The founder of Streetkids International, Daniel Preuß, is still the driving force of the small, non-profit charity today. In this interview, he recounts his incentives, the purpose of the charity, the work in Tanzania and of problems including corruption.

In 1999 I was working in Tanzania. At a cocktail party in the capital Dar es Salaam, a Tanzanian social worker Consolata Lifa approached me and asked me – in perfect German by the way – if I wanted to do something for their country, which is amongt the poorest in the world. We got to talking, and it wasn’t long before I knew: I want to help the people in this country! At the time I was an IT manager, and the Golden Years of the new economy had allowed me to put aside some money. The very next day, I transferred a sum, which would be able to rent a house, and shortly afterwards the first orphanage could be acquired.

Friends and acquaintances in Germany supported me; on one hand through donations, but also in that they acted as multipliers or were on hand with the know-how to create an internet presence. In 2001 I founded the association of Streetkids International, to be able to give donors tax relief for their commitment. The association is now recognised as non-profit and charitable.
We have been running four of our own orphanages since 2015, in which over 50 children live, who come from families who are no longer in the position to look after the little ones themselves. In addition we have the production and training workshop, where young people are trained to become carpenters or tailors. Since 2014 we have also been running our own little kindergarden with our own staff. It is being further expanded.

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As a general rule, I do the work in Tanzania in person. Every time I travel to Tanzania I bring clothes, schoolbags, stationery, and toys for the children with me. On location I supervise the management of the household in the orphanages. I talk with the teachers to see how the children are achieving in school. When more children should be taken into one of the two orphanages, I visit their social environment to make sure that they really have no more relatives who could look after them. And I acquire staff and volunteers locally.

For food, for medical care and for school and training. For medicines against malaria, inflammation, skin diseases, vitamins for malnourished children, for antibiotics and surgical dressing. For paying the foster families and staff, for house repairs and maintenance of the water systems. For essential purchases like kerosene for lights, oil for cooking and for plenty of water. And also for cars so that we can transport everything.

Corruption is one of the biggest problems in Tanzania and it harms of course the poor especially. Of course, it also hinders our work: budgets for the new build of another orphanage, for the school and further education of the children or for medical care must be constantly re-discussed with the authorities, and procedures continuously re-clarified. Even the official status of the association, its nonprofitability and charitability is constantly debated and has to be re-negotiated, because government employees are trying to swindle money by defining new rules and regulations out of the blue, which ultimately boils down to a bribe. Nevertheless we always try to avoid this for the sake of our children.