Tanzanian resort hotel employs former street children

By Eva Krafczyk Nov 13, 2010, 17:31 GMT

Arusha, Tanzania - Baracka smiled as he brought the savory vegetable soup to the table. He glanced to make sure the table decoration was placed correctly and that the candles were not dripping in the evening breeze.

'Enjoy your meal!' the 18-year-old waiter said, then walked over to Lucas, the cook, who was leaning on the kitchen counter and trying to discern whether the guests were pleased with his soup.

The two young men work at Kiboko Lodge, an unusual resort hotel on the edge of Arusha National Park in northern Tanzania. With the exception of the manager, all 11 employees are former street children.

Life on the street ended for Lucas in 2003, when he was among the first five children admitted to the Watoto Foundation's vocational training school. Set up by Dutchmen Thomas Greeftmeier, a onetime missionary, and Noud van Hout, a businessman who emigrated to Tanzania, the school plucks street children from the downward and often deadly spiral of poverty, drugs and crime, giving them a future.

Greeftmeier, 77, was one of the guests enjoying a meal of soup, meatballs and cheese souffle on this evening. Having left Tanzania three years earlier due to serious health problems, he was now back again in the country where he lived for 28 years and has long felt most at home. His eyes shone as he watched Baracka, who cleared the table with sure-handed movements.

'It's nice to see how the boys have turned out,' remarked Greeftmeier, their former mentor. 'After so many years, they're like your own children.' They even call him 'Baba' (Father).

All of the young men working at Kiboko Lodge earned a school-leaving certificate through the Watoto Foundation. With months of chaotic street life behind them, they became accustomed to a structured daily routine.

Many other ex-street children have completed apprenticeships as carpenters, electricians, masons or welders at the vocational training school. They helped to build the round huts in which the lodge's guests sleep as well as the furniture in its safari-style bar.

'In the long term we want to be independent of donors and fund the foundation's work with our own income,' said van Hout, who is 62. An important factor in the equation is Kiboko Lodge, which officially opened in October after a trial run of several months. Almost all of its 19 rooms have been booked for the Christmas holidays, van Hout noted.

He acknowledged that the lodge, which has a good view of Mount Meru and is located on the fringe of a swamp frequented by hippos, needed to become widely known. 'Local tour operators already know us, though, and bring guests when their usual hotels are full,' van Hout said.

Established lodges with no vacancies sometimes refer people to Kiboko Lodge, too, because they know that its employees are qualified. Baracka, Lucas and their colleagues have all undergone at least 18 months of training.

'Hotels are glad to take our young men, particularly since they don't have to pay them a salary during the training period,' van Hout said. The hotel trainees receive an allowance from the foundation.

Quite a few of the young men are now permanently employed by hotels in or near Arusha. Some even prefer them to Kiboko Lodge.

'Here they always point out that I was once a street child,' one young man said. 'In the hotel where I did my training, none of the guests knew anything about my past and the boss was only interested in my doing a good job.'