Minors with disabilities on their way to healthier future

TUESDAY September 16, 2025

By Mussa Juma

The Tranquility News Correspondent, Tanzania

The government in Meatu District, Simiyu Region, Tanzania, has pleaded with a tourism investor to consider expanding his medical support in a bid to reach out to all villages in the district.

Meatu District Commissioner Fauzia Ngatumbura said her office had received requests from villages excluded from the medical support, asking the investor to incorporate them.

Mwiba Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Friedkin Conservation Fund (FCF), has identified a total of 195 children with various underlying health conditions in 16 villages surrounding the investor’s tourism facilities to restore hope and smiles to them and their families.

The Identified minors include children with legs curved outward at the knees (bow legs); both feet pointing downward, turning inward, and the sole facing backwards (clubfoot); and open and split lips or roofs of the mouths (cleft lip and palate).

“We, as the government, are ready to cooperate with the investor to ensure more children benefit from this service,” said Ngatumbura as she saw off 36 brave minors embark on a journey to better health.

We, as the government, are ready to cooperate with the investor to ensure more children benefit from this service,” Meatu District Commissioner Fauzia Ngatumbura.

The children were heading to KAFIKA House – a medical facility based in Arusha, also in Tanzania, for life changing surgeries.

“Last year, 28 children underwent surgeries and recovered, and this year, 53 children will receive surgeries, with 36 in the first phase,” the District Commissioner said.

Ngatumbura highlighted the financial relief the medical support provides parents who cannot afford high costs of treatment, urging the parents to refrain from neither hiding children with underlying health conditions nor associating their disabilities with superstition.

Mwiba Holdings Projects Manager Sylvester Bwasama said an awareness campaigned had increased the number of children identified for the surgeries from 63 last year to 131 this year.

He said the medical support, which was part of Mwiba Holdings’ contribution to the community from its tourism income, aimed at ensuring children with underlying health conditions received care and recovered.

Community Development Officer Bonji Bugeni was buoyant the initiative would go a long way not only in alleviating financial burdens on parents, but also in giving them room to focus on income-generating activities.

Parents expressed gratitude for the medical support as they shared stories of their children’s medical challenges and recovery.

Neema Daniel, a resident of Makao Village, admitted that she was unable to foot exorbitant cost for her child’s treatment, believing that, with the Mwiba Holdings’ medical support, her child would recover and join other children at school.

Timotheo Ngassa, a resident of Sapa Village, said his son Emmanuel was among the 28 children who underwent surgeries last year. “He was unable to walk, he’s now walking, playing, and enjoying like never before,” he said.

Emmanuel, who underwent surgery last year and has recovered, expressed gratitude to Mwiba Holdings for giving him the opportunity for living like other children without disabilities.

Mahona from Buganza Village said, in turn, that his six-year-old son was unable to play with peers, as leg disability had robbed the pupil of confidence at school.

“After the treatment he received at KAFIKA House, his life has changed significantly—he now plays and attends school joyfully like other children,” he said.

Mwiba Holdings has invested in tourism activities at Maswa Game Reserve, Makao Ranch, and Mwangudo Village Conservation Area in the district, mainly focusing on photographic tourism and hospitality.

The firm has been providing its immediate neghbouring community with several other forms of support, including free school lunch, health centre premises, and ranger postsΩ