Created in 2006, Mwema Street Children Centre originally came under the umbrella of a bigger Tanzanian Foundation (Shalom Children Foundation Trust Fund), which identified and promoted projects working for the dignity and rights of children, especially abandoned orphans and street children. Initially called Shalom Street Children Center, it changed its name after registering as an independent NGO in the National Register of Associations in October 2007. It is now called Mwema Street Children Center-Karatu.
At the beginning of 2006, a group of street children was identified in Karatu. They were children aged between 10 and 16 and came from poor families around the town. Poverty, alcoholism and child abuse caused these children to flee their homes for the streets in search of the values that they had been denied (belonging to a group, mutual care, friendship and a small income).
The organization began working with 10 children who stayed in a small empty office with just two rooms until, thanks to the contributions of many Spanish people, a larger home with more suitable conditions was rented, which could accommodate more children.
Gradually Mwema began to look for stronger and more secure sources of funding and at the beginning of 2007 Caritas Asturias signed an agreement for two years of support. This helped to lay the groundwork for the project, allowing moderate growth and ensured that the most basic needs of the children in the centre were met: food, shelter, health care, education, etc.
In its two and a half years of life, the Mwema centre has been located in 3 different buildings, each one better than the last. The current building is best equipped, in terms of basic infrastructure for habitation. The number of workers has also increased to form a multidisciplinary team with different professional profiles who are responsible for the upkeep of the centre (cooks, cleaners and watchmen) and a team of educators and social workers.
Considering the educational needs of the children, Mwema decided to open the doors of the school to other children from the District who have lost their right to education (either through delayed admission or truancy). The centre, called Memkwa in Swahili, was consolidated during 2007 and in early 2008 it was recognized by local education authorities as the only rehabilitation centre for scholarship in the Karatu District, working as an annex of the Endoro Government School, near to Mwema school.