Hujambo! Welcome to our new website. Karibu!
“Asiyefunzwa na mamae hufunzwa na ulimwengu”
“It takes a village to raise a child”
The Malahoff/Fraser family was recruited to work Kilema, Kilimanjaro in 2006 by Dr. Don Kilby, an Ottawa doctor who started CACHA (Canadian Africa Community Health Alliance- www.cacha.ca), a Canadian NGO involved in pursing community health initiatives in five countries in sub Saharan Africa. As predicted it was an experience of a lifetime with Dr.Chris Fraser working in the HIV clinic and hospital settings and Stephanie Malahoff RN working with orphan children and their caregivers, mostly grandmothers who have come to represent Africa’s strength. Children Sasha, Eva and Lockie worked with the hospital orphan program as well, packing supply bags (beans, corn flour, oil soap), sorting clothing and assisting with distribution in many different ways. In 2007-8, we left Canada with best wishes and a significant collection of donations, Can$11,000., toward meeting priority needs in the Kilema community. We recognized the interest in and need for educational support among vulnerable children and families and thus was born Kilema Support Fund Tuition Project, CACHA. We remain indebted to Don Kilby and CACHA for encouraging us to extend our reach across the world and for supporting the development of our project and it’s ongoing support work.
Each year in January KSF Tuition Coordinator, Stephanie Malahoff , is accompanied to Tanzania by friends interested in assisting with the project and experiencing this part of the world. This year David and Caroline Crossley will accompany Stephanie and daughter Eva Fraser to Tanzania for a month of volunteering and adventure at rural Kilema Hospital, leaving December 30th 2011. We look forward to meeting Tanzanian hospital staff, community health workers, children and caregivers, reuniting again with the many friends and colleagues who supported our family during our year abroad. David and Caroline will have their introduction to the dedicated people who provide service in the 90 bed hospital, outpatient clinics, HIV center and Orphan and Vulnerable Children Program. David Crossley will be undertaking an assessment of technology education, infrastructure and challenges in five local secondary and vocational schools and brings an $1000 IBM technology grant for appropriate distribution to a school in need. Our primary purpose in visiting is to continue the on-going work of reviewing and arranging payment of tuition for up to 60 students for this school year, working along side staff at the Kilema Orphan and Vulnerable Children Program.
The first thing you should know is that KSF Tuition Project is a community endeavor. Our donors have been the ‘the village’ helping eager but disadvantaged children in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania obtain enrollment in school so they can work to their potential. Not immune to our own good fortune, our ‘village’ has assisted grandmothers and caregivers to provide what should be a right for all children; the right to an education. A steady stream of donations, large and small, has been translated into tuition and school support for an average of 54 students annually since 2008. KSF Tuition Project has been the conduit for persistent generosity, fulfilling the desire of this community to take care of other children as well as our own. So thank you to everyone who has contributed to the success of the project; friends, family, community organizations and classrooms in the Victoria B.C. area and as far flung as Dease Lake B.C., Qualicum B.C., Montreal, Bristol, England and even southern France!
Donated funds are allocated as follows:
90% go directly to student needs.
10% to CACHA programs.
The coordinator and accompanying visitors are personally responsible for all personal costs (flights, accommodation and ground transport and logistics).
We welcome you to explore this evolving website; read the blogs, review KSF Tuition Project students , look at annual expenditures and individual receipts. Please recognize that steps have been taken where possible to preserve the privacy of children, already vulnerable. Please contact us with any questions, suggestions, contributions or clarifications!
School visits to review sponsored students.
Dipping mosquito nets with incesticide.
Distribution of beans.