Tanzania - "When Orphans meet a father": the story of Leah

23 February 2017

(ANS - Mafinga) - Tanzania is considered the most beautiful place in the wild world. The Ngorongoro Crater, which is home to approximately 25,000 animals, is considered one of the most beautiful places to find lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos. Life there is beautiful with the beauty of nature and is enriched with the history of its people. In Tanzania, the Salesians started a mission in the Mafinga area in 1980, and they saw the need to open a house for 500 orphans.

Mafinga is the place where the Salesians began their missionary activities in Tanzania. engaging in evangelization and education. They opened a parish and, next to it, a home for orphans.

The organization "Development and Prevention of AIDS" (TADEPA) says "AIDS in Tanzania is a real scourge." It is the second leading cause of death and leaves hundreds of children and teenagers with no family. Fr Luis Neville works with orphans, who can find in him the father they did not have. "I greet you from the children accommodated at Mafinga and thank you for the help. For most children, education is an opportunity to change lives. "

Fr Neville tells the story of a girl called Leah. She was born in Mamba, and she has two brothers and a sister. Her parents were simple farmers. When she was five, her father died. In 2003 she began to study, but unfortunately her mother also died. The children were left alone. The elders of the people sent Leah to live with her grandmother.

Fr Henryk Tucholski, a Salesian missionary, met the girl. She was included in a sponsorship programme and turned out to be an excellent student. After school, she went on to University with the desire to become a teacher.

The years have passed, and Leah is no longer a girl but a young woman who wants to become a teacher. she is no longer an orphan, because she found parents among the Salesians. "We believe that soon we will have a teacher dedicated to orphans and the needy young people of Mafinga, because she understands their situation," says Fr Neville.

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ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

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