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Story

I am James Boniphace Ng’imba, 35 years old from Tanzania, I obtained my first degree in Procurement and Logistics Management in 2017. In August 2018, I started an online business selling men’s suits and accessories (Named and Registerd as James Trends); however, I encountered difficulties due to lack of funds. I relied on purchasing products on credit, which created challenges in maintaining the business. To supplement my finances, I started working in September 2019 as a branch accountant of a financial institution, earning about $170 per month. In August 2020, I applied for the position of Procurement Officer at the institution’s headquarters and started my work in September 2020, earning a salary of about $296. After 20 months, I chose to resign because the salary was not enough to meet my living expenses. I was struggling to continue my business with $1,155 because I had to find the address (renting a room for business) and having limited product selection. Although I borrowed $2,300 worth of products from a vendor, I was only able to repay $770 after six months. In search of better supplier options and to generate more income to repay the debt, I traveled to China with $2,000 in family support and $1,000 of my own money. The trip in July 2024 was successful, enabling me to purchase $2,000 worth of products and increase business performance by almost 40%. In November 2024, I was informed by a family member about a job opportunity in Canada and invested $3,500 in the application and process, only to find out later that it was a scam. This setback affected my business again. I looked for employment abroad and met another agent who offered me the opportunity to travel to Turkey for work and education. In June 2025, I obtained a visa to Turkey and started working at a hotel in Antalya, earning a monthly salary of $641 while doing the hard work of washing dishes, collecting garbage and cleaning the kitchen. However, I worked there for five months without a valid work permit, despite paying the agency $3,000 as an introduction fee and a work permit in the country, which was sponsored by a brother who shared the Canadian Opportunity with me. When the hotel was closed for the season, I looked for other work and found a job in the forest earning $45.80 per day; however, the bad weather caused a decrease in income, especially during the rainy season, we could not work and there was no pay, despite the challenging weather conditions, the accommodation was poor as I slept outside in an area surrounded only by a turbine, in the bitter cold. My main job was to collect the pieces of wood cut by the machine, prune them and then collect them in places where the tractor could easily reach and load them. A few days later I developed back pain due to the hardships of the work, an issue that no one cared about and as a result they forced me to go to work with the same condition which led me to resign from that position and leave the area and I was sponsored for housing by a fellow African (from Nigeria) whom I had met there. Later, I traveled to Edirne for farm work but did not manage to reach the farm as I was arrested by law enforcement at the bus stop waiting for my host for an expired visa, resulting in two weeks of detention in a detention center before being returned to Tanzania on December 22, 2025, regardless of the political situation we were in. Life in the camp was difficult without even freedom of communication. For almost the entire time my relatives could not know where I was, which caused anxiety for them. This situation made me put pressure on the leadership to return me to my country despite the unstable political situation. Now that I am back in Tanzania and my business has stopped, I am requesting assistance of $10,530 to restart operations. The financial assistance would be allocated for one year of rent, operating expenses, equipment, content production equipment, and to pay off existing debts. I express my sincere gratitude to you, as your assistance will bring new hope to my life and that of my dependents. All the challenges I faced were intended to improve my life and the community at large, aimed at combating the issue of poverty. Furthermore, it is important to continue providing services to the local community by meeting the basic need, clothing, while also creating job opportunities for other young people who need help in developing their lives.