Who We Are

Everlasting Arms is a non-profit organization that exists to create a healthier society for the children and less privileged. Our staff, which primarily consists of local Tanzanians, focuses on empowering these children by helping them realize their full potential and by eliminating the bondage of poverty. The Director of Everlasting Arms, Assed Josephat, has dedicated the last sixteen years of his life to serving orphaned, impoverished, and disadvantage children. After renaming his ministry, Everlasting Arms, Assed is hopeful and eager as he continues to empower the children and youth from Tanzania and other parts of Africa.

Our History

Everlasting Arms was originally founded in 2000 as the independent outreach, The Way of Life International, which was under the auspices of the Bugando Evangelistic Assemblies of God Church in Mwanza, Tanzania. This ministry was mainly youth based, and was composed of high school graduates and scholars conducting a variety of outreaches. The locations of these outreaches ranged from high schools and colleges, to the streets, outskirts of Tanzania, and even across national borders into east Africa. The Way of Life spread the Gospel through open air meetings, music and dramas, and introduced awareness of abstinence before marriage. During this time, The Way of Life collaborated with other ministerial programs, like the Gospel Group and Tanzania Youth Ministries, as they shared in their common goals.

In 2005, the ministry directed its focus to reaching poor communities, indigenous missionaries, vulnerable families and street children through charitable activities and spiritual teachings. The new focus was placed on providing educational support, medical care and school supplies to specific families and children that were in need. Eventually, our organization began receiving children from the streets, providing psycho-spiritual counseling programs, and placing the children in temporary homes or cluster homes. Some children were placed with foster families, while others were gradually reintegrated with their relatives.

Our organization then began to focus on assisting children that were very much marginalized and impoverished, but would not be under our direct guardianship. Instead, our organization would identify children and youth in need, assist them with their education and register them in school, and provide nurturing care as they received nutritional, educational and medical support throughout the week. In 2016, we changed the name of our organization and Everlasting Arms was officially registered as an NGO with the United Republic of Tanzania.

What We Do

Through progressive research and regular visits into the community, we identify children and youth that are in direct need of support and care. In doing so, we prioritize street children, orphans and the disabled when accepting children and youth into our program. Once in our program, they are reintegrated into homes and monitored to assure the stability and well-being of their situation. Our staff then helps register the children and youth in school and provides them with any educational supplies they are lacking.  Several times a week, the children and youth come to our center to receive nutritious and well-balanced meals, dedicated tutoring services, regular medical care, and psychological and spiritual counseling. We provide them with the opportunity to participate in additional activities, games, and sports. We also hold camps for the children and youth, two to three times each year. During these camps, they participate in music and worship, receive teachings from the Bible, and are introduced to new life skills and international languages.

We are also launching a new leadership program called Real Transformation. Graduates of this program will be placed as ambassadors into their community and given an opportunity to  create a positive impact in their society. The goal of this program is to mobilize the community and initiate new participation and leadership. Through these relationships, communities will receive new awareness in God given values, human dignity, disease prevention, environmental disasters, and promoting high standards of care for the disabled.

Where We Work

Everlasting Arms works with some of the most poor and disadvantaged communities in Tanzania. In these areas, youth, children, orphans, and the disabled are often completely dismissed and disregarding, especially due to poverty and disease. Nearly 70 percent of the Tanzanian population lives under the poverty line and Tanzania has one of the poorest economies in the world. The risk of infectious disease in Tanzania is also very high, and many families suffer from the high number of HIV and AIDS related deaths. Although the full extent is not known, far too many Tanzanian children suffer from child labor, physical abuse, and sexual or gender based violence. As a result of these conditions, millions of Tanzanian children lack the parental care and protection, meals, medical support and education that they need to escape the world of poverty and oppression that surrounds them. Currently, our headquarters are located in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with a sub-headquarters in Ilemela, Mwanza, Tanzania.

(Sources: CIA World Factbook and UNICEF)