Whether you are the youngest entrant to our Moving-on Project or left Mayega Children’s Centre many years ago, the challenges facing our young people in the city are considerable. Mayega is the most calm and rural of settings and Mwanza is a fast growing and vibrant place. Making the transition and a life for yourself there is tough.

Christina was unable to progress to secondary education at the end of last year and unexpectedly joined the Moving-on Project. We have a particular responsibility given her young age. She was enrolled part-time at Nyakato College in a tailoring course, and lives with our older girls Kabula, Ester and Monica. All was looking good but Christina has found having time on her hands a bit difficult. Not unusual for a teenager but a productive outlet in her free time had to be found. A quick negotiation with a tailoring shop opposite Busega Scotland’s office has led to a work experience placement. Christina is now a very busy young person – work in the morning and college in the afternoon. Challenging.

 

John and Christine first met Zabron in 2014, when he had already left the Children’s Centre. He was training for work in Mwanza’a hotel trade and after a couple of false starts has settled into a job as a chef in a hotel near the Nyegezi bus stand. It is a busy establishment, catering for passengers catching long distance coaches to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma. The hours are long and the pay less than it should be. To Zabron’s great credit he has stuck at it and it is a highlight of any trip to meet up for a ‘news’. He has a real interest in his ‘family’ back at Mayega. We heard that another of Mayega’s older graduates, Zawadi, who is married and lives in Busega, has just had her second child. Good luck to Zabron and Zawadi, as they go forward and make lives for themselves.