Help the Children of Tanzania Fund
Location: Shirati, Tanzania
Help the Children of Tanzania Project
The Help the Children of Tanzania Fund is used to improve living conditions, education for children and young adults, provide health care to individuals without access otherwise and to support Women's Cooperatives with an income generating project to help them become more independent and better able to support their families.
Current Work
From 2009 to 2017, the fund has contributed to:
Education
- Building 5 kitchens at 5 Secondary Schools to feed around 2,500 students
- School fees for 15 School of Nursing students
- School fees for about 25 Secondary, Elementary, Technical, Teacher's College and disabled students
- School supplies, books and around 250 school uniforms for students unable to attend school otherwise
- Boarding school fees for a number of students
- Bicycles for students walking extremely long distances
Living Conditions
- Building around 10 houses for families living in dire poverty
- Repairing or replacing many thatched roofs
- Buying hundreds of mattresses, blankets, sheets, many kilos of food, clothes, shoes, etc, to respond to immediate needs on village visits
Healthcare
- Surgeries including tubal ligations for women; medicine, hospital stays, prosthetic legs and transportation for patients
- Donations to the Poor fund at hospital for food for patients
- Nutritious food packs for HIV clients at the hospital
- Drugs for HIV/Palliative Care patients
Women's Cooperatives
Have supported 20 groups (around 700 women) with an income generating project of their choosing to provide income to set up micro loans. These loans are used to start their own businesses in order to help support their families. The women also contribute to the project as stated below.
- Provided 7 groups with a grinding machines. The women built the secure building to house the machine. This project always provides a service to the women in the village who were walking up to 10 km. to have their maize and cassava ground.
- 9 groups with sewing machines. The women found a house where they could meet.
- 4 groups with about 100 vaccinated chickens, a few roosters and some wire fencing. The women built the enclosure .
- Set up small businesses for a number of individual families and disabled clients
These projects impact the lives of around 700 women plus their families, so about 3,500 people.
Next Steps
Our aim is to help the children of Tanzania by giving them an education, by supporting Women's Cooperatives with Income Generating Projects of their choosing so they can better support their children and families, but also to respond to the immediate needs of the poorest of the poor by improving their healthcare and living conditions .