“Together we can make a positive change in a child's life”

Find out more about our work with the African Children's Fund and the difference you are making!

About the African Children's Fund

The African Children's Fund is a charity working to break down the barriers preventing African children leading happy and fulfilled lives.

Established in the spring of 2006 by Dee and Peter Tyrer, they are a UK based charity and their projects are run by local staff who are committed to - and know the needs of - their own communities.

Africa's children need an education if Africa is to prosper. These children yearn to learn. Our aim is to help fulfil that yearning - lifting them and their communities out of poverty.

The problems can be awful. The solutions are not rocket science. With your help and the children's courage, education, opportunities and hope for the future can be achieved.

African Children's Fund and Numinous Packs presently work in four African countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe.

Numinous Packs and African Children's Fund Campaigns

We have joined together with African Children's fund to help support a campaign to get children back into school and have the opportunity to provide a better life for them and their families.

When parents cannot afford to feed their children, they have to work, beg or scavenge for food in order to survive.

Making a Difference

With your help and support Numinous Packs will provide 15 school meals for the most vulnerable children in Africa for EVERY Numinous Backpack bought at retail!

Together we really can make positive differences in these children's lives and give them the opportunities to educate and work themselves out of poverty

African Children's Funds' projects work with some of the most vulnerable children in Africa including street children, those affected by HIV/AIDS and victims of abuse.

Watoto Kwanza

Kenya was the first country African Children's Fund worked in and their name there has now become synonymous with their "Porridge Clubs". These run in eight schools in and around Thika and allow children to take up the free education offered and go to school.

When parents cannot afford to feed their children, they have to work, beg or scavenge for food when they should be at school. The provision of a nutritious porridge meal once a day eliminates this problem entirely... What's more, a hungry child struggles to learn or concentrate - so the introduction of "Porridge Clubs" into some of Thika's most needy schools has produced remarkable results!

Our partner Watoto Kwanza (Children First) reports that:

• Absence rates are down by over 80%
• There are fewer cases of children falling ill due to better nutrition
• The children's participation in games and physical education activities has improved
• Enrolment within the schools has increased with higher completion and retention rates once enrolled
• Children are achieving better results in their exams

Through African Children's Fund, we provide the schools with a basic kitchen, water and cooking utensils. After that the schools receive a supply of a nutritiously fortified porridge each month so the children receive a school meal each day. Some of the schools have planted their own kitchen gardens and are supplementing the porridge with fresh vegetables and beans.

Watoto Kwanza and African Children's Fund are currently supplying 1,550 mugs of porridge each school day. This equates to 7,750 mugs each week which results in an incredible 93,000 mugs of porridge every school term! Impressive numbers, we're sure you'll agree!

13-year-old Agnes is a pupil at Ng'ate Primary School and she tells us: "On behalf of all the pupils of Ng'ate Primary School, I would like to appreciate your support for the porridge feeding programm. Our pupils are healthier than other children in the community. Our performance in exams and sports is among the top ten schools. We hope that you will continue like that. Now, there is no absenteeism. Our health has improved from the time this programme started until today."

Watoto Kwanza also manages our Education All Month, Every Month programme whereby we tackle absenteeism among girls by providing them with sanitary towels and underwear. Further information about this programme can be found on our Campaigns page.

The Quentin Junior Academy

The Quentin Junior Academy is located in the Kimara area of Dar es Salaam and provides a nursery education for children aged between 2 and 6 while their guardians work to support their families.

The Academy accommodates around 70 children who - without the nursery facility - would be left at home alone during the working day. Some of the children enrolled at the nursery have been rescued from mining and begging in the Kimara area and many are sadly affected or infected by HIV/AIDS.

Your donations help us to support the nursery by providing educational materials and a nutritious meal for the children while they are at school. We have also helped the nursery to develop a vegetable patch and have provided them with new equipment to help them reach their goals.

Zimbabwe NGO

For several years, African Children's Fund has supported the efforts of a local Zimbabwean NGO - the Mwana Trust - whose overall objectives are to provide basic education, healthcare, food and psycho-social support to disadvantaged, orphaned and vulnerable children in and around Mutare - an area where HIV/AIDS is prevalent. The Trust works with 150 children orphaned by AIDS who are living either with elderly grandparents or who are left alone to take care of themselves. Without the help of Mwana Trust, they would be forced into a life on the streets, with no education and no hope for the future.

The activities of the Mwana Trust are far-reaching and cover crucial elements such as the payment of school fees and the provision of school uniforms, the distribution of food hampers, sanitation solutions and counselling services. Each of which is crucial to encouraging children to attend school.

In a unique show of support, services are not only provided to the children directly but also to their guardians - many of whom are elderly grandparents or great-grandparents in need of guidance and assistance themselves.

In the words of Sophia - a Grade 7 student at Mt Dangare Primary School: "I would never have been able to write my examinations if it had not been for the kind educational support that I received from Mwana Trust. My Grandmother was thinking of withdrawing us from school when Mwana Trust saved the day!"