Aid2Africa.co.uk
UK Registered Charity 1119045
Building on success - Making a difference

The aim of the project is to build a canteen which can be used by the school children. It will provide shelter from the burning sun in summer and the cold and rain in winter. It will provide the community with another building which can be put to good use at other times.

A brief History of the project in Nkwawangya
from Jennifer

Jambo!
 
In August 2007 I set out on a journey to Africa.  Part of the journey to Africa involved voluntary work in a village called Nkwawangya, Tanzania where I met a fantastic group of people who were to be the group I would work with to finish off an Education Centre for the community.  Basically, this building would be used to teach skills such as carpentry and sewing, the community could use it to further their skills in many different manual, non academic, industries.  This was necessary because in Nkwawangya there isn't a lot of money and although Primary Education is free in Tanzania, secondary education is not and not everyone gets the opportunity to go.  The building was built with the Charity, Madventurer.  They have had a massive input in building and improving some of the Education buildings in Nkwawangya and surrounding villages.  It was there that I spoke to Edgar, one of the villagers and Nkwawangya African project organisers, who explained to me that there is a need for a canteen because the children at Nkwawangya Primary School have to eat outside in winter and summer.  In winter is can be very cold and rainy and in Summer incredibly hot and difficult to find shelter from the sun.

The  group I worked with were students and young professionals and over the five weeks we were there finishing the third phase of the Education Centre, we became extremely close to the people in the community.  On our return to the UK, we've stayed in touch with leaders and children (children we even taught in the classrooms on some days of our stay there).  A few of us wanted to carry on raising money in order for the school and Community to continue to develop. After months of searching for a Charity that could help us to get funds over to the school in a legal and organised way, a great friend I met on project, Kat, found Aid2Africa who, once we'd asked, offered to help us in exactly the way we hoped!  A Charity with exactly the same desires: to improve educational facilities and the general well-being and educational environment of children in Africa

Nkwawangya is based in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, it is stunning, a place full of banana trees and plenty of beautiful surrounding villages, also a place where sadly there is poverty and lack of money to develop the village.  It's a very warm and friendly place, smiling faces of people in the community line the roads whilst people chop the bananas off the trees and the closeness of the community means everyone works together to improve the actual growth of the village's school and community facilities along with the help from Charities.

the NEW kitchen

After two years of organising and fundraising, we are now at the stage where a Kitchen for Nkwawangya Primary School has begun to be built.  Originally we had hoped to raise enough money to build a canteen however, we realised it would take a lot longer to raise the whole amount than we originally anticipated, so although the canteen is still something we could possibly raise enough money for in the future, we decided the kitchen the school needs could be built now with the money we have raised so far.  Basically, we will continue to raise money to help with developments long term.  We came into contact with another Charity called Coco who have also worked in Nkwawangya and have agreed and are now currently able, to oversee the kitchen project which, is brilliant and we are so thankful to both Charities.  The money we raised is now in Africa being used to build the kitchen, Aid2Africa transferred the money raised (over £1700) to Coco at the end of 2010 and by liaising with the headmistress in Nkwawangya, Madam Urassa and Edgar Urassa, who have provided us with valuations and timescales, the kitchen the school and community needs, will be finished very soon.  All those who have contributed to fundraising and Aid2Africa and Coco, who we are delighted to be working in conjunction with, are thrilled to start making a difference to the community we love so much back in Africa! 

Please visit our donation page on the Charities Trust website and make a donation if you wish Click to make an online donation and see what is being done to raise money for the Tanzania project or email admin@aid2africa.co.uk for more information from us.

Thank you so much for all of your donations past, present and future.  The donation page will remain open until August 2011 as we are raising money for kitchen equipment and Community building equipment. 
Below is a photo of the old kitchen and to the right you can see the first photos of the new kitchen - January 2011

Asanta sana
(thank you very much in Swahili)
 
Jen

Two young women, Kat Slot and Jennifer Thomas-Whittington who have worked as volunteers on the community project wanted to extend it by building a communal kitchen / dining hall. Having spoken with them at length, Aid2Africa.co.uk are proud to be able to help them with this worthwhile project. It reflects our desire to live up to our name. We are actively working with communities the Zimbabwe, Kenya and now Tanzania.
At the end of 2010 we were able to send over £1700 to the charity Coco who are currently working this part of Tanzania. They are overseeing the building work and administering the finances on our behalf.

Peter, Edwina, Roger and Janine

Welcome to Amelia Robinson who as made contact with us. She was one of the group working on the original project in Nkwawangya and wants to be involved again, with us, on this latest development. May 2009.