No future without Dogodogo

Juma Anton says, he would have had no future without Dogodogo Drop-in Centre

Juma Anton is now 16 years old and goes to school. He ran away from home when he was only nine years old

Juma Anton is one of the youths staying at the Dogodogo Drop-In Centre in Dar es Salaam.
When he was only nine years old, he got the responsibilities of an adult. Juma's father left the family poor and not provided for  and all of a sudden it was Juma's job to care for his mother and five brothers and sisters.
“There was too much pressure on me, so I decided to run away from home,” Juma says.
He and his family lived in the small town of Singida in Tanzania and Juma became a street child there. He had a lot of different jobs - he hearded cows for a while and sold ice cream. However, he could not really make a living from of any of it, and he tried to go back home and stay with his family.
“But the problems stayed the same. I didn't want to live there,” Juma says. He ran away again and started selling mishikaki (shish kebab) in the streets. At that time he was 12 and had never been to school. “It wasn't going too well. I didn't know any maths and I came home with a loss every day,” Juma says.

 Some of Juma's friends started to talk about Dar es Salaam. “They said they wanted to go and see the life of a big city and they wanted me to come along,” Juma says.
He decided to join them. Preparing for his trip he stole 15.000 TSH (15 US$) and one evening he and his friends hopped onto the train to Dar es Salaam. They did not have any tickets, so they had to sit on the steps outside the train all the way. “When we finally arrived it was overwhelming. The cars, the houses and the people all looked different from what we were used to,” Juma says. Some of his friends even wanted to go back right away.
Luckily he heard about the Dogodogo Drop-In Center after only a couple of days in Dar es Salaam. “I am happy that I did not stay in the street longer - it is terrible,” Juma says and adds, “It is almost like having a real home staying here.”  Today he has been staying at the Dogodogo for three years. He goes to school every day and is now in the 4th Standard  even though he is 16. The many years on the street has put him behind.
“I would not have had a future without Dogodogo. I went back to my family for a visit, and even my mother said that I should use this opportunity to get an education, so she will not force me to go back to Singida” Juma says.