My friend Nancy, by Eva

Nancy delivering candies to patients on Christmas day


Nancy eating mango at orphans house

explaining a solar light before she helps install it

nancy's smile

My Friend Elisa also known as Nancy

Elisa is a seventeen year old girl from Arusha and who is working in Kilema while she is waiting for her results for form four (form four is secondary)! She is working with the OVC program (orphan vulnerable children) with my mom and Rick. During the orphan days Elisa is a really big help because she is asking the kids if they are feeling well, telling them advise and lots of other questions! When Elisa and my mom go out for home visits Elisa is my mom’s translator.

We hand out mosquito nets to the orphans so they don’t get Malaria. Elisa and I helped put the chemicals in water then dip the nets in the water then dry them in the shade. Those chemicals keep the mosquitos away from the net!

Elisa gets a different hair style every month and once we saw Maasai doing her hair! It took TWO days to do and it was only 20,000tsh!

We’ve had a lot of fun! :) I enjoy being with Elisa because she makes me laugh every time and she is very comforting to me. I admire the way she has a lot of respect for the orphans and spends so much of her time helping orphans.

After two weeks of staying here Elisa changed her name to Nancy and told us when we called her Elisa “huh I’m not Elisa I’m Nancy”!

Nancy’s Life Story

Nancy was born in Dar es Salaam in 1989. Her father’s name was Modesti and her mother’s name was Emilliana! Nancy had one sibling, a younger brother and in 1998 he died of Malaria. In 1999 her father died of diabetes and high blood pressure. Nancy’s mom had no income so they were getting very poor and her fathers relatives did not want to help them. Nancy was very sad because two members of her family were gone. In 2000 her mom died of diabetes and high blood pressure and Nancy became an orphan.

Nancy got no help from her relatives and they separated her from the family because she was an orphan. Before her father’s death he worked with wazungu (white people) and Bonnie, one of the mzungu, was working there also. When she heard of the deaths of Nancy’s family she adopted her. Bonnie took Nancy to African friends in Arusha. They were really nice to her and things she needed she would get. But unfortunately, things started to change for Nancy in 2002, standard six. The African mama said bad things to her, told her she wasn’t her child and told her she did not care about her. When Nancy listened to this it made her remember her real parents and she felt sad again.

Her adopted mom, Bonnie, came twice a year to visit Nancy. Nancy decided not to tell her adopted mom about the African mama because they would have conflict. Her adopted mom sent things from Canada but the African mama wouldn’t give them to Nancy but instead to her own children. Nancy stayed with the African mama her whole primary school ( standards 4-7).

Nancy did pass her standard seven examination even though the African mama gave her so many chores and so Nancy had to do homework and study when everybody was sleeping in the middle of the night. African mama didn’t treat her like a normal child and when Nancy asked her for school supplies, she would not give any, so Nancy told Bonnie. Nancy knew if she stayed with the African mama when she was in secondary school, she would fail so Bonnie took her to boarding school. The year Nancy went to boarding school was 2004.

Her adopted mom knows CACHA so she told Nancy to come to Kilema while she is waiting for her results and a week ago we heard good news that she passed her form four!

Three Questions That I Asked Nancy

How do you feel about being an orphan?

From the beginning it was bad but now I feel good because everyone is taking care of me and I feel I am okay because I get everything I need. Sometimes I think it is good luck because when my parents were alive I could not afford to go to school.

What Do You Think People From Canada Should Know About Orphans In Tanzania?

Most orphan children live on the streets and they have to be thieves to live. I think people from Canada should make special centers in different places for the orphans!!!!!!!

When You Are Finished Your Studies What Are You Going To Do Next:

I want to be a Lawyer and work with children’s rights.

By Eva