Shamimu

Shamimu’s story is long but please stick with me, you will love the ending.

Shamimu is 25 yrs old, she is the last born in a family of six children, and comes from a region six hours away from Arusha. Her mother is alive, but her father died two years ago. She went to school and graduated secondary school but couldn’t continue to university.

After she finished school in 2019, she started looking for a job and began working for a food vendor. A few months later she became pregnant, she had to quit her job and went back home to her mother’s house. Her mother does not have a job, so it was difficult for them to live because Shamimu had been the one sending money home to support her mother. Six months after she delivered her baby, she had to leave home and come to Arusha to find a job. She began working as a housekeeper with the baby and was not treated well because the baby was still so little.  But she had to endure and continued to work for them until the baby was three years old and then they went back to her mother so she could find a better paying job that would help her support her mother and her child. Her siblings are all married in the village, but they are not able to help care for their mother as they are also struggling with their lives, so the responsibility to care for their mother was left to Shamimu.

The Father of her baby was not a responsible man, and Shaminu had to force him to provide some money for them to live. When she came to Arusha she found a job in a food vending business and was working there until she met another man and they moved in together in 2023. At the end of 2024 she got pregnant again and when this happened she got super sick and she went to the hospital and got an ultrasound.  They said that her pregnancy was ectopic pregnancy and the baby was outside the womb. They said she needed to save money to have operation because they needed to take the baby out, she told her boyfriend and he didn’t show any emotion or care about what was happening and one day she woke up and went to work, but when she came back home from work, she saw that the man had left and taken everything they owned including her own clothes and she had no idea where he went. She was homeless with nothing and had to move in with a lady she knew from her home town. The lady was married with 3 kids, but her husband was not providing for them either and the lady was struggling to feed her own family so she had to ask Shamimu to leave.

Finally, Shamimu happened to know our cook at the volunteer house, Ritha. She asked Ritha if she could move in with her and her family. Ritha took her in and stayed with her for a few weeks and decided to find help for her through our MAP Program. Our MAP Director, Anna with some volunteers, did an interview with Shamimu and knew they had to help this poor mama, so they brought nher to live at Neema Village.  Dr. Teddy checked her and said her pregnancy was fine and everything looked good.

Shamimu has now been at Neema Village for two months and she has two more months until she delivers her baby.  She has learned a lot in her classes especially about a man named Jesus who came to give her a new life.  She was Muslim but was baptized at Neema Village and her new Christian name is Noella.

When she finishes classes at Neema she plans to start a business so she can provide for the child she already has and the new baby. She is attending computer and sewing classes while she is here.

Changing a life and a religion is very hard.  Shamimu is a very brave young mother, please be praying that the Lord continues to work in her life.