The Living Water Children Centre is a registered Non Governmental Organization (NGO) aiming to support orphans globally. The Centre is located in Arusha, in the northern part of Tanzania. The Centre was founded by the Kimaro family in 2003 after Anza Kimaro met a six year old living on the streets and shared the story with his family. They did some research and discovered that there are over 1 million orphans in Tanzania with numbers increasing daily due to the HIV/AIDS and the Malaria pandemic. Some orphaned children can be integrated into extended families, however lack of resources and lack of education mean that many of these children end up living on the streets fending for themselves. These are children who urgently need a safe place to live. The Kimaro family started with two children in March 2003, and today, over 50 orphans and children from less fortunate backgrounds call the Centre home. Some of the LWCC children have disabilities whose families are unable to care for them, some have lost one or both parents, and some have family who are just too poor to be able to feed and clothe them. In the same year of the Centre's inception, the Kimaros home was renovated to accommodate children and family income was used to ensure that children had food, medical care and other necessities.
The vision of the Living Water Children Centre is to ensure quality of life for the orphaned and the less fortunate children in Tanzanian society. The objectives of the centre are to: 1. Provide care and guidance to the children. 2. Provide quality education. 3. Establish a home where children are safe and feel secure. 4. Network with other organizations to support each other in the effort. 5. Raise public awareness about the plight of orphaned children. 6. Advocate for the rights of children.
- Location: Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa
- Visit the website: livingwaterchildren.org