This holiday season, we invite you to join us in making a profound and lasting impact by supporting Umoja’s Christmas Campaign for students who are enrolled in colleges and universities but lacking sponsors to help with their educational journey.

At the onset of their chosen courses, all these students had sponsors who are now unable to continue their support. Unfortunately, global financial challenges during and post-pandemic times have led to a decrease in sponsors for our students. This, combined with a reduction in grants, has intensified financial pressure on all our programmes.

Your contribution will directly fund college and university fees, providing these young minds with the educational opportunities they deserve.

Baraka is one of the students you can support. He has completed our in-house Foundation Programme and Secondary Certificate and is now at University:

"My name is Baraka, and I am Maasai.I was born on September 11, 2001, and raised in Simanjiro, Manyara region, a rural area in the northern part of Tanzania. I am the fourth born out of fourteen children. My father has two wives; my mother is the first wife. She has seven children, and the second wife has seven children. I live with my parents and my siblings in a house with three rooms, without access to water or electricity. We have to travel five kilometers to fetch water. My parents are small-scale farmers, and they also have livestock.

I attended primary education for seven years but, unfortunately, didn't continue with secondary education due to the family’s financial struggles. My parents are pastoralists. Before joining Umoja, I was helping them take care of animals. I would take them out in the morning and bring them back in the evening. Slowly, I found myself liking it. We obtained meat, animal skin, and milk from the livestock.

My father is my role model in keeping the environment safe, and he always encourages people to preserve our environment and plant many trees. I moved from Manyara and stayed with a family friend in Arusha after getting an opportunity to study at Umoja Centre. I am confident that Umoja will help me live the dream life I had since I was a little boy.

Currently, I am studying for a Bachelor's degree in Arts with Education at Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE). My passion is to be a teacher. I want to be a teacher because in my community, people do not send their children to school as they do not believe in education. If I become a teacher, it will be easier for me to inspire and motivate them to send their children to school.

Until now, I trust that Umoja will help me live the dream life I had since I was a little boy."