British woman, 26, takes in 14 Tanzanian children

A YOUNG British woman has taken in an amazing 14 Tanzanian children she met after volunteering in an orphanage.

Letty McMaster, 26, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was only 18 years old when a month-long trip volunteering at an orphanage in Africa changed her life.

She ended up staying for three years to support the children she had met, and when the orphanage shut down, Letty took in nine youngsters who would have been left homeless.

Seven years later, she lives with the children after becoming legal guardian to them all, as well as five more kids she met on the streets or at a safe house she runs.

Letty said, ‘These children are my whole life, I raise them all on my own and they keep me going through the long hours of juggling everything.

‘I’m just like any mum raising teenagers, I made a commitment to them and I just feel so blessed to have two families!’

Letty had just completed her A-levels in 2013 when she flew to Tanzania with the plan of volunteering at an orphanage for a month before returning home for university.

Letty said, ‘I chose to fly to Tanzania after seeing figures that showed hundreds of thousands of children living on the streets.

‘Voluntourism and white saviourism at this orphanage is why I’ve done all this. I saw the awfully damaging impact it was having on the children and how it was fueling an ongoing cycle of abuse.

‘Many orphanages are like this – it’s all just a money-making scheme and exploitation of the children.

‘The kids still don’t understand it and I’m sure the Westerners had no idea, they thought they were helping but were actually causing so much damage.