Maria Kudura Masanja
Maria was born in a village named Tonto/Tondo in Mwanza town she has no recollection of when she was born. She has four siblings, two brothers and two sisters. She worked as a farm laborer all her life, which wasn’t a steady source of income as it depended on farming seasons. She was married and had one child, a son who moved from Mwanza to Moshi as a young boy to be raised by his father. Eventually the father died and she then sought to find her son in Moshi.
On arrival she couldn’t find him, and had no one to help her, and she also can’t speak much Swahili, so she spent three months at the bus stand in hopes of finding him but wasn’t successful. Eventually the authorities knew about her and they then brought her over to the Langoni Old Peoples Home in March 2014.
Maria is a soft spoken lovely lady who loves beards and long hair. She likes to take pictures wearing peoples’ long hair as her own and will take a nice warm hug from you every day. She loves hugs. She also loves to listen to stories and laugh at ridiculous things. She could laugh all day.
Katarina Baltazari
Karatina is a 60 year old colorful woman, form the Musoma region. She came to Moshi when she was seventeen with her mother and her youngest of two brothers after her father passed away. She had fallen in love with an older man and moved hto Moshi to marry him. She stayed married to her husband for seven years and they had no children after she suffered several miscarriages. Her husband then retired and wanted to move back to his home town. However, Katarina had no interest in moving away from Moshi so she opted to stay here in and he went on home.
She has a brother who is still alive but too old to travel and couldn’t afford transport costs to come see her. She does not know if her husband is still alive. She came to the wazee home two years ago after having been hospitalized in Kibongoto from six months with chest issues. Katarina loves to get her nails painted, she loves to wear her nose ring and has a little coal cooker where she cooks the most delicious vegetables every once in a while. Katarina is loved by absolutely everyone in the community around the home. They all know her and they come to visit her daily with gifts. She also loves to stay on top of the village gossip! So every time we go over she has a funny story to tell us about her neighbors. If you want any stories about anyone, just ask Katarina, she knows it all!
Mr. James Joseph
Mr. James Joseph came to the Langoni old peoples home on the 5th of January 2013. He originally is from Iringa but when he was a young boy his parents had relocated to Moshi for work. He was an only child, and had a wife whom he separated from. He had always suffered from anemia and stomach ulcers. He was admitted at the public hospital at least fifteen times and since it was a government hospital they footed his bills, but after that they moved him to a private hospital because they couldn’t keep him there anymore, but he had to pay for it so he spent his entire savings paying the hospital bills. When he ran out of money and had no relatives to help him out, they transferred him to the home.
Mr. James loves gardening. Ever since we started the ‘beyond the roots’ garden project he has been on top of it all. He is always back there just weeding or watering or anything as long as he is in the garden. He says he loves the garden because it gives him something to do with his time. Mr. James who also speaks English loves to read books, and play board games, his favorites are dominos cards and connect four.
Mr. Masanja Maalim Seif
Mr. Masanja is originally from the Tabora region. He is 65 years old and he came to Moshi in 2002 because he lost his parents and had no other relatives in Tabora. He never married nor had children. While in Moshi he didn’t have a job so he begged for a living. He couldn’t afford a home so he lived with a family of good Samaritans for a good number of years.
He came to the home in December 2014 after he approached the local government chairperson and told him that he had no home and needed help. The chairperson then signed a permission slip for him to live at the home. Mr. Masanja is a lovely man who loves to interact with people and likes to tel them about the home. He also speaks very good English and he is always chatting away at someone with his impressive English. He is also a huge fan of bananas. We bring these with us on every visit to the home.