Fundraiser Launched - Helena Memorial Projects
Helena Memorial Projects: Supporting the independence of families of the disabled in Morogoro
Helena volunteered at the Amani Centre in 2005. Her passing in August 2017 left her family and friends bereft, but we are fortified in the knowledge that her legacy lives on at Amani and in the lives of families of the disabled in Morogoro.
Thanks to donations given in Helena’s memory, eight groups of families of children with disabilities living near the Amani Centre were trained in how to set up and run their own small businesses. These are the Helena Economic Social Empowerment Projects. Working cooperatively to run their businesses has helped the families provide mutual support, an income and develop skills in self-reliance.
The Helena family groups have asked Amani to provide training in establishing and running Microbanks. This will help these marginalised families to become self-sufficient by providing them with the knowledge and resources to manage their finances more effectively, take advantage of economic opportunities and raise their status in the local economy.
June 2nd 2023 marks Helena’s 37th birthday and 18 years since she was at the Amani Centre. Please donate to the Helena Memorial Appeal https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/helena37 to raise £650 to enable Amani to train the Helena families to run Microbanks.
Some examples of the business cooperatives
A Market Garden
Making Cakes and Soap to Sell
Making Cakes and Soap to Sell
Making Cakes and Soap to Sell
Making Cakes and Soap to Sell
Making Cakes and Soap to Sell
Making Handbags
Women administering their Microbank in Chalinze
Women administering their Microbank in Chalinze
Women administering their Microbank in Chalinze
Women administering their Microbank in Chalinze
Women administering their Microbank in Chalinze
A New Amani Village for Magubike
The demands for Amani's services are ever increasing. The more Amani does to raise awareness of disability and offer support in the Morogoro Region, the more its services are needed.
Families in the village of Magubike, some 60 miles from Amani Centre Morogoro, have been asking Amani to open a new Centre in their locality. They have over 170 children with varying disabilities and find it difficult to get to Morogoro for treatment.
They lobbied local Government officials to provide land and basic utilities (electricity and mains water). The Government provided this in 2019. In March 2021 the villagers constructed a small building (see photo) but they have no financial resources to complete Phase 1 of the Magubike Amani Centre. Amani is looking to raise £8,500 to open a new Centre in Magubike. Friends of Amani Tanzania has secured a promise of £5,500 for this. We are now looking for £3,000 to help Amani to complete Phase 1 of the new Amani Village at Magubike.
Please help us to help Amani reach this target and to contribute to its core funds.
Fundraising target for Boys' Dormitory reached in April 2023
The Amani Centre has an established primary school in Mvomero, Tanzania for children who are hard of hearing. The school is extremely important for the community as it provides children with additional needs the opportunity of a full education.
In January 2022, the final year students (Standard 7) progressed to secondary education. FOAT is supporting the Amani Centre to create a secondary school extension to cater for these young people. There are 10 children now attending the Amani Mvomero Secondary School.
Thanks to FOAT’s fundraising efforts to date, the first new classroom was built and furnished in 2021 and the second classroom built in 2022. In September 2022, enough money was raised to build a dormitory for the girls.
In April 2023, we reached our target to start building the boys' dormitory.
Fundraiser reaches £5500 target to build Girls' Dormitory
The Amani Centre has an established primary school in Mvomero, Tanzania for children who are hard of hearing. The school is extremely important for the community as it provides children with additional needs the opportunity of a full education.
In January 2022, the final year students (Standard 7) progressed to secondary education. FOAT is supporting the Amani Centre to create a secondary school extension to cater for these young people. There are 10 children now attending the Amani Mvomero Secondary School.
Thanks to FOAT’s fundraising efforts to date, the first new classroom was built and furnished in 2021 and the second classroom built in 2022.
Thanks to some generous donors and fundraising efforts, the £5,500 target was reached and building can start.
Sanga Sanga Group
With these funds raised in memory of Helena Green a group of families in a village called Sanga Sanga decided to retrain in December 2021 and change their business venture to a Microbank initiative. This is following the success of the Microbank in Chalinze village as part of the Ecumenical Economic Empowerment Projects.
The group of families have now have had their training and have all the materials they need to get going.
The Helena Group at Sanga Sanga is led by Mama Joyce, the mother of a girl who has been supported by Amani for over 10 years. We all look forward to hearing about what people have been able to do with the funds.
Trustees Rach and John ran Reading 1/2 Marathon - April 2022
As a charity, Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT) normally gets 1 or 2 people each year running or doing some sort of sponsored sporting event for us. These events are invaluable and help to raise much needed funds for The Amani Centre. Since Covid, these fundraising opportunities ceased, and it has been much harder to raise funds.
After barely running since 2019, John and Rach signed up for Reading ½ marathon. They tried their hardest to find time to train whilst looking after their 1 year old daughter. In Rach's words - "It won’t be fast, and it won’t be pretty, but we will give it our absolute best shot."
Thanks to some amazing outreach work undertaken in rural communities, more and more families are reaching out to The Amani Centre for support. The result is that there are now 15 children at The Amani Centre without financial support. The £463 raised went towards general funds so that these children can continue to live at Amani.
£1260 raised from ‘Food for Start-ups’ fundraising campaign
In 2021, FOAT Trustees, Bridget and Leslie, raised £1550 thanks to the ‘Feed their minds, Feed our bodies’ fundraising initiative.
In 2022, they were back and cooked up delicious meals including Spinach Dhal and Chicken Mexico and delivered these to friends, family and the local community for donations. Part if the funds went to seven families of children with disabilities who are starting community Microbanks as part of the economic social empowerment projects. The rest of the funds went towards the building needs at Mvomero Special School.