Mama Julieth
Heavenlight writes today: A fifteen-year-old girl with a tiny baby walked through Neema Village’s gate asking for help at our MAP Centre. She didn‘t have a place to stay for the night with her two-month-old baby. Julieth was in the last year of secondary school, but she couldn’t finish school because she got pregnant with a PikiPiki (motorcycle taxi) driver who ran away after learning that she was still a student. He didn’t want to go to jail so he decided to run.
Julieth had to drop out of school and with the help of her mother she gave birth to a baby boy. Her mother took care of them for two months and then told her to find the man responsible. She went to the man’s family, but they denied help because their son was not there to confirm the baby was his.
A friend told her about Neema Village and said she could get help there. She came to Neema and wanted to stay but since she is so young we decided to go see her family first before we put her in the Centre with the other women. (We have 13 moms currently in house.)
We met with Julieth’s mother, a widow, who is 38 years old and has 3 children of her own. Julieth’s mother has been a widow for 11yrs supporting her family by working in the fields. All five of the family {including a grandson} are staying in a single room sleeping on a piece of a mattress on the floor. A kind lady gave her this room when she met her on streets crying after being kicked out for being unable to pay rent for several months.
We could see the mother loves and wanted to take care of Julieth’s baby so her daughter could finish school but cannot because she must go out every day to work in the fields to buy food for her family.
After our home visit we decided to put Julieth’s mother in the MAP program (Mothers Against Poverty) so she can take care of the baby and be able to send Julieth back to school and hopefully one day pay for the other children’s schools.
Through the MAP Program we will help her rent a house and start a business, she wants to sell used shoes and clothes which will allow her to take care of the baby while doing her business. Our average businesses cost $600. USD. You can help with Mama Julieth’s business at www.neemavillage.org though the Outreach program. at Neema village. All gifts are tax deductible and only Tanzanians at Neema Village are paid a salary through your donations. Bless you for caring!