History and Establishment: A step into the Life of Huruma Orphanage
Huruma began in 2003 by a man named Zacharia a former teacher and then headmaster at a school in rural Tanzania. Zacharia was allowing orphans who could not afford to pay their minimal school tuition to attend for free, but eventually was told that this practice was not allowed by the school board. He eventually retired, with vir
tually no money, to start the Huruma Orphanage, which has now expanded to 21 children and counting. Lauren Albert has personally witnessed how well Zach and his family have treated, cared for and loved these children which is unmatched by any of the other orphanages that she had visited throughout her stay. There are over 5 million orphaned children in Tanzania, and not close to enough resources to adequately address the problem. The children at Huruma are truly inspiring, which is especially heart warming in light of how horrific the environment and surroundings to which they were born. In an attempt to give you a realistic picture of their lives before being brought to Huruma, we will provide you with a couple of their stories:
Frankie: Frankie's mother was an alcoholic. When Frankie was three, she was murdered by her father who then committed su***de. So from that time on, Frankie went begging for food from village to village where he was often beaten and never had a place to say. Until the age of 8, he would climb trees in which to sleep at night using the big banana leaves as his blanket. When Zach heard about Frankie, he brought him in with open arms- however, for the 2 years that followed, he would run away every few nights, only coming back when ran out of food. Over time he has become comfortable in Huruma where he is now flourishing and attending school. Witness: Witness, who is 5 now was found when she was 3 years old alone, starving in the middle of a cornfield. Her father had fled, and her mother died from AIDS (fortunately Witness is HIV negative). She went to live with her grandmother. When her grandmother passed away (of unknown causes), she wandered off to the cornfields, alone, where she was found by Zacharia
