The NDY Charitable Trust have been sponsoring Vanessa since 2017, which was at the start of her St Jude’s journey. Vanessa is currently a student at the Sisia Primary Campus of St Jude’s.
Vanessa and her family live in Imbaseni, an old agricultural area near Usa River. Vanessa‘s family home is constructed of wood. Like many other Tanzanian dwellings, their home has no internal plumbing – buckets of water for cooking, drinking, washing and cleaning are collected from a nearby tap a ten-minute walk away. Vanessa’s home also doesn’t have electricity – light is usually provided by a kerosene lamp and meals are prepared outdoors over a wood fire.
To support the family, Vanessa’s father and mother work as farmers on the land behind their house. Vanessa’s family grow maize, beans, bananas and vegetables.