William (left)  and Maurice (right),  students from nearby Arusha University,   wave to us with some of the Good Hope Children from the front porch of the orphanage in Usa River,  Tanzania. 

Tanzania is in the midst of an AIDS crisis.  The average life expectancy has fallen from 56 years to 51 in the last decade.   Even extended families,  who in the past would care for orphaned children,  are being eliminated by AIDS and leaving the children destitute.  School enrollment is down to 34% from 44% in 1980 because there are fewer parents to produce income needed for tuition.  Further exacerbating this situation is foreign adoptions are forbidden under Tanzanian law.

Elisante Pallangyo and his neighbors near Arusha grew concerned over the number of orphaned little girls who were seeking employment as domestic help.   The families hired these girls to protect them from prostitution.  By 2003,  the community knew it had to develop a more lasting solution,  and the Good Hope Centre was founded to care for orphaned children.   Today, the Centre cares for 42 children and has a wait list for 30 more.  In January,  2005, an American named Leo Tinkham visisted the Good Hope Centre while exploring the African bush after climbing Kilimanjaro.   He was moved by meeting children who,  while parentless and needy,  were well behaved,  diligently practicing to learn to speak English,  and determined to be happy with what little they had.  He was equally moved by the devotion and selflessness of the caretakers he met. Committed to helping the children of the Good Hope Centre in an ethical and sustainable way,  Leo returned home and enlisted the assistance of Interaction,  a Washington, D.C. agency specializing in investigations of the legitimacy of overseas orphanages.    Satisfied that Good Hope Centre is indeed a worthy mission,  Leo established a non-profit foundation and this web site to publicize the needs of the Good Hope Children and to channel fund raising. In the meantime,  we have connected with an American named Deb Kelly,  originally from Connecticut,  who is now living in Tanzania about a quarter mile from the Good Hope Center.   She is our eyes and ears on the ground,  and we work with her non-profit,  Jifundishe.org,  to coordinate our efforts for the orphans.  Your contribution will enable the Good Hope Centre to expand,  purchase land for crops and animal husbandry,  buy medication, clothing, and tuition,  and offer Hope to more orphaned children. Good Hope Children is a registered 501c3 non-profit.  All contributions are tax deductible.  All contributions are put to work in projects.  There are no salaried employees in our non-profit.

There are three degrees of poverty:  extreme,  moderate,  and relative poverty.   Extreme Poverty, defined by the World Bank as living on income of less than one US dollar per day,  means that households cannot meet basic needs for survival.  They are chronically hungry,  unable to get healthcare, lack safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education,  lack basic articles of clothing (shoes for example),  and battle against insects and rodents from eating what little food they do have.

The Good Hope Children were surviving on about 78 cents per day when I first met them.   I was inspired by how dramatically their lives can be improved with comparatively small contributions. 

We seek to assist the Good Hope Children in these basic ways.

NUTRITION:  We provide funds for the milk program,  feed for egg producing chickens,  and staples from the market.

BASIC HEALTH:  Simply providing mosquito nets (cost about $4 US each)  dramatically reduces the incidence of malaria and other insect borne diseases.  Basic wound treatment (bandaids and topical ointment) prevent minor cuts from developing into major infections.

MODERN HEALTH:  HAART Therapy for AIDS (Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy) has been proven effective in other AIDS stricken developing countries.  More importantly,  the price for HAART has fallen to about $16 per patient annually-  still a lot of money,  but within striking distance.   One of our missions is to save more parents,  thereby stemming the creation of more orphans.

EDUCATION:  Public education is available only through primary school,  but even then,  students must buy their own books and school uniforms.  For students who pass exams for High Shool,   fees total about $300 annually for tuition, books, and uniforms.  By comparison,  the annual per capita income in Tanzania is less than $500.

WATER:  The children presently walk 25 minutes in each direction to a river to fetch pails of water.    We seek to spare them this effort and danger by digging a well near the orphanage or paying a tanker to replenish the 1000 liter tank owned by the orphanage.