ABOUT US

Hope Foundation is a faith based charity which provides care for 28 orphaned or disadvantaged children, a pre school education for 45 3-6 year olds and an outreach programme for up to 120 people who are sick or suffering from HIV/AIDS.

History:

Hope Foundation began in 2002 when Pastor Mrina and his wife began the orphanage, taking in 5 children between the ages of 3 – 10, since then the orphanage has grown and they now care for 28 orphaned or disadvantaged children between the ages of 3 - 18.

The Hope Foundation also began to run an outreach programme for widows of HIV/AIDS and those sick or suffering with other illnesses. When starting the outreach programme no one was aware of how to take care of HIV/AIDS sufferers. Mark, the Pastor and Mamas second son travelled to Arusha to speak to an Australian/Tanzanian charity that runs a training school there for medical volunteering. The charity visited Msae village to speak to the community and help with training the volunteers in taking care of the patients. Whilst in Msae they stayed at the orphanage with the family, this sparked an interest in helping Hope Foundation with educational projects and in 2005 the land was bought for the building of a school with the Hope Foundation committee in charge of the immediate running of it and the charity overseeing it.

A Pre School baby class for 3-6 year olds ran at the church until 2007 when Hope Foundation were able to rent a nearby building, it now has 45 children attending and has two paid teachers who were previously local volunteers.

During 2007-2008 two classrooms for Kindergarten 1 + 2 (ages 6-7) and Standard 1 (ages 7-8) were built and in 2008 the school opened! Teachers were able to be hired and paid, before this the children were taught in the church by local volunteers and some members of the Mrina family. Since then the charity continue to help and support the Hope Foundation through child sponsorship schemes at the school and a view to continue building until there are 7 classrooms at the school to cater for all Standard 1-7 years the full educational requirements.

In 2008 Hope Foundation were able to fund the building of a dormitory for the girls whilst the boys slept in the Kindergarten at night. In 2009 Hope Foundation had a visit from a volunteering group called Path to Africa who arrange volunteering projects in Moshi, PTA began to send volunteers to Hope early in the Summer and after a few months building work resumed when a couple of young volunteers from Ireland arrived via PTA and helped to fund and build a new toilet block and more importantly a dormitory for the boys; finally all the children could sleep within the orphanage at night!

Just after this building work took place, Government officials visited and the requirement of a dining room was highlighted as an urgent necessity; this prompted the Australian/Tanzanian charity to send a team to build a dining room and kitchen which would finally give Hope the orphanage status it required.

In 2009 the Hope Foundation finally became a licensed orphanage! This meant that it met the requirements to be classed as an orphanage, prior to this it was allowed to have provisional status for a number of years until the required building work was finished.

2009 also sees a number of volunteers continue to arrive offering experience in various areas; currently a website and ways of advertising Hope to the local community and the outside world are in discussion as well as working on more structured programmes and roles for volunteers.

ORPHANAGE

Staff/Family:

The Pastor and Mama have lived in Msae all their lives. They have seven children who are all involved in the running of the orphanage in some way; the project management of building work, cooking, cleaning and looking after the children, teaching vocational skills such as tailoring or masonry, as well as researching and sourcing new information to further the goals of the Hope Foundation as a whole.

There are also a number of local volunteers, some who have been helping at the orphanage for over 10 years and some who are just teenagers themselves; they help with teaching the younger children, cooking, cleaning and washing, visiting patients on the outreach programme and helping with the administration of the Hope Foundation.

Hope Foundation have just this year begun receiving independent volunteers who have helped with building projects, working at the school, playing with the children and working on a volunteer plan for the future.

Kids:

There are 28 children at the orphanage between the ages of 3-18. The children have different stories; some have been orphaned through parents dying of HIV/AIDS, others have been abandoned or thrown out by their parents who have not cared for them, while some have been badly neglected or have had alcoholic or abusive parents. Now at Hope Foundation they are cared for and wanted and are given a bed, food, clothes and in most cases an education. Their future is looking much brighter!

About:

The orphanage is not just bed and breakfast for the children, it is their home and some have lived here for almost all of their lives. Many have grown up with the Mrina children and the younger ones play with the Mrina grandchildren; it is much like an extended family. The Pastor and Mama want to provide a safe home for the children who have had a difficult start in life but also a better future, this is why education is very important and most of the younger children go to the local school whilst some of the older ones learn vocational skills that can help them in their future. Even with very little resources the orphanage is a happy place and now that they have a dining room there is a central place for them to play games, do homework, sing and pray together and most importantly eat!

Pre School:

There are 45 children between the ages of 3-6 at the Pre School. They are taught by two paid teachers and currently 2 local volunteers. It is a free service and the youngest children at the orphanage attend as well as local children up to the age of 6. There is only one small room so it can be difficult to teach the class, this is why they are split into two groups and the 3-4 year olds are taught outside on benches (if it isn’t raining!) whilst the 5-6 year olds are taught inside on the floor.

Outreach:

The outreach programme was begun to provide support to the widows and sufferers of HIV/AIDS, it has since grown to include those who are seriously ill and need treatment and support, Hope Foundation currently visits up to 120 people in the local and surrounding villages. The service is carried out by the Mrina family and also local volunteers who can walk for up to two hours to visit somebody who is sick. They can offer company, home care such as washing, treatment or food as well as arranging for a patient to be driven to hospital if necessary. They also offer prayer which can be comforting for those who are too sick to travel to their church. The volunteers are also looking out for where they can help children who may also be sick or living in poor conditions; with a parent who is ill the children can often be neglected. Hope Foundation also run ‘Hope Day’ on the last Sunday of each month where around 126 children from the orphanage and surrounding areas all get together at the school to play. If there is funding they will also get a meal but the main idea is to connect the children and encourage a community spirit amongst them.

Mwika School:

The school was started by Hope Foundation many years ago, it was held in the church and run by volunteers. In 2007-2008 2 classrooms were built with funding from an Australian Christian charity and the school now has approximately 60 students teaching Kindergarten 1 + 2 (ages 6-7) and Standard 1 (ages 7-8). Hope Foundation have a committee which oversees and coordinates the running of the school and the hiring of staff whilst the charity funds the building work, salaries and materials and also finds sponsorship for the tuition fees. Most of the children from the orphanage who are of the correct age attend the school, and Hope are responsible for finding any local children who need funding and putting them forward for sponsorship.

Location:

Hope Foundation is located in Mwika Msae on the Eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro approx 5km outside of Marangu; the start of one of the Kilimanjaro trekking routes. The orphanage itself is about 3/4km from the Marangu to Mwika main road. Marangu is approx 40km outside of Moshi. The orphanage can be reached by Dallas Dallas from Moshi which takes approx 1-1.5hours and costs approximately 1500tsh (75p/$1) or from Marangu it is around 20mins and approximately 500tsh. The stop for Hope Foundation is about 20 minutes past Marangu, after about 15minutes look for two churches close to each other on the left hand side, then ‘Cornerways’ on the right, you then go over a small bridge and after a few hundred yards the road bends to the left, almost immediately after this there is a white sign with Hope Foundation Mwika Integrity School written on it. Bang on the Dallas Dallas and (hopefully) they will stop!

If you ask for Mamba Lekura (Kwa Justine) station they should also stop at the right spot, but still best to look out for the sign.

You then walk up this road up for about 10-15minutes; (cars can access it so if you are in a taxi it shouldn’t be a problem) just follow it up, (it bends a bit to the left and right) till you reach a crossroads where there is a shop on the right, another building just opposite it on the right and a shop “Rex’s” on the opposite left hand side, the road slopes down to the left, follow this round to the left and past the church on the right, turn right immediately after the church and you are at the orphanage.