Eli Kwelu
 Elisonguo Kiwelu was born in Marangu, Tanzania, a town nestled in the rain forest on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
At the age of 15, he made a decision to choose to follow Christ for himself, and not just say he was a Christian because of his parent's faith. He became born again and was filled with the Holy Spirit. The following year Eli grew more serious about his relationship with the Lord, and began to fast and pray about his future.
He asked the Lord what he was supposed to do with his life. He wanted to be an electrician, but his family could not afford the school fees for him to attend vocational training. So he took a job working with some people doing masonry work, and learned to become a skilled mason.
Meanwhile, Eli continued to seek the Lord about his future. One day when he was praying in the church, an elder came and told Eli that he had been praying for him. He said that the Lord has spoken to him and told him that Eli's inheritance was not in his family, but in the Lord.
Eli began to help at the church in every way possible. He did masonry work, helped prepared church conferences, crusades, youth seminars in the region for the denomination, led the mid-week services and led worship on Sunday mornings. After seven years of faithful service in the church, God led him to Treasures of Africa Children's Home.
Eli had been asked by his good friend and mentor, Pastor Mbasha, who was also a skilled mason, to go with him to work in Moshi for a few weeks. The job was for Hidden With Christ Ministries, helping with some remodeling work on a building that was being prepared to serve as an orphanage. Eli knew about Hidden With Christ Ministries because he had attended a conference sponsored by the ministry the previous year. After the three weeks of work were completed, the administration invited him to remain and continue working as a staff assistant, doing errands and serving as an interpreter for the missionaries. After demonstrating his faithfulness, diligence and genuine love for the children, he was promoted to the position of Assistant Director of Treasures of Africa Children's Home.
Eli married Rosa in March of 2008 and as a couple they have contributed greatly to providing a loving family atmosphere in the orphanage. The children look up to "Brother Eli" as they call him, and he is a great example of godly manhood to the older boys in the home. He has been able to provide excellent loving discipline to the children when needed and at the same time laugh and play with the kids on the soccer field. His presence has been a stabilizing factor in the lives of the TOA kids who have come from such traumatic backgrounds.
Eli has enjoyed working with HWCM and explained it this way: "What I like the most about this ministry is the encouragement I have received. Whenever life has been hard for me there has always been someone to bless me with words of encouragement."
When asked what the most amazing thing he has seen God do at the orphanage, he replied, "Time after time we have been in need of money for food... or it is the end of the month and there are so many bills that need to be paid... and each and every time I have seen God come through at the last minute and all the salaries are paid and there is enough to buy all the food. It has been amazing to me to watch this happen so many times."
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