Dirty clothes, lack of proper meals, cold nights, street fights
and lost hope for a definite future. This is what street life is all
about.
No one knows this kind of life better than the
founders of the Moshi-based ‘Hard Life Art Club’, Morgan Amani, 23,
Rogers Stanley, 21, David Valerian, 22 and Joseph Emanuel, 21. Thanks to
Mkombozi, a centre for street-involved children in Moshi municipality,
the four friends have said goodbye to street life for good.
Once living at Mkombozi which is Swahili for
saviour, the youngsters now have places to call home apart from earning a
living through Hard Life Art Club. They formed the club while at
Mkombozi.
The friends came to Mkombozi in search of food and
a place to lay their heads at night. What they got instead was a
life-time-opportunity. Something that anyone without a place to call
home would dream of.
When Mkombozi gave them shelter, little did they
know that it was going to be the end of their life on the streets and
the beginning of a promising future.
Today the friends have become the sparkle of
creativity that generates hope for a bright future to many youths and
vulnerable children in Moshi.
Morgan and colleagues came to Mkombozi at
different times. Of the four, Morgan was the first to arrive in 2001.
Then followed Rogers in 2004 and David two years later. Joseph never
lived at the centre but participated in various Mkombozi programmes that
included children outside the centre.
“The Art Club gave me a sense of purpose in life,
and now I can give the same to others,” says Morgan. To him, “Hard Life
is a saviour. It is a platform for young people in Moshi to express
themselves through art. That I am part of this means a lot to me because
it gives me the opportunity to inspire children through art.” The group
derives its name ‘Hard Life’ from the difficulties of life on the
streets. “We called it Hard Life as a way to tell others that life on
the streets is hard,” Morgan explains.
As a young boy, Morgan who comes from Marangu in
Moshi moved from home to home after his father rejected him. He left
home when he was eight in 2000. His mother was mentally ill and his
grandmother was too poor to feed the family. Morgan had to leave home in
search of a better life.
On joining Mkombozi, he was enrolled in the
centre’s Complementary Ordinary Basic Education in Tanzania (COBET)
system known by its Swahili acronym MEMKWA. He and all his partners in
Hard Life have completed Form Four.
In search of better life
Rogers had lived on the streets of Moshi for three
years before Mkombozi took him in. His initial plan was to go to Dar es
Salaam but he had no money for bus fare. “Hard Life was my dream. I am
so happy to see it fulfilled,” he says with a smile. Living a meaningful
life had been his dream, and here he is, doing exactly that.
Joseph who also comes from Moshi found himself on the streets
due to poverty. His single mother normally struggled to put food on the
table.Although he lived with his family and went to school, Joseph would
spend a lot of time doing menial jobs to help in the family’s upkeep.
At times, he would beg on to the streets.
He started being associated with Mkombozi when he
was in Form One, in 2008. Like the others, he eventually left home and
lived at the centre. Joseph who admires Tinga Tinga paintings dreams of
becoming a famous painter one day.
Today he conducts painting classes at the Hard
Life Art Club. He also does his own painting on Mondays and Tuesdays and
sketches a lot in his free time.
David heard about Mkombozi from Rogers. The two
lived together on the streets in Arusha. Having run away from home,
David had not gone to school for four years when he decided to try his
luck at Mkombozi in 2006.
He and other street-involved children went to
Mkombozi but were turned away at the gate because there wasn’t enough
room for them. David didn’t leave, he was persistent. The centre’s
officials finally took him in and his life took a turnaround.
Lady luck smiled on the boys in 2008 when a Dutch
organisation paid Mkombozi a visit and did an Art programme called
Creative Africa. The boys were all interested in Arts and after several
learning sessions with artists from the Dutch organisation, they formed
the group. Hard Life Art Club was born in May 2009.
Their first small gallery and studio was a chicken
coop at their Mkombozi home. The boys sold their artwork to tourists
and with the money replenished their supplies.
Interested children at Mkombozi watched the boys
create their work and sometimes joined in and had a chance to create
their own artwork. The boys realised that sharing and teaching the
younger children was very rewarding. They now dream of a day when they
would run their own Art Academy. “I really love teaching art. I believe
that children are our future,” says Joseph.
Reward for a good job
In May 2011, Hard Life became independent and
moved out from Mkombozi. Apart from the fact that they had gone past the
age requirement to live at the children’s centre, they could now stand
on their own feet. Mkombozi prepares street-involved children for this.
Today their art club is housed in a small rented
building in Rau area in the municipality. The club has established
weekly art classes where they teach interested children from the
community and those from the streets.
They are currently working with over 100 children
in the surrounding areas and continue to manage the group and the studio
on their own.
Their passion is to work with children so that they do not end
up in streets like they did. And for those living on the streets
already, to give them skills so they can live a meaningful life. It
gives them joy to see that the children they train quickly master the
craft to the point that they too are able to train others.
After school hours, children go to the Hard Life
studio to paint and create crafts like beaded and paper jewellery,
postcards and cards for different occasions. The proceeds from the sales
go towards purchasing more art supplies to support the whole group.
In 2013, Hard Life won the 2013 Street Child
Champion Award worth 1,000 pounds (Sh 2.7m). The award was sponsored by
the Consortium for Street Children (CSC), a UK based network that gives
street-involved children a voice, promotes and improves their rights
through advocacy and research.
It acknowledges the unsung heroes who are making
real difference to street children’s lives. It also recognises children
and youth (individuals or groups) who have made outstanding
contributions to raising awareness and changing perceptions of
street-connected children. Some are former street children, while others
are still street-connected.
“We feel honoured and privileged to have won the
award. We used the funds to expand our projects to reach more children
in this area,” says Morgan.
Hard Life also teaches art in five schools in
Moshi namely Kibo Secondary School, Obrien School for the Maasai, House
of Learning, Magereza Nursery School and Watoto Rau Nursery School. Of
these, it is only Kibo Secondary School that pays $ 125 (Sh 200,000) for
four sessions a week.
The group’s only consistent source of income comes
from selling their paintings and jewellery. If they sell anything made
by their students, the child gets 80 per cent of the sales while Hard
Life remains with 20 per cent. They save this and re-invest it in art
materials. Hard Life also provides school supplies and fees for the
members in need of assistance.
