Orphanages in Tanzania can only care for 4,000 out of 2.4 million orphans at a time ““ a statistic that made UCLA graduates Jessica Gu and Hori Moroaica start a nonprofit organization that builds orphanages in the country to help ease the problem.
The summer before their senior year at UCLA, Gu and Moroaica participated in a summer volunteer abroad program to help educate the people of Tanzania about HIV/AIDS. Gu said they were shocked to see how many kids lived on the streets because they had lost both of their parents to the epidemic.
“They literally live on the streets, sleep on the streets, beg for food and beg for people to let them sweep the floors or wash dishes,” Gu said.
Gu and Moroaica began talking about how nothing was being done about the issue, and when they came back to UCLA, they decided to start One Heart Source.
Upon their graduation in June 2008, One Heart Source officially became recognized as a local UCLA nonprofit organization. Through networking and sharing their passionate ideas, Moroaica and Gu, the current director of One Heart Source, managed to recruit 40 volunteers who went to Tanzania to build their first self-sustainable orphanage.
Among the volunteers were Brian Hengesbaugh, a third-year psychobiology student, and John Freedman, a second-year international development studies student, who are now co-managers of One Heart Source.
“When I showed up, I showed up to a barren 2 1/2 acre plot,” Hengesbaugh said.
Along with the help of other American volunteers and the local villagers, the team built nine traditional mud huts to house the volunteers and then began constructing the 3,600-square-foot orphanage on the other side. Now the orphanage is nearly finished and will be ready for use as early as this week.
Both Hengesbaugh and Freedman agreed that the experience on-site was nothing short of eye-opening.
“You start to realize that … the biggest problem isn’t that there’s starving in the world or there’s orphans in the world. The bigger problem is the way the privileged world views those in need,” Hengesbaugh said.
All three heads of One Heart Source said society needs to start facing the realities of those in need instead of just finding temporary relief for communities like Tanzania.
One Heart Source proposes change by building orphanages that provide kids with a good home, an education and the basic life skills to become the future leaders of Tanzania.
“We want the kids who come out of One Heart Source ““ out of our home ““ to be the people who lead Tanzania in the future,” Freedman said.
One Heart Source members live by their motto: “A home. A heart. A hand.” They said they want to provide a home where orphaned children can grow up safely with dreams and aspirations.
The volunteers also witnessed firsthand the large number of kids living on the streets of Tanzania that resulted from a lack of orphanages. There are an estimated 1,200 street kids per square mile in Tanzania who go about their lives uncared for, Freedman said.
“They’re like the doormat of society,” Hengesbaugh said. “It’s not just that they’re not provided for, it’s that they’re just brushed off.”
The orphanages in place right now tend to serve as a temporary relief and they become obsolete in a society where the need is far greater than what is provided, Hengesbaugh said.
“I call it symptomatic relief, where it’s like you just keep taking Tylenol to bring down (the fever) … but you’re not doing a dang thing about the virus that’s actually causing the fever,” Hengesbaugh said.
One Heart Source is trying to tackle that problem by creating an orphanage that doubles as a long-term educational center for lasting relief.
They have also developed the Nafasi Nyingine ““ meaning “another chance” in Swahili ““ Street Kid Rehabilitation Program to help provide even more relief for the street kids in Tanzania. The program takes in 50 kids three times a week to feed them, teach them and counsel them, Gu said.
One Heart Source recently hosted a fundraiser awareness night to raise money for Nafasi Nyingine. They called the event Baridi ““ meaning “cold” in Swahili ““ Night 2008 and they talked about the growing number of parent-less kids wandering the streets of Tanzania.
“Whoever’s interested (in One Heart Source) has something kind of tickling them, letting them know that there’s something beyond their sense of self out there,” Hengesbaugh said.
Follow the Daily Bruin on twitter for breaking news alerts.