After working for more than two years with a few street children in the streets of Dar es Salaam, we were able to develop healthy, trusting relationships with many children as well as nurture in them a positive attitude toward rehabilitation and reintegration into their families and communities. In June 1992, we initiated a residential Drop-In Center to welcome them and a programme of social, economic, and emotional rehabilitation with the final goal of assisting them to renew relations with the families and communities from which they had run away.

During the first year of the project, we accommodated the children in one of the rooms of Manzese Parish Hall, in a very popular area of Dar es Salaam. Then, in June 1993, we moved to a farm (approximately 12 acres) located in the village of Mbezi Luisi, 25 kilometers from the City Center. We still use a small house we purchased early on near the Manzese Parish Church as a Drop-In Center where newcomers can stay temporarily as they learn about the goals and rules of life at Child in the Sun and decide whether or not the organizational structure suits them.

Candidates for the residential Center in Mbezi stay in Manzese for 4 to 8 weeks before being accepted as members of the Mbezi community. Each year an increasing number of boys are reunited with their families directly from the street after making contact with Manzese Drop-In Center.

Currently, there are between 75 and 80 boys between the ages of 12 and 18 years living in the Mbezi community. The combined number of children being cared for in the Manzese, Mbezi, and Msowero Centers total between 100 and 110.