In 2010, Helmina was a pupil at the Quentin Junior Academy preschool in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The nursery school provides free pre-primary education for up to 100 children, many of whom have parents working in local quarries. With no state-funded pre-primary education system, children frequently accompany their parents to work where they often begin watching their parents take on this dangerous work before unscrupulous quarry owners lure them into working themselves.

The Quentin Junior Academy offers a different option.

The preschool provides a safe learning environment for children like Helmina, with lots of opportunity for play, music and physical activity while the children also learn reading, writing, Kiswahili, English and basic arithmetic. The provision of a daily mug of porridge and lunches incorporating vegetables grown on-site takes some financial pressure off parents and means they can leave their children in the safe hands of Quentin and his colleagues while they work.

Despite her father passing away while she was only 2 years old, the Quentin Junior Academy gave Helmina the chance to flourish and create a new dream for her future. One of the games Quentin still plays with children today teaches them about different jobs. Alongside her daily mug of porridge, Helmina loved pretending to be a nurse.

Fast forward 14 years and she has recently enrolled at a specialist medical college in the south of the country, where Helmina is studying for a diploma in nursing and midwifery, turning her childhood dreams into reality.

Quentin tells us: “I am so very proud of Helmina. This is such a good outcome for the Quentin Junior Academy. She told me how much the Quentin Junior Academy helped her. We used to teach her about jobs in medicine and she loved the game so much. Now her dream is going to come true.”

If you would like to help more children like Helmina realise their childhood dreams and create opportunities through education for a more prosperous future, you can make a monthly or one-off donation to African Children’s Fund. Simply visit our JustGiving page to contribute. Thank you in advance for your kindness.