| Summary: | SchoolKits provides a handmade Backpack and Uniform, and an optional tiny personalised book and/or school supplies, for a refugee child struggling to afford schooling in Goma, DR Congo.
SchoolKits are sewn by Mama Wimbi, a co-operative of abandoned mothers working to become independent.
The project is supported by Bonvolo.net, a local charity, and SewAid International.
It equips refugee children to attend school, and provides those in the sewing co-operative with employment skills and income to house and educate their own children. |
| Challenge: | We address 3 Challenges:
1. Families seeking refuge in Goma on foot have no bank accounts. They cannot afford school uniforms and supplies as well as food, housing and school fees for their children. In crowded classes with water scarcity, it is difficult to wash one uniform often enough to prevent scabies outbreaks, so a spare is important.
2. Providing continuous employment, sufficient to pay for accommodation and school fees, for the sewing team that we have trained in Goma, DRC.
3. Affluenza and a feeling of powerlessness reduces the happiness and resilience of Australian children. We help them help. |
| Solution: | SchoolKits will provide a very user-friendly and educational giving experience for Australian children (and other donors), which funds for the sewing team to produce
SchoolKits for the most needy children in one of the most needy countries in the world, sometimes with an extra uniform/ school equipment/a Tiny Book.
This gives timely one-off assistance to children who have had no help at all, and allows the continuing development of our long-term independence-building project in Goma. |
| Long term impact: | SchoolKit recipients can put the saved expenses towards paying their school fees.
If fees are not paid in full, the child has to repeat the same grade over and over, so payment means progress.
For the team, continuous demand means steady work and economic self-sufficiency. For the team's children, it means a safe home, adequate nutrition, school fees and a working role model. |
| Sponsored by: | Rotary E-Club of Greater Sydney, District 9685 |
| Other Partners: | Kowloon Golden Mile (District 3450) |