The work of the Amani Centre has continued throughout this difficult year. Much of the local support dried up during the height of the Covid pandemic and has still not returned to the pre-pandemic levels.
To help the Amani Centre continue their work supporting children with disabilities, please purchase Amani Gift Christmas Cards for friends and family this year.
You can choose either a £10 (displayed on Latest News page) or a £20 Card (shown to the left).
To order the cards, email: bridgetg@talktalk.net
To pay for the cards, please see payment details via the link. Make sure to reference 'Cards' on bank transfer and on back of cheques.
Government regulations dictate that a new dormitory is required to allow the girls at the school to be housed in separate quarters, and if this cannot be achieved – the school may be forced to close. Amani plan to convert the current staff/volunteer lodging into a new dormitory to facilitate this. The conversion will cost £1600 and will allow the girls their own accommodation and mean the school can continue to carry out the incredible work they do.
It would be a tragedy if the school could not continue due to insufficient dormitory space, so FOAT is committed to help raise the funds required to overcome this latest challenge.
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 have lobbied local Government officials to provide land and basic utilities (electricity and mains water). This has happened. Now Amani is looking to raise £13,500 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 £8,000 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.
The below showcases some of the fundraising efforts of FOAT over the years.
If you are interested in getting involved in fundraising for Amani, please get in touch using the details on the Contact Us Page.
On 7th March, Bridget and Leslie along with their local church, fellow trustees Rachel and John, and friends Aurelia and Sumi held a successful fundraising event.
Coffee, cake, samosas and traditional Tanzanian foods (Bagia and Vitambua) were served, Tanzanian crafts were sold and a raffle was held. The children were kept occupied with activities such as craft making using traditional Tanzania cloth, beading, learning numbers in Swahili and colouring in safari animals
Thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who helped make this event such a success.
If you are interested in hold your own fundraising event for FOAT, please do get in touch.
Funds recently raised for the Helena Memorial Fund have supported young Sinyati with medial support that is not available in a rural area, and otherwise relatively expensive. Her parents were very grateful for the support and care received in Mororgoro Town. This is a good example of how Amani Centre is reaching out to the most traditional of cultures in Tanzania with a very contemporary message of support for the disabled.
On Saturday 30 March 2019, Amy Fancourt hosted a Quiz Night with Tanzanian Supper in Redlands Parish Hall, Reading to raise funds for Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT). She was supported by four of the FOAT Trustees, Bridget & Leslie Green together with Rachel Derry and John Bullock who ably took charge of the raffle and bar respectively.
Following a brief presentation by Bridget outlining the background to Friends of Amani Tanzania and the work of the Amani Centre, Graeme Fancourt took to the Quiz Master chair. Graeme’s choice of theme – ‘Remarkable Women’ – was in recognition of two such women:
· Amy, who, in addition to organising this event, was preparing to run the London Marathon for the charity, and
· Mama Bakhita, the founder of the Amani Centre in Morogoro, Tanzania.
In between rounds of the quiz, guests were served a Tanzanian themed supper of banana stew with rice and pitta breads, followed by ‘vitumbua’ with tropical fruits.
Quiz teams were made up from across the local community including members of the church, the university, local friends and Queen Anne’s School staff. Graeme’s quiz was challenging but fun with two teams vying for first place meaning a tie breaker was needed to determine the champions.
FOAT has a charity ballot place for the London Marathon and we welcome supporters who are keen to run for Amani.
Trustee Rachel Derry completed the Marathon and along with partner, John Bullock, and Graeme Fancourt in 2018 raising over £5000 together. These funds all go towards continuing projects at Amani’s three sites and have supported their financial requirements and running costs.
On 11th December 2018 we had news of a devastating storm at the Special School at Mvomero! Luckily everyone was safe, but the damage was extensive.
We asked all our supporters to help raise £3,000 and the appeal more than delivered with over £4,000 raised. The images show; the rebuilt school - still to be rendered, and the damage beforehand (images between December 2018 and February 2019).
In 2017 the daughter of Bridget and Leslie Green, and former Amani Centre volunteer, Helena Green died after a long-term illness. Helena's loss brought deep sadness to all who knew her and who had travelled with her to Tanzania.
Helena opened up Amani Centre to the admiration and benevolent potential for her parents, the other Trustees and many others. Her memory has raised thousands of pounds and the Trustees would be grateful for continued donations to Amani Centre in her name.
Following a visit to Amani in May 2018 by FOAT Associate, Barbara Bristow, funds totalling over £4,000 given in memory of Helena Green were sent to Amani for the Helena Green Memorial Project.
The project brings together the young disabled and their families from the Morogoro area, to raise awareness of care for those with intellectual disabilities and to develop entrepreneurial skills so that these families may be better able to support themselves.
The below two photos show business projects that two of the groups have implemented – one making beautiful beaded bags to sell, and one making cakes.
Barbara Bristow, a retired teacher has been supporting the Amani Centre for over six years. In that time she has raised over £10,000 for the Amani Centre. In 2015 she raised over £4,500 towards the tractor seen above. The tractor has increased the income from agricultural projects considerably. Last Year she raised over £2,000 utilising FOAT's Just Giving pages. Barbara has helped FOAT in raising funds to start the school for the hearing impaired at Amani's vocational training centre at Mvomero. Barbara makes regular visits to Tanzania and is planning her next visit later this Summer. In past years she has arranged for students from COBC to visit Amani and undertake a number of useful projects.
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