ABOUT SHALOM ORPHANAGE CENTRE (SOC)

         Welcome to Shalom Orphanage Centre
(Home of Piece)

 “Work hand by hand with us to help our children today”

Shalom Orphanage Centre (SOC) is a registered NGO in the United Republic of Tanzania under the Non-Government Organisation Act of the year 2002. The centre is located about 160km from Arusha city in Karatu town which situated between Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

SOC was founded in 2004 by mama Warra, with a soul mission of improving lives of poor and disadvantaged children in Karatu and neighbouring communities of Arusha, Manyara and Kilimanjaro regions to ensure that they are shown mercy regardless of religion, tribe or ethnicity.

Every child has a dream and it is our hope to give our children opportunity to use their skills and gifts to reach their full potential and to see their dreams become reality. We ensure each child receives love, food, shelter, education and medical care. We believe, through education we can combat disease, eliminate poverty and enable our children to grow up in a HIV/AIDS and starvation free society.

Since 2004, SOC has grown a lot. It sits on a two acre plot of land that was donated by an NGO and comprises a number of buildings where the children eat, sleep and play. The orphanage is currently a home to sixty eight children, ranging from 1 -19 years and twenty two supporting staff.

Most of the children arrive at Shalom due to either lack of parental care through the death of their parents or abandoned. This is due to low-level economic strategies, rapid growth of HIV/AIDS, alcoholism and the decline of the family structure. Also, the majority live under national poverty line due to lack of employment opportunities and access to education whereby in one way or another may lead to increase in the number of street children and orphans.

SOC is operated under the strong leadership of a Founding Director Mama Warra, together with a team of skilled child care workers, teachers, cooks, cleaners and gardeners. It is also our goal to add a trained medical professional to our team. We recruit highly qualified and motivated care givers and teachers to care our children. Toward sustainability, SOC operate a Nursery school for the orphans and other children from the community. Also, we grow our own produce and have a livestock which includes poultry, sheep, cattle and pigs.


APDATE INFORMATION 

Currently Shalom orphanage is home to 80 children from 0 to 18 years old. 40 of them are double orphans, having lost both parents. 

Shalom’s heart is to see that all children are shown unconditional love regardless of religion, tribe or ethnicity. Shalom serves to give these kids a childhood back and strives to not only give them the basics such as food and shelter, but to also show them that God has a unique plan for each of their lives. Most of the children come with several medical problems. Many have HIV/AIDS, mental or physical disabilities or have suffered severe trauma. Shalom offers healing and care for these children. More than 1.2 million children in Tanzania have been orphaned due to AIDS and many carry the disease themselves, requiring special care and attention that surviving families often fail to provide.

THE CHILDREN

There are 85 children happily growing in Shalom. An average of five new children arrive every year into care at Shalom for various reasons. These include physical and sexual abuse at home, parents addicted to drugs and alcohol, death of both parents, and abandonment due to poverty, gender, disability or illness. Some of the children have been rescued from sex trafficking and forced labor. 

Abandonment: Children born to unwed mothers in Tanzania are often subject to brutal abandonment. Some are left by the side of the road, buried in the jungle or tossed away like waste. Unplanned children are the first to fall victim to cruel abandonment and superstitious ritual, such as leaving newborns in the jungle for animals, burying children alive and dumping them at trash sites. 

HIV/AIDS: Remains one of the greatest threats in Tanzania, with over 400 new infections every day. Due largely to the AIDS epidemic, the orphan population in Tanzania is staggering. 

Poverty: It is estimated that more than a third of households live below the basic needs’ poverty line, earning less than $1 a day, being children at higher risk of abandonment.

 Mama Warra Nnko is a woman of faith who believes she can achieve anything with the help of God. This inspiration is what has made her the visionary for this home for children. 

This is how Shalom was born… In 2003, Rev. Nnko and his wife (Mama Warra) from Arusha were visiting a church in Karatu. They spent the night in a local hostel where they had planned to rest and then make the three-hour drive back the next morning. The night was cold and rainy. During the night, Mama Warra heard a faint sound at their door and there laid a newborn baby boy. They rushed him to the nearest hospital and stayed at the child’s side that night. The next morning, they had to leave for Arusha, but Mama Warra gave the doctors money and told them she would come back for the child. For days, she wept over this child and that someone would reject such an innocent and beautiful baby boy. Several days later, she received the heartbreaking news that the child had died. But that night would live in Mama Warra’s memory for the rest of her life. That night added fuel to the fire in her heart to rescue orphans. 

Because of what they had seen in Karatu, Mama Warra and her husband decided to move from the city Arusha to the tiny village of Karatu and begin what is now known as Shalom Orphanage. Mama Warra and her husband faced extremely challenging circumstances when they started this work. They had little room, little help, and no money. At times even, her husband found it difficult to understand his wife’s relentless passion and cautioned her that this mission carried tremendous responsibility and garnered little return. 

Shalom began in 2004, in a tiny little room not far from where the orphanage exists today. The first children Mama and Baba took into their home were three abandoned siblings searching for food to eat at a dump. The number grew up very fast to 15 children and they had to move to a 3-bedroom house. In 2007, thanks to her savings from donations given by travelers and volunteers, they were able to build the current orphanage. Now, 80 orphans call Shalom Orphanage their home. 

The vision Mama Warra had to care for the most vulnerable in their society has spread like wildfire in Karatu and impacted the community, the region, and even a few government officials in Tanzania. But, Mama Warra’s greatest impact is not legislation or cultural influence or community support. It is in the smallest moments of joy, love, and laughter with the children she cares for. Many of them have suffered unbearable circumstances in their short lives. Stories of rape, physical abuse, abandonment, and loss are not uncommon amongst these children. 

It is because of this that Mama Warra makes an unrelenting effort to remind these children that they are loved. “They are not orphans. They have a family, they have a home, and they are loved. That will always be here for them,” Mama Warra says. “They will always be able to call Shalom their home. They will always have a mama waiting to see them. We will always have room for them in this home.” In the evenings, local villagers and passersby along the road can hear the sounds of worship ringing out from Shalom. Mama Warra leads the children in songs about Jesus and His love and a testament to God’s ability to restore and redeem all things fills the Tanzanian sky. It is as immeasurable, as the African night sky itself.

SPONSOR A CHILD

The children need sponsors to be able to learn English and receive a better education and therefore also have a better future. Having a sponsor, the children are able to continue studying after finishing the public secondary school and If the child is young enough, it will allow him to join a local private English school.

To sponsor a child, you can either:

·       get in touch with us to choose a child and provide him with a monthly fixed amount, or 

·       donate through this website’s PayPal account with a certain amount of your choice indicating for Shalom Education. 

Since Shalom Orphanage is an independent and small NGO, 100% of the money received is used to pay schools and in direct benefit of the children. There are no administration costs involved.

SOC
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