Mama Tunza's Orphanage

Mama Tunza’s (also known as the Tunza Children’s Center) is an orphanage and school and school that started in 1998 and now has 85 children, who range in age from one to sixteen years old. With four volunteer teachers, Mama Tunza’s provides a pre-primary and a primary education to its children.

But due to inadequate facilities, only 16 children can live at the orphanage full time. The other children either stay at night with their single parent who works during the day or a guardian.

Mama Tunza’s orphanage’s facilities are very small and consist of only two small classrooms, a small, rectangular play area, an office, and a kitchen (with only a fire stove) that is filled with standing water. The school has no running water or electricity and only has two latrines for all of the children.

However, the children learn Math, Reading, Writing, Science, and to speak English. In addition, the children are given free times periodically throughout the day, which although they are confined in the small play area, give the children a chance to exercise and get some of their energy out.

The children at Mama Tunza’s also receive a breakfast consisting of porridge when they arrive in the mornings and a lunch that usually consists of either beans or ugali with greens (Ugali is the staple food in Kenya. It is made by mixing flour with boiling water until it becomes a paste and has no nutritional value, but is meant to fill you up).