Welcome on the Boona Baana website

The Boona-Baana Center for Children’s Rights is a small, grass-roots organization located in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. Our aim is to create a series of local, sustainable projects which will assist vulnerable children.

One of our biggest projects is "The Green Door Home", an orphanage based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. See the children page

05 april2008, Marisa wrote:

The live and love in the Green door home

Greetings from Dar es Salaam. The New Year has brought some changes to our "family". The children have said their goodbyes to long-term volunteer, Marisa, but they are very happy to welcome, Kirk, who will share in their lives for the next couple of years.. Overall our residents have remained the same, but we have two adoptions in process that would re-locate two kids to Canada and USA. It is an exciting change and we are patiently waiting approval of the adoptions.

Each December our children participate in an Art Party fundraising project in Hiroshima, Japan. This event showcases work from children's organizations around the world. In addition to creating pictures, the children also wrote a short story to describe their art piece. Our 2007 artists, pictured below, did a fantastic job and all of their artwork was successfully auctioned off. For the first time all of our children are attending the same school campus. Eliza, the youngest, is now in class 1 and Jackson and Linus are in class 7, the final year at their current school. Later in the year, the boys will write the Tanzanian National examinations for high school placement. They are dedicated students who receive extra help from volunteers after school. The Green Door Home continues to be a place of love, learning, and fun.

After school, once homework and daily reading has been completed, the children have freetime to play cards, do arts & crafts, or play sports. Football continues to be a favorite activity, whether played in the yard or watched on tv. Music and dance are an integral part of the culture and an evening dance party is always a hit - complete with dance-offs where the kids can show their latest moves. In addition to activities at the Green Door Home, the older children are becoming more involved in community initiatives. Linus has started a new group at school called Ambassadors of Peace, Love and Joy. They are trying to fundraise and raise awareness of the plight of orphans in Tanzania. Linus, Jackson, Issacwisha and Mandara are involved with an internet photography project; they are photographing different locations in Dar es Salaam and writing about the disparity in the local communities. Again a huge THANK YOU to all of our volunteers and donors! Our work could not be sustained without your support.

Cheers, Marisa

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