Please Excuse My Soapbox

Okay I’m ready to bite the bullet and admit that Tanzania does not have its act together. As much as I want to say that this beautiful country and this beautiful culture is always right, there’s some things that just seem intrinsically wrong. And recognizing that I have my own Western lens to view my world, sometimes these opinions transcend my own education and perception and reach towards a universal striving to articulate humanity.

For example:

Tanzanian is more than 50% children. Despite this, children’s rights are not something people are willing to address. Education, abuse and child poverty are things shoved under the rug as children lack the voice and representation to make their needs heard. And if you ask a Tanzanian who’s responsibility it is to make things change, no one knows.

•  I told my host father that children at school are not beaten as punishment. He laughed at me.
• Four “street children”, all under the age of eight, asked me for money. My host mother told me not to give it to them. I asked who’s responsibility it was to take care of these children. She said it wasn’t hers. She said it wasn’t the government’s. She shrugged and walked away.
• Five years ago Tanzania signed a document recognizing that the children of Tanzania have rights and dignity that demands to be protected. However, the domestic laws necessary to enact this document have yet to be solidified. Despite the political act of claiming to “protect children” the preservation of childhood has been disregarded as a responsibility of neither the home nor the community nor the government.

My family is educated and brilliant, but my one year-old baby knows only a handful of words including beat, bite, kick, cry and stick. I had one of those mind-blowing realizations that the treatment of a child has nothing to do with poverty or education, but everything to do with culture.

There are at least ten children that frequent my home. But only two, our three year-old and one year-old, receive hugs. In Tanzania, children take on a new role by the age of four, expected to walk to school alone, take care of younger children, and maintain some edge of self-sufficiency. Their developmental needs and struggles are often disregarded as well. So the children whom I live with sit on my lap, willingly receive my hugs and are always excited to see me. I’m not some sort of angelic American swooping in to save them, I just know that young children need love and an opportunity to develop. And I know they need someone to take responsibility and articulate their rights.

Tanzania I beg of you, love your children for the sake of your future.