Tanzania is home to over 100 different tribes. Sadly, the Maasai tribe has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the nation. This is largely due to tribal elders' reluctance to support formal education for their children. Girls are especially...
Stories From TOA
I first arrived at Treasures of Africa as a little child of just seven years old, young, curious, and unaware of how profoundly my life was about to change. At that time, the one thing I deeply desired was...
As we look at the year that has just closed, we celebrated a harvest of graduates unlike any other we have experienced at Treasures of Africa KIDZ Education Project. The number of graduates is greater than ever before, and each one of them represents a story of...
As we ventured deeper into Mkomazi National Park, our joy turned to pure adrenaline when we encountered a massive bull elephant. It began charging towards us, trumpeting loudly! We quickly sprang into action, following the safety protocols we'd learned. The elephant's thunderous footsteps grew closer, and our hearts raced as we...
The growling of his empty stomach drove the four-year-old boy to rise early and search for food scraps in the garbage dump at the edge of the village. Finding food was all he could think about. His mother had died after an extended illness, and he and his six-year-old sister had no one to look to for help besides their mother’s 12-year-old sister. But she was as hungry and scared as...
The story of Innocent’s life is one of dramatic changes. His parents died 3 years apart, leaving him and his siblings orphaned. At the time of his mother’s death, Innocent was 11 years old. He, his brother and his little sister lived in a one-room mud house with no one to provide for them. Innocent soon began running the streets, searching for...
This past November I made the long journey to Tanzania with my wife Rita Langeland to celebrate a very special occasion with one of our TOA college students, Glory Ngowi. Glory was preparing for her graduation from Mzumbe University in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Here is a little bit of Glory’s background that will help you...
Just over two years ago, a young man clad in Maasai traditional attire came to our office in Moshi, Tanzania. His action was moved by a deep desire to study accounting. Pastor Rita, Faith and I sat with him at the office just to ascertain exactly what...
It was December 3rd, 2025 and I was sitting in an auditorium on the campus of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As we waited for the ceremony to begin, my mind drifted back to...
When Awadhi came to live at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home in 2007 at the age of three, he was so malnourished and weak that he had never learned to walk. After lots of love, encouragement and plenty of nourishing food, he gained strength and began to...
The plastic toys were held together with black electrical tape and didn’t look like much. But when the young student demonstrated his invention – a solar powered car and motorcycle with working lights - his instructors were...
Many years ago, in a land far away, two little boys met in an orphanage called Treasures of Africa Children’s Home. They became fast friends and were inseparable. Though they had come from different villages in Tanzania, both had suffered similar hardships and loss before arriving at the place they would...
The first thing that caught our attention when Emmanuel came to live at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home was his stunning smile. Yet hidden behind that beautiful smile, was a lot of heartache.
Emmanuel was eleven years old when he was brought to Treasures of Africa. He had been living in a rural village with his mother and siblings. His father had...