Sara (not her real name) lives in Singida with her parents and five siblings. Sara left home when she was five years old. She had seen the excitement on her three older siblings’ faces when they unfolded their first school uniform and received the first set of pens their parents gave them. Their mornings were filled with laughter as they prepared for the school day.

She watched her siblings each year, longing to join them. But when the time drew closer for her to start school, her aunt, with her parents’ blessings, took her to another city. When she was five, she moved away from home with her aunt and went to live with her in Dar es Salaam. Her aunt was a teacher and promised to take care of her.

“My sister came to us and asked us if she could take Sara to live with her, so we let Sara leave. She promised to enroll her in school and take good care of her. We believed she would,” said Yohana* (not his real name), Sara’s father.

Though she wouldn’t be sharing the joy of starting school with her siblings, Sara was still excited. Her aunt was a teacher, and her parents hoped that would put Sara at an advantage.

A ten-hour bus ride took Sara from her home to Dar es Salaam. She did not want to leave her siblings, but her parents convinced her to go with her aunt. Sitting on the bus, she was sad to leave but looking forward to a new adventure. “My parents told me I would go to start a better school there, and that made me excited,” said Sara.

It took a while for Sara to adjust to the dynamic nature of the city, but going to school made it easier for her. She was also registered at a Compassion center in Dar es Salaam and met more children from her new neighborhood. But before long, Sara’s aunt started mistreating her, forcing her to work in the home and garden, withholding food and punishing her severely for the smallest mistakes. At home, she was the only child. But the school day routine she had keenly observed from her siblings was not hers. “I woke up before everyone, cleaned the house, washed utensils, then put a pot of tea on the stove while I worked in the garden,” said Sara. After the morning hustle, Sara would hurriedly prepare for school, most times skipping the breakfast she had prepared.