Teen Cleaning Machine: Safari Youth Club, making a difference through volunteering

Above: Video featuring the clean-up and some highlights from Safari Youth Club this past year

MANCHESTER, NH – Seven weeks ago a group of friends who belong to the Safari Youth Club got busy cleaning the streets, sidewalks and parks around their neighborhood.  Under the guidance of Hamisi and Sandra Juma, the teenagers have learned that many hands make light work.

They had just begun working on the stretch of Willow Street that runs between Auburn and Valley streets, along the backside of the cemetery and several Elm Street businesses. There, the street and sidewalks had become a final resting place for trash and debris overgrown with weeds and in need of a good clean sweep. By the end of two weeks of working for a few hours each morning, as the weather allowed, the teens completely transformed the area.

“We like to do something to keep the kids busy in the summer. They get home by noon and they’re tired and they won’t be out in the streets,” says Sandra Juma, who is supervising the group on this particular day while her husband is away on business.

But via email Hamisi Juma says that the group has been keeping busy all summer with clean-ups around the city.

“Before we started the Valley Street Cemetery we cleaned different parks – Veterans Park, Beech Street Park, Enright Park, and Hallsville Elementary School,” said Hamisi Juma. “The youth like getting together and doing something positive for the community.”

While that may sound like something a proud mentor would say about how they perceive teenagers should feel about doing manual labor, turns out it was absolutely true.

BEFORE THE CLEAN UP…

…AND AFTER

“It feels good doing this at different places around the community,” said Plamedi Hamisi, 17, who graduated early from Central High School this year and is on his way to UNH to pursue a career in cardiology. “If we don’t do it, no one else will.”

Gershom Matimano, 16, a junior at American High School says the experience of working together to help out in the community “has been amazing. Everyone helps out and it feels good to be here every day with friends.”

Gibril Djuma, 15, says even though it’s summertime, it’s been easy to wake up early and get to work.

“It’s good work and pretty easy once you get into it. You feel like you’ve accomplished something when you finish,” said the Central sophomore who recently relocated to Manchester from Amarillo, Texas.

Nyota Asmani, 14, who will be a freshman this fall after attending Hillside Middle School, says she’s up for just about anything the Safari Youth Club offers.

“My favorite part is being with friends,” Nyota says. “The Safari program helps us with anything we need – we dance Afrobeats and we play sports – it’s always fun.”

Same for Rita Juma, 14, who is a rising freshman at Memorial High School.  “I kinda just love being with my friends and helping the community. I get to hang out every day with people I like.”

There are about 50 kids between the ages of 6 to 18 who participate in the Safari Youth Club, a non-profit organization founded in 2014. When school is in session they meet at the former Hallsville Elementary School building Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays 1 to 4 p.m.

In the summer, they get together for community projects, like the clean up, as well as doing outreach to the elderly.

Being a teenager can be hard enough. But Juma says the idea behind the club was to create a way for refugee and immigrant youth to find a safe and solid path to success as they navigated the many social and cultural changes of life in Manchester.  What started out as mainly a soccer club has expanded to include a focus on academics, says Juma, who came to the U.S. in 2010 after living for six years in a Tanzanian refugee camp.

“After I resettled in the U.S. I became concerned, as I saw most of the African immigrants struggling with many of the same issues they were challenged with in the refugee camp,” including drugs, alcohol and early pregnancies, he says.

“I became desperate for a way to help them. My question was how, when, and where can I find the resources and a place to help them? I investigated various non-profit organizations but none seemed to fit the exact needs of my community.  It was then that I reached out to other concerned immigrants and refugees like myself. We worked together to create Safari Youth Club – an organization committed to supporting youth in creating  purposeful, successful lives as New Americans.”

Many of the kids who’ve participated in the club have found success after high school through soccer, playing for many top colleges and universities, according to the Safari Youth Club website.

“The most important thing the kids get from being part of the program is understanding themselves, who they are and what the community expects from them,” Juma says. “Education and focus for those life skills, to cross these barriers.”

The Safari Youth Club receives funding from different donors but is always looking for support from the community to cover programming needs, says Juma.

“Yes we always can use more community support to help the group to be stable for better serving people in need,” he says.

On the web: safariyouthclub.com