitory and a boys' dormitory
- 2 classrooms, for MEMKWA and another for Evening prep.
- Emergency room for temporary cases
- Matron's rooms
- Kitchen with three stoves.
- Dining area
- 3 Store rooms, for kitchen storage, general storage (e.g. school supplies, laundry and bar soap, exercise books, toothpaste, lotions, pens, pencils etc.) and another for fire wood.
- Toilets as follows, 1 toilet for the director, toilet for employees and guests, 1 toilet and shower room for the matron, 2 toilets and 2 shower rooms for girls, and 2 toilets and a shower room for boys.
- 3 washing tubs: 1 for boys' laundry, 1 for girls' laundry, 1 for washing dishes
- We have a fenced-in vegetable garden out back
- Also, the Centre is adjacent to a designated open space area, which the children use for play and exercise.
- We also have a Solar energy system and water catchment tanks holding 4000 liters of rain water.
One
challenge is to increase school contributions every year, especially
for secondary school children whose number is increasing every year.
This year, we have a total of 54 secondary school children.
Another
challenge is that medical expenses are high, so we are unable to serve
many children fully. Health insurance cost is TZS 50,400/ per child
(about $20 USD). We need this health insurance especially for some
children who need daily medicines.
We are very grateful to you (A∆K)
for coming to visit us and see our surroundings, we will certainly not
forget the great help you gave us and we also promise you to use this
building well and take good care of it.
We also ask you to continue to be with us when we need your help next time.
We pray to GOD to bless you and take care of you throughout your life.
WELCOME to TANZANIA.
WELCOME to BABATI, MANYARA
WELCOME to MANYARA HOLISTIC CENTRE.
