African Reflections Foundations

Water & Sanitation
Community Development
Education
Healthcare

Building of a hand dug well

We first identify communities and villages in need of clean water. Sometimes it’s through people reaching out to us.

Secondly we find and partner with existing non-profit organization working in the country – our “implementing partners”. Why don’t we drill the wells ourselves? It would take years of hydrology and drilling research and training to learn about the soil conditions and become familiar with the culture in each country. So our model is to find the best in the business and increase their capacity instead.

The organizations we partner with have years, sometimes decades of experience providing clean water and basic sanitation. African Reflections Foundation staff then visit the project, monitoring their success and sustainability, providing comprehensive reports to our donors.

Building of deep well

The drilling process

The drilling process takes about 3-4 days, depending on the depth. In some areas, the water level is high, and wells can be dug by hand. In other areas, it is necessary to drill deep wells.

Building of Communal Toilets

Many schools around the country needs better toilet facilities, students especially young girls drop out of school due to bad sanitation facilities at the age of puberty.
ARF has been supporting many schools in Mkuranga with better toilet facilities.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

WOMEN FARMING

Water Changes Everything

WATER transforms communities. Preventable waterborne diseases are drastically reduced.
Long walks to seasonal rivers and swamps are no longer necessary. Time spent collecting water is reduced, offering women a chance to earn an income and children a chance to get education. Water brings people together and offer improved health, thus a better quality of life and hope for a better future.

Women Groups

The availability of water for irrigation encouraged women to engage in farming activities. Five groups were initially formed in five different villages and were supported with starter kits for small scale farming.
They produced vegetables for family consumption and for sale at the local markets in the villages and in the city. In 2008 the mushrooms project was started for women. These agricultural activities were done under the supervision of an agricultural expert from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The farming activities have benefited the groups in providing their families with fresh vegetables, employment opportunities for women, an income and improve their health status in general. The ARF hopes that the scheme would encourage the villagers to be self-supporting in their endeavor to combat poverty.

Oyster Mushrooms Cultivation

Due to Cashew nuts failure to produce in some villages of Mkuranga District, namely Mwalusembe, Kitonga, Kisele and Mpilu villages, the local people looked for alternative crops to be produced locally.
Due to dry season whereby rivers and wells tend to dry, African Reflection Foundation has taken the initiative to get their women groups to start cultivating mushroom which has a good price in the local markets in Dar es Salaam.

Mushroom type known as Oyster Mushroom (variety mammal) will now be one of the projects which ARF groups will introduce this new crop as an alternative to improve income and poverty elevation.

Oyster Mushrooms which are proven to help HIV/AIDS victims improve their immune system have now become a popular vegetable and have also become a delicious dish in a local restaurant.

ARF is talking to major Hotels to buy the crops from the women as part of their support for poverty education in rural villages.

This Project is done jointly with the women and men of the villages as they provide the Bandas (Huts) while ARF provide the materials which are costly, name of the organic bags, sawdust, compost rings and the seeds.

The Mushrooms are grown on a one hundred organic basis, no chemicals, no fertilizers or pesticides are used.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Maasai Women Beaded Products

Empowerment is Limitless

The ancient Maasai tribe are well known for their traditional medicines including roots and bark from trees however, as a result of harsh impoverishment due to drought, it is common to see Maasai Women sitting on roadsides with a small table where they display their medicines trying to earn a living.

African Reflections Foundation initiated a group of Maasai women (Ushanga Crafts Women) to create high quality beaded necklaces by making the funds available for the weavers to work regularly for African Reflections Foundation.

The scourge of unemployment in rural communities of Africa can be tackled by identifying and empowering entrepreneurs, whose small emerging enterprises can be an effective means of job creation in rural Tanzania.

MEN’S WORKSHOP

Economic Empowerment of local Craftsmen

Help them help themselves

African Reflections works with African craftsmen and women who would otherwise be unemployed. By providing fair payment for products, along with consistent purchases and advances, the artists are able to provide education, health care, food and housing for themselves and their families.

The craftsmen are trained in quality control among other things to insure their items will appeal to the International Market.

African Reflections Foundation uses profits from the company to initiate development programs and projects in impoverished rural communities across Africa.

OPENING OF BANK ACCOUNTS

MICROFINANCE

In 2005, ARF initiated five groups comprising of 105 women in Mkuranga District. They started farming by using water wells made available to them in their farmland. Ever since, they have started other projects like sewing groups, organic chicken farming, which brings extra income for themselves and their families.

TUMEAMKA GROUP, MWANZO MGUMU GROUP, NJIA PANDA GROUP, IMANI GROUP, JIPE MOYO GROUP.

Overcrowding in public primary schools is still a huge problem facing the education sector. This is due to lack of classrooms in most Primary Schools in Tanzania. We identify schools and help replace new classrooms.


Classroom used by Standard Seven Students Mkokozi Primary, Mkuranga (2007)		Three New Classrooms under construction (2008)

Children sitting on the floor in their classroom due to lack of school desks, classrooms and teachers offices.


		Children enjoying new desks provided by ARF

		Teachers marking papers

The ARF supports and promotes better health for the rural population.

ARF and Team Rafiki visited Kisele village to assess the needs of the villagers. As a priority the village urgently needed a building consisting of a Day Care Centre, a small clinic and an office for women. The ARF Board Members and Team Rafiki collected donations in cash and in kind worth $60,000.00 towards medical equipments that was distributed to Amana in Dar es Salaam and Mkuranga District Hospital.
Kisele clinic became operational in January 2009 with one permanent Medical Officer and a day visiting doctor whose salaries are met by ARF. ARF is also donating medicines for the clinic. All the materials and construction equipment collected by Team Rafiki and ARF were valued at $600,000/=. The freight charges of the forty feet container were defrayed by a good samaritan who has been very supportive from Albany, New York.

St Xavier Hospital at Mkuranga benefited from the efforts of the ARF to facilitate the running of the Maternal and Child Health Clinic. It was not possible to start provision of services at the maternity ward due to lack of potable water. Thanks to a great partnership between Ms Karen Flewelling’s sponsorship a deep water well is to be constructed for this purpose. ARF and Team Rafiki will provide equipments to facilitate the opening and operation early August 2009.


Maternity ward at St. Xavier Hospital – Mkuranga	Team Rafiki donating hospital equipments at Mkuranga District Hospital

Team Rafiki donating hospital equipments at Amana Hospital