REGINA’s STORY

Regina is 23 years old, with 2 children. She is from the Lake Manyara region in Tanzania. Her son James is 3 and a half years old.  He is a special needs child and is attending the Rehab daycare at Neema Village. Regina’s little girl, Penina is 11 months old and cute as a button.  She crawls all over church every Sunday. Regina’s parents are still living but her father is very sick and her mother is working to support them but it’s hard because the family is very poor.

Regina quit school when she was in the 7th grade because she met a man she loved who was a soldier. They came to Arusha and the man opened a business for her and rented a house for her to stay. However the business was with the man’s sister so she decided to go to Dar es Salaam for a different job serving food. While she was in Dar es Salaam the man called her and told her he was done with his studies in the army camp and he was coming to be with her in Dar es Salaam. He came and within a year he was able to build a house and told Regina to move in with him. She soon became pregnant. She noticed the man started talking to other women more, buying their food and drinks at restaurants. She asked him about this and he began to beat her.

They continued to live together and he started bringing women home. She had thought they were going to get married. She wanted to bring him to meet her parents but instead they went to meet his parents and he left her with his parents and ran away.  She decided to escape and came to Arusha. Once she got here she delivered her first born at Mt Meru. But the baby didn’t cry and was taken to NICU. They called her boyfriend and he came from Dar es Salaam. He immediately wanted to take her and the baby back with him but the nurses wouldn’t let him. She told him she would meet him in Dar but instead when she left the hospital she went to live with her parents. At 7 months old the baby started having seizures. At 9 months old the baby wouldn’t sit up at all. She told the man all of this and he blamed her for the baby’s health problems. At 10 months old the man told her if you bring me the baby he will start to walk. She believed him and went back to Dar es Salaam with her son. But after she got there she realized the baby wasn’t getting better, he wasn’t helping like he had said, and was still seeing other women.

She stayed for a bit but then left and went back to her parents. She worked with her mother but the baby would get sick often and she had to bring him to the hospital. Her father eventually told her they could not afford to pay all the bills and told her to go back to Dar es Salaam to the father for help. She went back to Dar and soon became pregnant again, but the man had the same behavior and began beating her again.

When she was 7 months pregnant with her second baby the man told her to abort the baby. She wouldn’t so he would beat her. She told her mother who then told her to come back home. She delivered her second baby in Arusha. Her sister told her of an organization that helps children with disabilities {Sibusiso} for her first born child. But this was expensive for transportation.

She later met Cliff, a Neema driver, who told her about Neema village and the day care that could maybe help her son. Anna came and interviewed her and she was accepted into the MAP program. She has been attending sewing class and Bible class. The most impactful thing for her while being at Neema Village has been learning in Bible study about FORGIVENESS.

Neema Village has been teaching Women’s Rights classes every month for several years.   These classes teach women they have the right not to be beaten.  Maybe we should be teaching the men to not beat their wives!!