A decade of making a difference

Railway Children has recently marked a major milestone by celebrating the tenth anniversary of working in Tanzania. In that time we’ve worked with some of the world’s most vulnerable children – those forced to survive a brutal existence alone on the streets. They face abuse, violence and exploitation every day but our amazing teams in the country are doing everything they can to keep them safe.

Not only do we make sure they have food, water, something to wear and medical help when they need it, we offer them education and teach them life skills so they can go on to achieve their potential and find a better future. We trace many of their families, reunite them wherever possible, and support them to strengthen the relationships that will keep them together. If we can’t take them home we look for long term solutions such as care homes or within foster families. We help older children learn skills and trades so they can secure an income for themselves and give start-up grants to those ready to set up their own small businesses.

We’re so proud to have helped almost 10,000 desperate children in Tanzania in that last decade.

Our programme has developed over the ten years in other ways too – making a long-term difference to the lives of these children and their whole communities. We offer parenting courses to teach families how to communicate and understand each other without resorting to violence and we show them how to grow crops so they will always have something to eat. We try to educate local people and to change their perceptions of children on the streets so they have a better chance of being supported, and we work closely with police and government departments to protect children and champion their rights.