At the age of eight Aloyce Fungafunga, knew already what survival of the fittest meant. He had lived a very miserable life, thanks to her abusive father, an alcoholic, who endlessly beat up his mother and his sister.
His father died in 1999, but not before leaving indelible memories of the pains he went through as a child.
“He left us with no food, and no money for our upkeep. My mother was not working, and as a result she could not support us,” says Aloyce, who is now 19.
“We were forced to the streets where we lived three years, a life of begging for everything, endless squabbles with other street children over food and alms and clashes with the police.”
But life will never be the same again for Aloyce, one of the 29 former street children who graduated in tailoring, carpentry, and various other vocational skills at the Dogodogo Children’s Centre in Dar es Salaam.
Shelter and education
He spent the last two years studying music and dance after social workers from the centre picked him from the streets to give him and over 200 other vulnerable children a shelter and education. Now, Aloyce says he has been given a new lease of life.
“I would not have said the same thing eight years ago when I was approached by social workers from the Dogodogo Children’s Centre. It was for me to believe and trust that these people really wanted to help,” he recalls.
“My life had been hard on the streets, and trusting a stranger was hard. But they insisted, and in 2002, after they had talked to me three times, I agreed to live at the centre.”
He started his primary school at the centre in 2003, and passed well earning himself a distinct chance to pursue the Qualifying Tests (QT) in only two years, instead of studying secondary education for four years. Later, he decided to study music and dance. He graduated recently with a certificate.
But that is just the beginning for Aloyce, whose aim is to establish his own firm to train music and dance. He is set to proceed to diploma studies, and continue fighting until his dream is realised.
However, despite his achievement, he feels a gap not having a family member he knows to celebrate his progress.
“My mother died in 2006, and my sister also died this year. I don’t have any other relative that I know of,” he says.
“This centre is the only home that I have, I have nowhere else to go,” he adds.
Many former street children from the centre have a story like Aloyce’s to tell.
Ambrose Mbawala, 27, graduated from the college in 2006, and has since been able to sustain a living through a tailoring machine from the centre.
“I earn approximately Sh150,000 per month and I have been able to pursue grade one studies in tailoring at the Vocational Education and Training Authority (Veta),” he says rather proudly.
Another graduate, John Patrick, 18, who has been at the centre for two years, will be reuniting with his family after he also completed a course in tailoring.
“I will go back and live with my sister, and now that I am a tailor with this machine I got from the centre I can start my business,” he says.
Ms Herine Odhiambo, a social worker and one of the teachers at the centre, says with proper teaching and counselling the street children have a chance in life.
