History of Ebenezer

My name is Julieth. When I was a little girl I lost my father at the age of four
and soon after I had to leave my mother who, due to poverty could not take care of me.
I grew up with my grandmother and I spent most of my young years working.
After finishing primary school I was not allowed to continue to secondary school.
I had to work for my grandmother selling homemade alcohol and my uncle used me to sell
marijuana. At the same time I almost did not get anything to eat at home and my cousins
beat me. I came to a point where I couldn’t do it any longer. I ran away from home and
stayed with friends. After a while my grandma asked me to move back and I agreed on one
condition, that I did not have to keep selling alcohol and marijuana. We had an agreement.

Instead, I started selling fruit. I bought it cheap from one place, added a few schillings,
sold it at a different place and made a profit. My fruit business did well and I was able to
save some money every year. In 2004 I met a very nice professor and his wife. They decided
to help me and sponsor my studies to become a teacher. For this, I am forever grateful.
When I finished my studies in 2006, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I grew up with nothing, I didn’t have my parents, I barely had food or clothes.
I just did not wa nt any other children to grow up the way I did. This was my motivator
to go through my decision to start an orphanage and a school.

I began with renting a small place with two rooms. I started off with three children.
A few weeks later, we had seven children. We lived all together in one room. The other
room was used as a classroom.
In 2007, I came in contact with ART Tanzania, a local volunteer organization. Two wonderful
volunteers from the UK, Sal and Jen, helped me a lot during the first month. They also
found our wonderful boy Amidiwe on the street and brought him to me. He has lived here
for seven years now. Barbara and Louis were two other volunteers that also made a big
difference and really helped me out. One of the amazing thing they did was to pay the
rent for a whole year! With the help of my grandmother, we bought a piece of land and
built what we today know as The Ebenezer Orphanage and Nursery – where Barbara and her
husband later came back.

Julieth Saiguran Kivuyo