Rafiki Orphanage and Day Care Centre

There is no better sight than a smiling child, and at the Rafiki orphanage and day care centre in Arusha, Tanzania, I get to experience this every day. In Swahili, Rafiki means friend, and this orphanage is based on the concept that you need to be friends with the children to be able to teach them. I am amazed by how much love, attention, and emotional therapy these children receive from their teachers and carers who are doing their best to erase any form of trauma from their past. They offer them high quality education, being able to get them to do two digit divisions and to read and write in Swahili and English by the age of five, and they offer them joy and the love of a family through dance and music. However, unfortunately these 103 children at the orphanage can only receive education until the age of five under the current circumstances. Everybody above five has to go to primary school, which costs 1243 USD per year, per child (covering accommodation, education, food, schooling supplies, and clothes). The principal, Mr. Joseph, has been fighting for years to get the funds to build a free primary school for the children so that they can all get their right to education. The only forms of income of the Rafiki orphanage are the volunteer donations, and the chicken project, whereby the principal owns a farm of chicken and sells eggs and the chicken to raise money for food, school supplies, uniforms, and to pay the teacher salaries. Please help us offer all of these children an educated future! Follow @rafiki_orphanage on instagram to see daily posts of the children!

I managed to join this volunteer program through PMGY, a volunteer abroad organisation who has a placement in Arusha, Tanzania. I met Mr. Joseph, the principal of Rafiki and my friend, through this organisation. People as humble and selfless as him are rare and that is why I felt like his cause deserves all of the help that it can get. 

When the funds will be withdrawn I will be assisted by the local PMGY team in distributing it safely. No cash will be given in hand. We will purchase all of the resources ourselves and hand them in to the Rafiki orphanage and day care.
This is how the funds will be spent:
- 5620 pounds will be used to pay the remaining amount required for the land for the primary school
- 770 pounds will be used for paying staff salaries (there are 8 members in the Rafiki staff)
- 280 pounds will be used for purchasing the food for the 103 children; the food will last them for a full year
- 1630 pounds will be used as a boost to begin the construction of the primary school. We will do one classroom at a time :)
- approximately 200 pounds will go towards the GoFundMe transaction fees, as they charge 2.9%+0.3 for each transaction

Total: 8500 pounds
If you have any more questions about how the funds will be distributed please contact me by email via the address [email redacted], by instagram via the account @_ilincapalinca_ , or by Facebook via the account Palea Ilinca.

On instagram check my Tanzania highlights for more information on this campaign and a tour of the Rafiki orphanage and daycare centre. For the same information check my Facebook feed.

Here is the link to the Rafiki orphanage website: http://rafikiorphanage.org/our-progress/