Lucas James

Lucas is 15 years old and comes from a small village outside of Moshi. After his parents divorced, Lucas’s father remarried. Lucas and his step-mother did not get along. Like many step-parents in Tanzania, Lucas’s step-mother wanted her own children to receive the small amount of land that the family owned after she and her husband passed away. Lucas stood in the way of that.

After suffering verbal and physical abuse from his step-mother, Lucas ran away to his grandparents’ home. He stayed for a few months, but could tell that he was putting a lot of pressure on them. The family didn’t have enough money for food or basic supplies, so Lucas chose to leave and take his chances on the streets.

When Amani’s street educators found Lucas he was living a hand-to-mouth existence, begging tourists for money to survive. They brought him to Amani, where Lucas began to go to school. He’s now ready to finish his primary school education, something only 54% of Tanzanians accomplish. He enjoys mathematics and hopes to one day become an accountant.