Tanzania: Inside a Makeshift Home for Orphaned Children

Filmed in 2011 during a visit to rural Tanzania, this short piece offers a raw, personal look inside a small makeshift “orphanage” caring for eight children orphaned by AIDS and other preventable illnesses. Living in two fragile wooden huts with tin roofs and plastic sheeting, the children shared just two beds — four girls in one, four boys in the other, the boys sleeping without a mattress. With support coming only from a local caregiver known as Shangazi (‘Auntie’ in Swahili) and occasional community donations of maize, rice or soap, the film captures the stark reality of their daily lives before any structured assistance was in place.