Documentary on Violence against children in Tanzania

Abdul with his Father at the forced reunion in Bukoba, Tanzania

Abdul- ‘not his real name’ is just 13 and a school drop out, with both parents still alive he is a street child living in abandoned buildings in Bukoba town. He ran away from home due to severe beating he received from his drunkard father, his mother left probably for the same reason and left Abdul alone at the mercy of his father, after a long period of merciless strikes he ran away on the night when his father came home drunk as usual and tied him with ropes and left him hungry without food all night. Before dawn stroke Abdul knew his only way to survive is to run away from his father, and he ran away, we found him in the street cold, hungry and scared, lucky enough we had a policewoman with us, who asked Abdul to direct us to his father’s home and we confronted him with our cameras, he was shocked but showed no remorse. Our policewoman Christina ordered him to report to the children social welfare offices first thing next morning and warned him against any violence towards his son Abdul as he would face jail time.

The full documentary on the event will be available soon. The documentary is produced in conjunction with Pact Tanzania  

Paul with his Grandmother in Musoma

PAUL - ‘not his real name’ is a 12 years old boy living in Musoma, Mara region in Tanzania, he is featured in our up coming documentary sponsored by Pact Tanzania an international NGO working with children.

Paul has been a victim on molestation and sexual abuse that has dented his live for ever, the soft spoken boy was abandoned by both parents, the mother left the house one day in search for food and never came back, the father is not known, he left in time when Paul can hardly speak, he moved in to live with a relative, and it is during this time that a neighbour took advantage of Paul’s vulnerability and loneliness and he repeated had sexual intercourse with this 12 year old boy, due to extreme level of poverty in his family this man promised him petty gifts in return for his silence, eventually Paul stopped going to school and was never interested in school by the time the grand mother took him in to stay with her Paul was already weak and sick, She took him to the Doctor and reported to the police, the neighbour is on the run.

Please do not leave your children in the hands of a person whose behaviour you do not know even a close relative.