On this page we will keep you up to date with developments at both Kyela and Kosele between newsletters.

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The Mango Tree sets clear objectives for 2009

In Tanzania

• Purchase and distribute mosquito nets to all remaining orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs)under 10 years of age;
• Intensify efforts to encourage our communities to establish nursery schools;
• Organise more seminars for staff, volunteers, community and village leaders on child care, community sustainability, human rights, and HIV/AIDS prevention education;
• Organise a special seminar and workshop for the OVCs;
• Hold a conference for The Mango Tree alumni;
• Arrange for a group of our staff and Village Volunteers to visit The Mango Tree in Kenya;
• Review our operations and consider ways to improve the quality of our support for OVCs;
• Encourage Form 1V graduates to teach in primary schools after securing permits from education authorities;
• Train and equip able volunteers working in the villages with basic medical skills in order to reduce the frequency of nurses visiting villages, and hence cut down on village visit costs;
• Introduce a student exchange programme with The Mango Tree in Kenya.

In Kenya

• Complete office buildings, open and move in;
• Initiate and support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS;
• Expand community development into micro-credit for businesses and more agricultural activities;
• Encourage the development of The Mango Tree Family Youth Association (see pages 8 and 9);
• Explore possibilities for helping orphans who are registered but not yet receiving much support;
• Continue to build and develop the management team;
• Carry out intensive training of volunteers and staff on basic counseling skills;
• Drill boreholes for two communities who are in dry areas;
• Improve the community service volunteer scheme;
• Expand into a new area;

Provide orphan girls with necessary toiletries.

Chairman touched and humbled by The Mango Tree’s orphans

Chairman Willie Fulton writes in his 2008 report:

It may seem strange to say this, but The Mango Tree is fun and full of wonderful surprises. We have been supporting orphans in southern Tanzania for over five years and in western Kenya for two years. In the past year we have seen unexpected effects of our work. The Mango Tree is proving a catalyst for improvements in the wider communities we work in! It provides orphans with healthcare, education, welfare and emotional support whilst they remain within their extended families, in most cases. These benefits are delivered by our staff and a network of dedicated Village Volunteers (local people who give freely of their time). This year (2008) the number of orphans we support grew from 11,369 to 13,371.

In Tanzania we are seeing more students continuing into higher education, and we recently opened a library which will support many schools in the area. In Kenya we were hampered by post-election violence, but it could have been so much worse. An experienced management team was recruited. We have seen three groups of farmers form cooperatives, intent on improving their incomes. They have been inspired by orphans doing well at school. They realise that they too can learn: new farming methods to improve their standard of living. But the most surprising and touching response has come from the orphans themselves. One group have set up their own organisation (The Mango Tree Family Association) solely to support our work and, maybe, take over in years to come. Making orphans self-reliant is what we are about, so we greatly welcome this inspiring initiative.

The Mango Tree Family Association – from the new young Chairman, Andrew Omolo

We young beneficiaries of The Mango Tree have watched this amazing organization change our lives by offering financial support for healthcare, food security, education and training for orphans left to suffer in the world. Here comes THE MANGO TREE! It looked like a dream at first, but now it is a living reality, making orphans forever useful, happy members of their communities. But although we are orphans we have two hands, complete sight, two ears and legs. We are not helpless anymore – The Mango Tree has recycled us and WE can now make a difference in our community. We, the beneficiaries of The Mango Tree, saw it a worthy idea to form an association to support the parent Mango Tree into the unforeseen future. It will comprise all student beneficiaries who are in universities, colleges and vocational training.

Our aim is to have a fully enlightened and empowered alumni community. We have to change our future. We will soon cease to appear as orphans when we have families to take care of and, most saddening, more orphans under our custody. Being logical, the Mango Tree will not last forever. Our dream is that the Association will grow into another sunshine like the parent Mango Tree, to help more orphans and disadvantaged in the community. As Carren (a member) puts it: “The Mango Tree has invested in us and we must pay a dividend on that investment by voluntarily contributing to help more orphans and vulnerable in the community, once we are through the tunnel, now and in future.”

Our future plans include having both short-term and long-term activities geared to transforming the community further. These will include:

• Organising community outreach programmes - e.g. HIV/AIDS pandemic awareness, Advocate for Human Rights and being a voice of vulnerable youths;
• Organising mentor groups for Secondary and Primary school children in The Mango Tree, preparing them to know their value and offer education advice;
• Also organising voluntary tuition to weak students for free during holidays;
• Organising income-generating activities, e.g. poultry keeping, horticulture and small-scale businesses or anything else viable over time.
• And much more…

The Mango tree proves to be a catalyst for local Kenyan farmers

Our mission is to provide orphan care through effective and sustainable programmes. That is best achieved by helping communities to develop their long term capacity to help themselves. We are making progress …in May, we were taken to the Kenyan village of Adita, in a dry hilly area with very poor soil conditions. A group of enthusiastic farmers explained their plans for improving their incomes by breeding goats. Eighteen farmers had established a savings and loan scheme and each had received a goat.

Wycliffe Achieng, our Community Development Officer, had advised them to buy two billy-goats of a breed that provide a much higher milk yield and will command much higher prices in the market. He had advised them to help the goats by planting pits of Napier grass, which is high in nitrogen. The pits are dug two feet deep, but the topsoil is retained, mixed with manure and refilled one foot deep. The pits are watered regularly, using household waste water. He also recommended that they plant calliandra trees, a fast-growing species, whose leaves can be fed to the goats and whose branches can be used for making charcoal. He suggested that they plant ten grafted mango trees, ten orange trees and ten passion fruit trees each. Goat manure, in turn, can fertilise the trees and grass. Finally, he suggested that they keep bees, as there would be enough forage in the area to support several hives. The inter-dependency between all of these plants and animals would thus create a more sustainable and diverse agricultural development.

We returned to the village in early August. The farmers insisted that we visit each of their homes to see the progress that had been made (we must confess, one plant of Napier grass looks surprisingly like the next!) One old man had been so taken with the idea of planting vegetables in pits that he had dug out his entire garden, making it look rather like a cemetery. But what struck us most about this group was their sheer enthusiasm and pride in what they had achieved in such a short time. After this inspection, we returned to the school. The farmers stood up one by one to express their thanks to The Mango Tree for all the support that we had given them. We said that we felt that their thanks were misplaced. Yes, Wycliffe had offered advice, but it was THEY who should be congratulated. They are the ones who have undertaken all the hard work and it is they who have achieved the results.

Political leaders acknowledge the work of The Mango Tree

The Kenyan Prime Minister said in October 2008: “I am told of two recent graduates of Tangaza College who are doing exemplary work with Aids orphans in Rachuonyo district. These two, a young woman from Kenya and a young man from Malawi, graduated with a Bachelor in Social Ministry, which gave them both academic principles and the hands-on skills of project managers. In just two years their organisation, the Mango Tree Orphan Support Trust, now supports over 3,000 Aids orphans in this lakeside district of Kenya that is devastated by the HIV-Aids pandemic. These two young people administer funds that pay the children’s school fees, from nursery to University. But I am told that this programme is keen in not creating a cycle of dependence. So, they involve the local community to contribute tangibly in the children’s lives. They provoke the communities to identify income-generating projects that are unique to each village, like raising milk goats or growing fruits and vegetables. Then they mobilize agricultural extension officers to teach the villagers, mostly women, how to prosper in these small ventures. The directors of The Mango Tree are a remarkable example of leaders of integrity that CUEA produces. I urge the University to continue on this track. If such innovative models are replicated across the country, we can surely turn our country around.” The Tanzanian President Kikwete, in opening a new library for the use of orphans and the local community said in October 2008: “I do congratulate the Director and his team for having the vision to set up such a nice library from which many young people and the community will benefit in the coming years. I urge not only the students but all people to make the maximum use of the available books. I challenge parents and all Kyela residents to invest in education for it is the best inheritance for your children. Any nation seeking development must be willing to invest in education, so that it may have enough schools with teachers, equipment and books. I thank The Mango Tree for being part of the Government’s initiatives in this area of education. I thank the Village Volunteers for the commendable job they are doing by caring for these orphans. There are few people these days willing to do something for nothing. I encourage you to continue to support these orphaned children.”