Matonyok Children’s Home
Matonyok Children Home is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) registered on 5th June 2019 with Registration No. 00NGO/R2/000289. Matonyok is a Maasai word meaning “make the effort”. Matonyok Children Home was founded by Mrs. Emmy Nicholaus Sitayo and her husband Mr.Peniel Zakaria Ndemno in 2006 as an holistic intervention to ensure children from disadvantaged backgrounds including but not limited to orphans, neglected street children and disabled children should be offered the second chance to achieve their higher life purposes while prioritizing education and their well-being as their only tactic weaponry for thriving in an ever-changing world.
Strategically, a primary school was established alongside Matonyok Children Home as the flagship program to ensure the children receive the basic and quality primary education, healthcare and services and life-skills. The school’s motto of ‘’creating prepared minds’’, and it accommodates both the pupils from the Children’s Home (boarding pupils) and from the surrounding community (day pupils).While at school pupils do not pay any kind of tuition fee or upkeep cost, both the Children’s Home and Primary School solely depend on the donations from church communities, organizations, companies, groups, and individuals, well-wishers across the globe with a strong belief in the transformative power of education for an Tanzanian child.
Our Core Values and Principles
Vision
To have a society where vulnerable children live fulfilling lives with dignity, self-reliance, and social integration.
Mission
To empower vulnerable children with holistic support, access to quality education and healthcare, and opportunities to thrive. At completion, students from the school will be able to participate fully in scientific activities, develop competitive analytical and problem-solving skills and will be committed to foster their basic human rights based on their knowledge and conviction to improve their lives and that of others through work and service provision.
Volunteer Stories
We welcome and accept volunteers from all over the world to come and work with us in serving the community and building a better future for our children. Volunteers are needed to teach, spend time with the children and so much more.
In September 2018, I left my comfortable home town in Switzerland and took on a 14-hour journey to Arusha, Tanzania to work in a local orphanage. At the time, I did not really know what I was about to embark on, but I know for a fact that the adventure it ended up being was way above any expectations.
Matonyok Children’s Home is a place led by love, I felt it the minute I walked in. Emmy, who is in charge, is the kind of woman little girls look up to. She is driven and has a heart of gold, which is very much so reflected in how she runs the orphanage. It is even more impressive when you know her husband and herself have built the place up from scratch.I spent a total of 6 weeks teaching English to the youngest ones there. I was welcomed with smiles and hugs every morning, a whole pile of love daily, but I am convinced they had more impact on me than I had on them. Nothing can compare Arusha to Lausanne, my home town, yet everyone had their ways of making me feel at home. The children themselves are absolute sweethearts, from Innocent, the youngest one at the time I was there, to Upendo, a little girl as fierce as a lion, to Abraham, who, before I even had the time to pass the gates of the orphanage, requested daily lessons about Switzerland, in order for him to know which country he would have to fly to when he would become a pilot.
I am eternally thankful for the opportunity Emmy has given me, to have been able to spend time with her and the children, and as I have promised her and Innocent, I sincerely look forward to seeing them again, soon!
I visited the orphanage in September 2018 and was so touched and full of admiration for Emmy & Ndemno and the work they do, I decided to raise funds on their behalf. Their dream is to build a dormitory for 50 Maasai girls to provide them with an education (the Maasai life can be extremely tough, with no opportunity to receive an education). I visited again in April 2019 and with cash donations organized a new Roof in main building (ceilings destroyed from leakages), new concrete floors (originals made of clay and that were full of cracks, and I was told snakes/scorpions can come up through them), ceilings in main sitting room and girls bedroom. Both areas were also painted and electrics upgraded. There is lots of work to be done to make life a little more comfortable for the children.
My next visit was in November 2019 where we installed new toilets and a shower in main house, provided dining tables for the children (they normally sat on floors). They can also use these tables for study time in the evenings. A lot of new shelving was provided in bedrooms and in food storage. I was booked to return in April 2020 but unfortunately due to Covid-19 this trip was postponed.
I was fortunate to return in December 2020 for 2 weeks, during which time monies raised in Ireland sponsored 7 children, replaced all mattresses, installed mirrors in bedrooms, bought chairs and completed some minor works. Paid for the upgrading of the Volunteer House (2 en-suite bedrooms) including tiling, new bathrooms etc – works just completed in time for my visit. I visit twice yearly since and to-date have secured sponsorship for 20+ children to attend school onsite and continue to improve the living conditions at the Home.
