Case Studies

Juliana Ngoya

The AKIN team first came across Juliana in 2006 when Charles Masanja promoted her as a deserving candidate for sponsorship.  Juliana’s father had passed away leaving her mother to raise two children on a meagre wage.  There was barely enough money for food let alone school fees, and soon there was a risk that Juliana would have to leave school and try and find a demeaning manual job to help her family make ends meet.

Charles saw the potential in Juliana, who is an extremely intelligent young lady and a talented artist, and was anxious that she should complete her education so that she – and her family – could have a better life.

In a continent where educational opportunities for girls are often scarce or difficult to obtain at best, AKIN is proud to be able to help Juliana achieve her ambition to become an accountant.

Elias Kashonele

Elias worked as a security guard at the Tazengwa compound on the outskirts of Nzega where the AKIN team stays whenever it visits Tanzania.  He took the job simply to earn money to live but what Elias really wanted to do was to train to become a priest.  

As he possessed a good command of English he volunteered to help the AKIN team with translation work during their visit to Nzega in 2006.  Elias asked Les and Leslie if it would be possible for AKIN to help him achieve his ambition and at first Les and Leslie were sceptical:  Would sponsoring him to become a priest be in keeping with AKIN’s policies designed to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.  As a priest would Elias promote the use of contraception amongst his parishioners?  

Les and Leslie spoke to Elias of their concerns and he reassured them that there would be no conflict.  True to his word, shortly after beginning his studies at theological college he formed YAADA (Youth Against Aids and Drug Abuse) a student association dedicated to helping disseminate information about HIV / AIDS and the dangers of drug abuse to remote villages around the Tabora Region of Tanzania.

Sadly, Elias recently suffered the untimely death of his mother.  Despite his loss he has kept his promise and is studying hard, determined to make her proud of him by becoming a priest and serving his community as best he can.

Johary Saidy

When the AKIN team returned to Tanzania in 2007 they took with them the members of the rock band “Taxi”.  Early one morning the team and the band members walked down the lane outside the Tazengwa compound to meet the children from the local primary school.

A photograph was taken of the band members surrounded by the excited children and when it was developed later, back in Gibraltar, one face shone out:  A pretty little girl who none of the team or band members could remember seeing at the time the photo was taken.  As the image was so strong – being slightly lighter skinned than the other children the little girl’s face literally stood out from the crowd - Les asked Charles Masanja to visit the school and find out who she was.   What Charles discovered was quite surprising.

Charles said the little girl’s name was Johary Saidy and shortly after the photograph was taken her father had died from an unknown illness.  Johary’s mother was now left with little money to continue with her daughter’s education so naturally the AKIN team couldn’t resist the opportunity to step in and sponsor her, the pretty little girl whose image had caught their attention purely by chance.

A year later the AKIN team returned to Tanzania and made a point of visiting Johary and her mother.  They learnt that the family are Muslim and that Johary has a little sister who is just as pretty!  On returning to Gibraltar the AKIN team had no trouble in finding someone to take over sponsoring the family so that now Johary and her sister are assured they can receive a proper education and look forward to a brighter future.

Such was the strength of her image the photograph that first brought Johary and her plight to the attention of the team is used on the cover of AKIN’s £3-a-month form, which can be downloaded from this site.   

Johary was also featured in the documentary “Back to the Hard Way Life”, produced by AKIN (International) Promotions Limited and the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation  

Barnabus Maganga

It was during the AKIN team’s first, fact finding visit to Tanzania in 2005 that they became aware of an extremely bright young man by the name of Barnabus Maganga.

The team were taken to Uchama Secondary School on the outskirts of Nzega to meet and talk to the Deputy Head Master, Mr Kija, about the problems faced by poor orphaned children and how hard or even impossible it was for them to receive a proper education.  

During their discussions, Mr Kija mentioned Barnabus to exemplify just how difficult it can be.  He said Barnabus was the brightest student in the school and all the teachers felt so sorry for him following the death of his parents they chipped in to help pay the school fees necessary to keep Barnabus at Uchama.  

As teachers in Tanzania do not earn much it became increasingly difficult to keep up the payments and now Barnabus would have to leave Uchama and return to working in the fields.

The team asked to meet Barnabus so Mr Kija sent for him.  When he arrived before them he was dressed in dirty rags – apparently he was allowed to stay in school even though his uniform was almost in shreds - and with no shoes on his feet.  He was extremely nervous and when asked a question by the team he quietly stammered the answer.  The team reassured him not to be nervous and eventually he was able to tell them his story, how he had to walk two hours to school every day and two hours home, and that his dream was to move into one of the dusty mud huts that passed as the boarding facility at Uchama.  

Mr Kija told the team they did not want to expel Barnabus who was a student of such incredible potential, so Les and Leslie quickly offered for AKIN to pay all his educational costs including the costs of boarding at Uchama.  The next day Barnabus moved into the school and became AKIN’s first sponsored child, and its first success story.  

True to his word Barnabus graduated from Uchama with distinction and is now looking forward to attending university.