What Can You Get For 3 Cents?

Not much, you’d probably say.

But what if I told you that is all it takes to change a life?

It costs just $0.03 per person per day to deliver healthcare and poverty reducing activities to the 35,000 people living in the Nyamatongo Ward.

By donating as little as $10 you are helping more than 300 people! That is unbelievable, isn't it?

If you donate $50 you are helping 16,667 in one day. If you choose to make that donation monthly you have supported more than 200,000 people in one year. Incredible!

Your donation changes lives every day.

You can read all about our projects on our website: https://www.australiaforcedartanzania.org/

Why should we care about poverty in Africa?

Africa, and Tanzania specifically, is so far away. That can’t possible affect me, nor be my responsibility, right?

I agree, Tanzania is far away - more than 8,000km if you could fly directly - but poverty in Africa DOES affect you on daily basis, and it IS everyones responsibility. I’ll tell you why:

First of all, there are the humanitarian reasons.

Poverty is a human rights issue, and everyone deserves to have access to basic needs such as food, water, healthcare, and education. Poverty in Africa can lead to widespread suffering, and it is our moral obligation as global citizens to help those in need. Don’t you think?

Secondly, there are economic reasons.

Poverty in Africa has negative economic impacts not just for the continent but also for the global economy. Poverty leads to decreased productivity, increased healthcare costs, and decreased economic growth, which has a ripple effect throughout the world. We are seeing it now with inflation and recessions, and increased costs of living.

Poverty also affects political stability.

Poverty is a major contributor to political instability and conflict, which has serious consequences for both the continent and the world. By addressing poverty in Africa, we can help promote political stability and reduce the likelihood of conflict and instability.

Conflict and instability often leads to an increase in migration and in refugees.

Global health is another reason to want to minimise poverty in Africa.

Poverty can contribute to the spread of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, and recently we have all experienced how COVID affected us all.

Addressing poverty in Africa can help to improve public health outcomes both within Africa and globally.

Finally, climate change is connected to poverty alleviation.

Poverty also contributes to climate change and environmental degradation, which has serious consequences for the world. By addressing poverty in Africa and promoting sustainable development, we can help to mitigate the effects of climate change and promote a more sustainable future.

This is truly in everyone’s interests, right?

We can help you!

We give you a tangible and impactful way to make a positive and sustainable change for people living in severe poverty.

We offer you a pathway to create this change with minimal administrative layers between donation to beneficiary.

 Thank YOU

Nina

Take a sip of your water...

Climate change is causing havoc across the world. Devasting floods in some parts - and severe drought others. Tanzania is suffering from the lack of rains along with the rest of Horn of Africa.

Major cities such as Dar es Salaam and Dodoma – home to 6.5M people – are currently rationing water. Water is only available every second day. No running water. No drinking water. No cooking water. No flushing toilets. No showers. No washing clothes or cleaning. No water.

In rural areas everything is just dry. Rivers and water holes are drying up. Only few crops can withstand the drought. Livestock is suffering. Livestock and farming is crucial to the survival of the 61M people living in Tanzania.

This video shows how dire the situation is starting to get for people living in rural areas:

https://www.dw.com/en/tanzanias-drastic-drought/video-62986414

Is there any hope for Irene's children?

It is 12 noon, and the sun has reached its highest point, beating down on my head as I walk towards a few neighbourhood houses scattered in a remote village.

A delicious smell of cooking is reaching me from some of the homes. However, when I reach Irene’s house, the smell is different; a stale and empty smell come from the little mud house in which she lives.

Irene* is sitting on the ground under a tree outside her one-room mud house. She is not alone; with her is her youngest daughter aged 3. After spending hours looking for water, this is the only time she gets to rest before she starts to prepare the evening meal for her family. “I am so tired; I have been up since 4am to fetch water from a seasonal waterhole. It has taken me almost six hours to fill all my buckets. Because the waterholes are dry most of the year, once there is water, you spend a long time waiting in line,” she explains.

The 38-year-old mother of five is currently raising her children alone after her second husband left her two years ago. Coming from a poor family, she never had an opportunity to go to school because her parents couldn’t afford to pay for her school expenses.

Even though tuition is free in Tanzania her family could not afford the costs for a school uniform, pencil, paper, and books. 

She admits poverty is taking its toll on her children, especially her eldest son. Irene says her son has become a village boy with no future after completing form four (Grade 10 equivalent). There are no jobs and they do not have the money for school fees for him to go to college.

Irene earns about $2 a day selling tomatoes on the side of the street. Most days she can afford to cook two meals a day for her little family but some days, when business is slow, she can only afford to offer her children one meal a day.

Irene sees little hope for her children. She wishes her children will get to finish their education, get a job, and break the poverty cycle in her family. “It’s hard to predict the future. Unless my children finish their education and get good jobs, they will end up like me. No parents wish to see their children live in poverty. Reality is, things are hard, and they keep getting tougher each day,” the struggling mother says.

Last Monday we marked the International Day for Eradicating Poverty. Irene and her children are just one family among thousands of families living in poverty throughout the Nyamatongo Ward, and Tanzania.

If you would like to help us eradicate poverty, you can make your difference here:

https://www.australiaforcedartanzania.org/make-a-difference-australia-for-cedar-tanzania-changing-lives

Thank you.

* Irene is not her real name.

Mushrooms are the answer to…. EVERYTHING!

Poverty alleviation, better nutrition, job creation, equality, health, climate change, sustainability, and long-term funding of al our projects!

It can’t get much better than that, can it?

Please listen to Tzippora explain here:

How does it work?

We are currently teaching the skills of mushroom farming in the rural communities in which we work. Collecting 2 tonnes of harvest waste from the surrounding fields that would otherwise have been burnt. This creates the basis of our substrate in which the mushrooms will grow.

Our mushrooms grows in buckets in which we have drilled holes in sides. We are using a couple of rooms in our newly refurbished community centre to house the mushroom farm.

Once the mushroom are ready, our participants will learn the right technique to harvest the mushrooms.

Fresh mushrooms have a relatively short shelf life and needs to be sold quickly. To help with this potential issue, we are adding a drying process at the end. Custom built driers not using electricity but only the heat from the sun has been developed and will enable us to make a product ready for local distribution and export.

How can mushrooms help fund other projects?

Once we start selling our crop the income will be used to sustain the mushroom farm and any surplus will support any of our other projects like Kamanga Health Centre and our Outreach Team.

How does the participants benefit?

Each participant learns a skill. Mushroom farming is very new in Tanzania and as such we are pioneers in this area.

The participants can use this skill to set up a small scale farm at home for own consumption, or they can set up a collaborative farm producing mushrooms in larger scale.

Any surplus of produce can be sold to us where we dry the mushrooms and package them to international standards and export the end product.

How can YOU help?

Even though we have provided the training for our participants free of charge, and we will provide continuous support to those who chose to continue to grow mushrooms, there is a small initial cost for the participant to get things needed to starting growing.

You can help by sponsoring one of our conveniently packaged bundles that will enable our participants to start growing mushrooms right away.

“Home Growing Kit” consists of everything needed for a participant to take home to start growing for own use, or maybe sell any little extra at the local market. A kit costs AUD $15 (USD $10).

“Farm Bundle” consist of everything needed for a 30 bucket farm. This is a small scale collaborative farm that can produce for own consumption, the local market or for drying and export. A farm bundle has the value of AUD $110 (USD $77).

Want to know more?

You can read more about this project on our website here

Regular updates are also on our social media platforms - click one of the Social Media buttons below and make sure to follow us!

Or contact Nina, our Founding Director and CEO, directly here