Supporting children in Africa

Opportunities for children & young people in Africa by supporting locally led projects

We support:

Supported young people and volunteers from different areas of the UK to work with schools in Tanzania and Malawi

Supported an orphan project to secure land and develop a safe place for orphan children to take part in educational activities

Organised practical activity idea training for adults working with childrens projects in Africa

Featured in an East African TV programme based on courses we delivered with schools in Tanzania

Things we have done

Fundraising towards children’s school fees in Malawi

Supporting “YoMo in Malawi” - an independent project led by local volunteers in Malawi to support children through sports and educational activities

Working with schools to raise awareness about HIV through the YoMo in Malawi project

Things we are doing

For 7 years we supported thousands of young people from the most deprived areas of the UK to organise community activities as part of a national training programme for young people. Many young people that participated in this programme subsequently became involved with us as volunteers and travelled hundreds of miles a year to help us deliver training courses to other young people and adults.

Background

In 2005 we supported 18 volunteers to travel to Tanzania and work with schools in the Tanga region. For many young people involved this was their first trip overseas and the first time they needed a passport. Or aim was for the experience to broaden horizons and enable the volunteers to develop skills they could adapt for their work with us in the UK.

Following a successful experience in Tanzania we decided to form an independent charity and support other young people to have similar experiences.

Background

In 2006 The YoMo Foundation supported a group of volunteers to work with schools and children’s projects in Zomba, Malawi. In Zomba we worked with the Grace Orphan Project who at that stage were meeting with 150-200 orphan children on a small piece of borrowed land next to somebody’s home. We agreed to support them over a three year period and to provide funding towards acquiring their own land.

In 2007 We returned to Malawi, to work specifically with the Grace Orphan project over Christmas. Working in their newly fenced off land we organised arts activities to help the children prepare for their own Christmas party. We also worked with senior children and adult leaders to provide them with practical ideas using sports, games and teambuilding activities.

In 2008 a local volunteer in Zomba approached us. Inspired by the work we’d done with the Grace Orphan project, he wished to create a project called “YoMo in Malawi” to support children orphaned and in poverty to be able to attend secondary school. We visited the project in the summer and agreed to provide initial support for the project.

Background

Over time our emphasis has shifted from what an overseas experience can provide for our volunteers, towards how can we use the skills available to us to best benefit projects we work with. Much like our work in the UK the most powerful outcome of our work is to inspire others to take action themselves.

Despite the name, the YoMo in Malawi project isn’t our creation. It was set up and is run by local volunteers in Zomba, Malawi who were inspired by work we had done with other groups in the region.

The project provides sports activities for local children including football and netball competitions. Children involved with the project are able to undertake an English test to assess their commitment and dedication to education.

For those children able to demonstrate necessary determination the project provides them with support to attend secondary school including funding for school fees, uniforms and stationery.

Volunteers involved with YoMo in Malawi work closely with local schools and deliver workshops to raise awareness of HIV.

Typical expenses for the project include:

A years school fees for one child: 22,000 Kwacha •(£110)A football: 2,500 Kwacha (£12)•Stationery for children: 500 Kwacha (£2.50)•

YoMo in Malawi

When we first worked with the Grace Orphan Project they met with 150 - 200 children on a small piece of land adjacent to a mud hut.

We provided support towards the group acquiring its own land and building a fence to secure it. The group has since gained additional support to build a meeting place and is currently planning to build accommodation for children on the site.

In 2007 we helped the group organise a Christmas party attended by over 200 children, local Chiefs and teachers. All were well fed on the day - not something the children can guarantee from day to day.

In addition to providing a safe place, the orphan project provides educational activities for children ranging from 3 to 15 years old.

The emphasis of our work with the Grace Orphan project has been to support them with practical ideas they can use with children involved in the project. The chairperson of the project kindly described YoMo as “having walked hand in hand as their right hand man”.

Grace Orphan Care

In Tanzania and Malawi we worked with International Schools, supporting senior students to work alongside our volunteers who supported them to run community activities with children from local schools.

This provided a great opportunity for children attending local schools with few facilities to be able to use the very good facilities at the International Schools.

We helped students prepare by using similar training to our UK programmes, helping raise their awareness and understanding of issues faced by people in their local area before supporting them to use sports, arts and teambuilding activities with children from various local schools.

Schools

We have received generous support from Housing Associations, national companies, local businesses, Premier League football clubs, County Cricket Clubs and the English Football Association and the English Cricket Board. We have benefited from kind donations by many individuals sponsoring volunteers and making direct donations towards children’s school fees.

All our activity is voluntary and we employ no staff. We do not take any funding towards administration other than supporting the out of pocket expenses of volunteers in Malawi.

The projects we support need only very small amounts of funding and we are conscious of keeping it this way so they can remain as sustainable as possible. Much of what they need they already have in the form of dedicated local people supporting them.

For the little they do need every penny counts. The school fees for one child can be as little as £100 a year. This is little by Western standards but a great deal in Malawi and a great deal more if you don’t have parents able to support you.

The YoMo FoundationSuite 218

29-30 Horse FairBanbury

OxonOX16 0BW

Tel: +44(0)1295 298486Fax: +44 (0)870 123 1916

info@yomofoundation.co.uk