KEY POINTS:
I travelled to Africa with the Hope Foundation, which has raised money through fashion events to help Tanzanian orphans, many whom have been affected by Aids.
Our first day in Africa was spent in Kibera, Nairobi's biggest slum. Raw sewage spills over roads and past houses. The rented huts have no running water, electricity or bathrooms. There is one toilet to every 10,000 people.
Children suffer the most in Kibera. Many die before they reach 5 from diarrhoea, malaria and malnutrition.
From Kibera, we travelled into Tanzania, where we spent the next eight days in Moshi, at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro. Here, the New Life Foundation has established an orphanage and school with the money raised by Hope.
Inside the orphanage, I was so encouraged by the fact the children were all happy, loved and respected. Most had come from tragic backgrounds: some abandoned, some of their mothers were rape victims, some were HIV-positive.
With the new school and college being built, each child was guaranteed an education and a chance of breaking the cycle of poverty.
A Moshi family took us in for a night. Their story is typical of so many living in Africa today.
Emmanuel and Dina Aboya have seven children: two boys and five girls. Emmanuel supports the family, working as bus conductor and earning about $100 a month. The boys are bright and did well at school.
Emmanuel saved what little money he could to send them to secondary school.
Three of their girls have married but one of the two left at home fell pregnant. The father of her child abandoned her, but she then went on to have seven children.
Emmanuel has been forced to use the money for his sons' education to feed his fast-growing family. The two sons now work as bus conductors, leaving for work at 4.30am and returning at 9pm.
All hope for freeing the family from poverty rested on Rechel, the other daughter.
She was sent to secondary school in the city but after a year she, too, returned home pregnant. The family now has 13 people living in a small three-bedroom shack with dirt floors. There is no kitchen and no bathroom. The children share a small front yard with cows, goats and chickens.
Even with our different backgrounds, Rechel and I got along. At 21, she is intelligent and has a good sense of humour. She wants to study computers but can't afford the fees. She said without an education she wouldn't get work that paid enough and, realistically, any money she earned would go straight to her family anyway.
I remember being her age and thinking about my future. Rechel's plight brought home how lucky I was to be living in New Zealand with so many opportunities.
I have kept in touch with Rechel. She has learned to email so she can write to me from Moshi.
I am helping Rechel with her fees for a computer course and a friend in Africa has a job waiting for when she finishes.
It will be exciting to see where life takes her. Hopefully, her new opportunities will help her family attain a little of the quality of life we take for granted.
To help
Call 0900 HOPE AFRICA to have an automatic $20 donation charged to your Telecom bill or go to hopefoundation.co.nz to see how your skills can be put to use.
