Nang’anyit’s Story | Tanzania Sponsorship

One of our students, Nang’anyit Mbaayo, lives in a typical Maasai family. She is the third-born of four children, and her family is very poor. Unlike most Maasai, they are Christian, so her father only has one wife. Neither of her parents graduated from primary school, and neither has a skill which could bring in money. Sometimes they search for extra firewood to sell for $1 to $2 and use the money to buy food.

Nang’anyit’s father actually decided to move to Dar es Salaam, about 600 miles away, to become a night guard and earn some money. He did this primarily because they were so poor that they had no cows or goats, which is a huge embarrassment for a Maasai. Most Maasai men with daughters would marry them off, even if very young, to get a cow. But this is a Christian family, so Nang’anyit’s father wouldn’t do that. With four years of hard work, he sent enough money back to build a herd of four cows and 15 goats!

This helped the family, as they could milk the cows and goats for their own use and also sell some of the milk. Nang’anyit’s older brother would herd them. Unfortunately, because of an extremely difficult drought in the region recently, all of their cows and goats have died this year, and Nenganyit’s father moved back home because he lost his job.

A main criteria for enrolling local kids into our schools is that we mostly take the poorest of the poor. We usually only take one child from each family, as even having one child in a good school, receiving free uniforms and two meals each day, makes a huge difference for the whole family. This is one family where we have enrolled two children. Nang’anyit and her brother have been faithfully coming to school every day.

Many students in the other schools have been staying home during the drought because there is no food at most schools and the walk to and from school is long and wears them out. To help Nang’anyit’s family and about 50 other families, we have provided food from special donations to SBC so that the families could survive. We’ve provided them with 220 pounds of maize (corn) per family. It’s cultural to share where needed, so other families will end up with some of this maize.

Nang’anyit is a good student, though a bit quiet in school. Outside of school, however, she has become a local leader. She is using her education to teach kids living near her how to do math and about the alphabet and English. Her tribal language is Maasai, but in school, we teach in English and also teach her Swahili, the country’s official language. Each day, she also has to work with her mother and grandmother to find firewood for cooking.

Her parents said to us, “We are so happy that our children are in this school. With how poor we are, we could never afford to pay for the cost, but God helped us, and our kids are now getting a good education and spiritual nurture.” Nang’anyit says, “I just want to thank you for all the support you have given to me with my family so far. I am now assured of my future. I get a quality education, spiritual teaching, uniform, shoes, meals at school, school stationary, and relief food for my family. God bless you abundantly.”

If you would like to give hope to a child like Nang’anyit, please consider sponsoring one of the children who still need sponsors for the 2023 school year.

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Nang’anyit’s Story | Tanzania Sponsorship

If you would like to give hope to a child like Nang’anyit, please consider sponsoring one of the children who still need sponsors for the 2023 school year.

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