Dr. Andrew Eugene

Kasambala

I was born on 25 august 1976, as the fifth child out of a family of ten. I have three sisters and six brothers. My mother died when I was eight of asthma and acute kidney disease. I watched her dying, in the hospital there were no drugs and any therapy to give her. Some health practitioners were rude and harsh, that inspirired me positively to study hard and become a doctor one day.
I went selling sweets and biscuits at the bus stand at the age of 11 to get money to buy uniforms and pay school fees. My father was not economically good, and the fact that he had so many children made it worse. I passed my standard seven national exam, but nobody was there to pay for my secondary education. I never reported to school that year 1991.
Then I started my grocery selling bananas, tomatoes and onions to save money for my secondary education.

(Dr. Andrew on the left side)

Meanwhile I attended instructions at the catholic church in Iringa and was baptised in december 1993, afterwards received the sacrament of confirmation in february 1994.
In 1994 I had my savings ready for a private secondary school. I paid only once after I was forgiven by the headmaster because I was academically good as they used to say. From my pocket, by then it was 34,000 Tansanian Shillings, a lot of money for a boy of 18 years of age.
My school had collaboration with a sister school in Norway, and since I was "inteligent" academically, I was chosen to be the only boy to visit Norway in September 1996 for 2 weeks. Since then I started to receive support from my host family in Norway which helped me pay school fees and take care of some members of my family. I finished my secondary school and excelled to high school in Moshi Kilimanjaro, then I excelled at my form six exams and selected for the university at Dar es Salaam.
But before I reported my host family in Norway invited me there, where I started my coarse as a medical doctor at the university of Bergen Norway. My dream to become a doctor and get rid of poverty and help encourage others in need, started then.
In Norway I lived a hard life at first because I had to send some money home to support a total of eleven kids, three brothers of mine and eight other kids of my neighbours. I just cannot help myself from giving support to these children because they truly remind me of my own history. Second because studies were hard in norwegian language and in a different and new culture. I specilized in internal medicine and then cardiology and came back to work in Tanzania my lovely country in January 2006.
I then decided that it is high time that I start an orphanage where orphans and children in difficulties will at least get a home to stay and a chance to go to school. Mwanza is a city along lake Victoria the largest one in Tanzania in this zone. It has many street children and orphans most of whom lost their parents through AIDS.
So in June 2007 i started by assembling them twice a week and giving them foods using my own salary. I then rented a low quality house and reported my move to the regional welfare office where i got a temporary permit to run an orphanage. I called it "Mount Zion Kids Centre" and they were 17 at first. The number increased to 25 by March 2008 and it has been fluctuating from 18 to 25 because some children are re-united with members of their families and return home.
The centre got its full registration from the office of the vice-president registrar of NGO's and is now under the umbrella of Mount Zion Mission International. Our goal is to start projects such as chicken keeping motorbike business and build a school afterwards so that we recruit many more children in need.
At Mount Zion kids gets three meals a day they go to school a government owned primary school they get legal advices where needs be because some relatives who assume the responsibility to tace care of them after the death of their parents sometimes abuse the kids sexually or physically so the law has to take its coarse.Medical care services is also the responsibility of the Centre and along with this psychological help and coucelling.All these cost a lot of money monthly....a good intention of mine to help the needy has become now a community obligation i have to go begging here and there for their foods medicines school uniforms clothes house rent annually and bills for water and electricity.Obviosly this is no longer a possible mission for a single person's salary i come out to stretch my hands to ask for different people companies organisations charities schools colleges and universities to offer their heartly assistance.These kids walk three kilometres to school with longer days at school some a sick and some terminal diseases......we ask for your help.Thank and welcome to Mwanza Tanzania at Mount Zion Mission International (MOZIMI) where Mount Zion Kids centre is!