In America:
How Imani Focus Children Home, LLC came to be.
In February 2022, (Myself)Meredith Waring and good friend Denise Kenlon, were sitting in a cafe in downtown Stuart Florida on a Sunday afternoon catching up over lunch. Discussions of bucket list trips brought us to the subject of an African Safari trip. We both agreed that is top of our list, and would normally have put it on the back burner due to… well you know… life. But this time, at this moment I said to Denise… “lets do it” and then added “this May”. May was a good month for both of us where we could miss a bit of work. It also was a more cost effective time to travel to Africa as it is the end of the rainy season.
Fast forward 1 month. We contacted a bunch of African tour companies and both agreed on Neil from Jewel of Africa. Not only did we not have the 14-20 days most people take on these types of tours, we also were doing all their planning last minute, as most people book these types of trips one year in advance. Neil was great, he revamped the trip a dozen times to fit into our time frame and the unique luxury accommodations we wanted. We wanted to visit 3 parks (Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti) and we wanted private safaris. We also wanted to stay in the luxury treehouses and the tented camps. Neil made this all happen and assigned us a wonderful guide who would be with us from beginning to end. We also wanted to visit a local orphanage anywhere along the way. Our only criteria was it was an orphanage that did not have a sponsor…meaning an orphanage that did not have anyone or any company or group backing them financially.
Before the trip and being very aware of the luggage weight allowance due to having to fly on a small propeller plane, Denise and I packed some items to bring to an orphanage. We discussed with our close friend Aneth who is originally from Tanzania, what would be useful items to bring. She told us the children need things like pencils, toothbrushes, an other basic necessities. Nothing frivolous… they use their pencils until they are too small to write with, there is no waste. Well, pencils and toothbrushes were packed, along with some crayons, puzzles, blow up beach balls, and anything else that was “light” and easy to pack. A few frivolous
items never hurt anyone.
Finally, the day of departure was here. The whole long travel (19 hours) went without a hitch. Arriving in Tanzania at the airport in view of Mount Kilimanjaro and meeting Immanual our guide, everything was magical. Accommodations were amazing and Immanual became and instant friend. The trip was filled with laughter, and unbelievable experiences of lions, giraffes, elephants all within arms reach of the open top land rover we would travel in for the next 8 days. Every National park was breathtaking. The weather was perfect, food perfect, everything perfect. As it should be because this trip no matter how you choose to do it is not cheap. Both of us spent our very hard earned money on this experience of a lifetime, and it was never lost on us how lucky we were to be able to experience this.
While traveling the three hours from Tarangire to Ngorongoro Crater Immanual said he heard of an orphanage in Karatu, from one of the other guides. They had no sponsors and were relying on the impoverished neighbors to bring food and clothes to the 15 children living there. Karatu is a very poor area, so the neighbors themselves do not have anything to spare… yet these wonderful people do share what they have.
After calling Jeremiah, the founder of the orphanage we were invited to come for a tour of the facility and to meet the children. Jeremiah met us on the main road on his motorcycle and guided us through the winding streets to the gates of the orphanage. He unlocked the gates and everyone entered. The facility was a single level building and a small shelter for the few animals they had. Everything was very neat and clean. The children came running as we got out of the vehicle. They were excited…all smiles, grabbing Denise and my hands to show us around. They were so proud of the rooms… there was one boys room and one girls room. Both had multiple bunk beds, but some needed to share a bed. The rooms were spotless, beds were made, the children were so proud. Jeremiah and his wife Mary have dedicated their lives to take in these unwanted children and provide them with a real “home”. The children refer to them and mom and dad. They know they have a home for life. The purpose is to break the cycle of unwanted children as a result of poverty, prostitution or AIDS taking one or both parents. Each child has a heartbreaking story, but also has the comfort of knowing that they now have a forever home. Jeremiah stresses academics. He is setting them all up to either go to college, vocational school or the military. He wants to provide them all with a future.
During the tour we walked through a big empty room with a small portable gas range top on the counter. We were told that there was no money for gas, so they couldn’t cook inside, but they were cooking out back over an open fire. When we asked where the food was, we were shown an almost empty 40lb. bag of corn meal, as well as a same size and almost empty bag of rice. When we headed out back there was a large pot on an open fire cooking what looked to be some sort of rice dish. No meat or vegetables were in sight. Jeremiah explained that the neighbors would probably be dropping off some vegetables, but he wasn’t sure. He said the children eat at school and this was the dinner. We though to ourselves “what happens on the weekends?” We were then very thankful that Immanual took us to the grocery prior to coming to the orphanage to buy 20 loaves of bread. He said it would be a treat if they could have bread in the morning.
The smiles never faded from these children faces. You could feel the happiness, it was contagious. When we saw the lack of food we fought to hold back the tears as not to upset anyone. But minutes later we were smiling and laughing with the children. They sang us songs, engaged with us and were very curious about our jewelry, smart watches and even our red hair. The children loved the items we bought them from America. The went through the large bags we gave them to sort through. We watched them share everything. After speaking to Jeremiah and Mary we learned that they had no children of their own. They started Imani Focus Foundation 10 years ago out of their love and desire to help the unwanted children of the area. They went through all the legal channels to become an NGO (non profit, non government). Within their first weeks of getting their NGO certification the welfare department gave them their first two children, and it grew from there. They have sacrificed everything for these children, and in turn they are one huge family. But obviously they needed help.
Denise and I went to our vehicle that day and grabbed all the cash we had and put in into Jeremiahs hands. He never asked for a dime. We knew we needed to do something. We discussed with Jeremiah about allowing us to let American people learn about Imani Focus Foundation, and we were sure that they would also want to help. Easy, right??… we go home and tell everyone what we saw, and everyone wants to help….then we send money to Jeremiah and help all these wonderful children achieve their dreams and goals. We said our goodbyes, exchanged phone numbers and emails, and promised to stay in touch.
We finished the trip of a life time, and returned to the States as planned. We were set on keeping our promise to Jeremiah and the children and making sure we spread the word to help them. That’s where we hit a brick wall. We figured we would create a website and get them a paypal account and BAM people can donate. NOPE! Apparently, PayPal wants nothing to do with Tanzania and most parts of Africa. We quickly learned that due to the corruption in that part of the world sending money was not that easy. We tried multiple scenarios … get them a US bank account ….nope…not allowed. Find the African version of PayPal…. Nope… doesn’t exist, and the companies that offer something somewhat similar have horrible reviews, excessive fees and no American is going to trust inputting their info to a service they are not familiar with. We tried every option and after 8 weeks, were left with only one. Denise and I needed to start our own American non profit Corporation with the sole purpose of raising funds to support this orphanage. So, that is what we did. We applied for a Corporate name, got our Tax ID number then applied to become a 501(c)(3) non profit. This took weeks. We had to jump though hoops and explain why we should be a non profit and hope we got approved. Another 2 months later we were approved!!! We designed a web site and started a face book page and started to spread the word.
Slowly people have been taking notice and getting involved. We have had wonderful people sponsor some of our children and some making a one time donation. Our sponsors have been getting to know the children through email letters back and forth, and videos sent by the children. We want to keep things on a very personal level, and let people see exactly where their money is going. The kitchen is full… we are building an extra building to provide more sleeping area for the children (as of 2023 it is complete), school tuitions are getting paid and so much more. We are working hard to let people know about our cause and have people get involved. Now that we have our non profit status we are hoping to get some corporate sponsors. People do not realize even a $10 monthly donation makes such a huge impact in the lives of this extended family… every little bit really counts.
In AFRICA:
Imani Focus Foundation (I.F.F) is an independent registered non-government and nonprofit civil society organization based in Karatu Tanzania.
IFF was founded in 2010 with the purpose of rescuing orphaned children.
I.F.F. started by trying to rescue the children abandoned on the streets. Since we opened our doors, boys and girls have been brought to the orphanage because their older family members did not have the means to care for them properly. Other children have been orphaned due to the illness/death of one or both of their parents and have no other family to turn to for help. No matter what the childs situation is, we do not judge them. We are here to offer help. We believe that every child has the right to live a happy life with love, care and education.
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