A New Beginning,
A New Start,
Over the past month there have been some significant changes concerning the CCF organization. I will try to explain starting from when CCF was founded in 1994.
CCF was founded in 1994 by a German tourist. For many years the organization ran very smoothly and was considered by many one of the best organizations for street children in the Arusha Region of Tanzania. Originally CCF had two centres, the drop in centre and the residential centre. The drop-in centre was located in the city of Arusha and was a place where street children could go at night to sleep. The children were also allowed to stay there during the day. If the children showed that they wanted to change their lives and get an education they would be moved up to the residential centre in Maji ya Chai where they could go to school, have access to continual support, and create a new home for themselves. Maji ya Chai is a village located about 40 minutes out of Arusha. At one time with the two centres combined the CCF organization could assist over 100 children at one time (up to 75 at the Maji ya Chai centre alone). The organization ran smoothly until about the year 2002. Thereafter some very significant board members were forced to make the hard decision of resigning, because they could no longer hold the management responsible for funds of the organization. Soon after money started going missing and the children suffered. The drop-in centre was closed and many of the children from the Residential centre moved to various other organizations in the regions of Arusha and Kilimanjaro or returned back to the streets. Things went steadily down-hill to where we are today, currently of the 75 children that formerly stayed at the Maji ya Chai centre only 22 are remaining. Thankfully and fortunately some organizations and individuals took it upon themselves to do what they could for the children, both those at the Maji ya Chai centre and the children that remained at the drop-in centre after it closed.
During this time there were other people in Tanzania hard at work trying to make things better from the organizational side of CCF. The Rotary Club tried numerous times through several different avenues to change the corrupt board and start the organization new again. Of the Rotary members there was one lady who never gave up, Mamma Faye. As a last effort to save the organization Rotary and Mamma Faye decided to sue the corrupt management for not paying their employees. In the event that the current management could not pay Mawalla Trust (a lawyer firm in Arusha) would pay. The stipulation was that if the current management of CCF could not pay Mawalla back within one year the control of the centre would fall under Mawalla Trust. As expected the current management did not pay Mawalla back within the set time and a court order was issued that stated that CCF now was under the control of Mawalla trust. This meant that at any time Mawalla could step in and say that because of the current poor state of the organization the management of the centre was to be changed. September 2010 was the date that was set for the CCF management to pay Mawalla back. Because at the time there was no organization or individuals who would take on responsibility for a new organization Mawalla did not act. This was until we met Mamma Faye this year. Upon hearing that Sunrise of Life would be open to funding a clean and well functioning organization Mawalla decided to act and change the management of CCF. This is not a simple process as to put in a new board and director the old board must first be removed. As many of you could see in former blog posts the current now FORMER management of CCF was very difficult to deal with and they would not go without a fight. During the notifications, meetings and talks between Mawalla and the former management we stayed at Mamma Faye’s place to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. It was known that the former management would play ever hand they could, even if that meant threatening us with immigration. To stay out of it we stayed at Mamma Faye’s place and volunteered our time on the streets of Arusha, and the Sol house.
After three weeks of waiting the former management was removed and we were able to move back to CCF. We hired KK security to keep us safe while we stay here. This is a precaution as we do not know how the former management will react to their removal. It is also to keep the former management from coming into the compound. At the moment Mawalla is working hard to deregister the old board; of which all the former members have resigned. Thereafter we will work on establishing a new board and director; updates will be coming as this happens. During the switch over CCF we are in charge of CCF centre and the children. CCF is now under the control of Mawalla Trust and as Sunrise of Life will be the funding organization we have a significant role to play during this whole process.
This is a new start for CCF and it is hoped that from here we can help the organization grow to its former full potential. We will keep you updated on the progress. Please comment on this blog with any questions, as many others will also have the same questions.
-Tom
Over the past month there have been some significant changes concerning the CCF organization. I will try to explain starting from when CCF was founded in 1994.
CCF was founded in 1994 by a German tourist. For many years the organization ran very smoothly and was considered by many one of the best organizations for street children in the Arusha Region of Tanzania. Originally CCF had two centres, the drop in centre and the residential centre. The drop-in centre was located in the city of Arusha and was a place where street children could go at night to sleep. The children were also allowed to stay there during the day. If the children showed that they wanted to change their lives and get an education they would be moved up to the residential centre in Maji ya Chai where they could go to school, have access to continual support, and create a new home for themselves. Maji ya Chai is a village located about 40 minutes out of Arusha. At one time with the two centres combined the CCF organization could assist over 100 children at one time (up to 75 at the Maji ya Chai centre alone). The organization ran smoothly until about the year 2002. Thereafter some very significant board members were forced to make the hard decision of resigning, because they could no longer hold the management responsible for funds of the organization. Soon after money started going missing and the children suffered. The drop-in centre was closed and many of the children from the Residential centre moved to various other organizations in the regions of Arusha and Kilimanjaro or returned back to the streets. Things went steadily down-hill to where we are today, currently of the 75 children that formerly stayed at the Maji ya Chai centre only 22 are remaining. Thankfully and fortunately some organizations and individuals took it upon themselves to do what they could for the children, both those at the Maji ya Chai centre and the children that remained at the drop-in centre after it closed.
During this time there were other people in Tanzania hard at work trying to make things better from the organizational side of CCF. The Rotary Club tried numerous times through several different avenues to change the corrupt board and start the organization new again. Of the Rotary members there was one lady who never gave up, Mamma Faye. As a last effort to save the organization Rotary and Mamma Faye decided to sue the corrupt management for not paying their employees. In the event that the current management could not pay Mawalla Trust (a lawyer firm in Arusha) would pay. The stipulation was that if the current management of CCF could not pay Mawalla back within one year the control of the centre would fall under Mawalla Trust. As expected the current management did not pay Mawalla back within the set time and a court order was issued that stated that CCF now was under the control of Mawalla trust. This meant that at any time Mawalla could step in and say that because of the current poor state of the organization the management of the centre was to be changed. September 2010 was the date that was set for the CCF management to pay Mawalla back. Because at the time there was no organization or individuals who would take on responsibility for a new organization Mawalla did not act. This was until we met Mamma Faye this year. Upon hearing that Sunrise of Life would be open to funding a clean and well functioning organization Mawalla decided to act and change the management of CCF. This is not a simple process as to put in a new board and director the old board must first be removed. As many of you could see in former blog posts the current now FORMER management of CCF was very difficult to deal with and they would not go without a fight. During the notifications, meetings and talks between Mawalla and the former management we stayed at Mamma Faye’s place to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. It was known that the former management would play ever hand they could, even if that meant threatening us with immigration. To stay out of it we stayed at Mamma Faye’s place and volunteered our time on the streets of Arusha, and the Sol house.
After three weeks of waiting the former management was removed and we were able to move back to CCF. We hired KK security to keep us safe while we stay here. This is a precaution as we do not know how the former management will react to their removal. It is also to keep the former management from coming into the compound. At the moment Mawalla is working hard to deregister the old board; of which all the former members have resigned. Thereafter we will work on establishing a new board and director; updates will be coming as this happens. During the switch over CCF we are in charge of CCF centre and the children. CCF is now under the control of Mawalla Trust and as Sunrise of Life will be the funding organization we have a significant role to play during this whole process.
This is a new start for CCF and it is hoped that from here we can help the organization grow to its former full potential. We will keep you updated on the progress. Please comment on this blog with any questions, as many others will also have the same questions.
-Tom
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