ABOUT US

KYGN was created in Autumn 2007 to serve as an "open house" to meet the immediate educational and emotional needs of the girls in the village of Mabogini. Since that time, KYGN has expanded and evolved to include nursery education for pre-primary girls, academic sponsorship for primary school children and vocational training for older girls unable to attend secondary school.

We currently have more than 60 children aged between 3 and 5 at the nursery school, which is located in Mabogini. Under to very special circumstances we have also taken in a few boys, who we hope to link with another organization. Classes are split into three groups, according to age and ability. They learn reading, writing, basic mathematics, Swahili and beginners English.

We also sponsor 78 children aged from 3-13 who attend local primary schools, and 13 who are at secondary school. For more information see Sponsor a Girls Education.

Vocational training is provided on an ad hoc basis. We teach girls aged 14-18, skills such as cooking, sewing, batik making, as well as English, improving their future employment prospects.

WHO WE ARE

Annamaria Evarist Kanondo is the Founder and Project Director of KYGN. In 2006 she visited the Mabogini area and was struck by the amount of children, particularly girls, whose lives were affected by the death of one or both parents (often due to AIDS), family separation, abandonment and extreme poverty. One year later KYGN was up and running and it has been growing ever since. Annamaria's aims were: to educate, to provide family support - including medical help and counselling - and to remove prejudice against girls. These aims remain at the heart of KYGN's philosophy.

Annamaria grew up in Moshi, was educated there at Mount Kilimanjaro Primary School and at Majengos Secondary School in Nairobi. She has a diploma in accountancy from Moshi University and is mother to two beautiful sons, Daniel and Darius.

Rahab has been teaching for 8 years and with KYGN for 3. She was born and studied in Kenya but has lived in Tanzania since 2003. She has two children, Patrick and Maria and currently lives in Newlands cycling 50 minutes to work every day on a bicycle donated by volunteers. Rahab was also the founder of the Tusaisiane Womens' Group, which has 100 members and is involved with the local ViCoBa (Village Community Bank).

Emanuell was born in Moshi, where he also graduated from secondary school. He has a certificate in Childhood Education from ITC in Moshi and has been teaching Group B since 2008. In his spare time he enjoys playing football and watching movies.

Matilda teaches the Group C nursery class and is one of KYGN's home-grown success stories. Born and raised in Moshi, she attended St Andrew's secondary school as one of our sponsored girls. On leaving school she returned to KYGN to teach the youngest class, which includes her own daughter, Juliana. Her other interests include dancing and music.

WHERE WE ARE

KYGN is based in Mabogini, which is located 30 minutes south of Moshi, in the beautiful Kilimanjaro region of Northern Tanzania. The closest airport is Kilimanjaro International but Moshi can also be reached by direct buses from both Dar Es Salaam and Nairobi.

The view from the KYGN schoolyard

The nursery school and office are housed in a small rented building in Mabogini village, which has been renovated and decorated by past volunteers. The majority of the girls KYGN assists are from this area and they walk every day to the nursery and local school.

We hope that with the continued support of our donors we will soon be able to purchase land close to the nursery and build a larger premises to house the nursery and primary schools together. Read about our Future Plans

OUR PARTNERS

KYGN is proudly supported by two local businesses:

Hostel Kili is a new hostel in Moshi which has been set up by former volunteers. If you plan to visit Moshi and are looking for somewhere clean, comfortable, quiet and safe to stay while on holiday or volunteering, then look no further.

Bighorn Tours is a Tanzanian-based travel company who can arrange your safari, trek or beach holiday for you, all at competitive rates.

Hostel Kili and Bighorn Tours have both pledged to donate a percentage of their profits to KYGN.

For information on making a donation please click here.

Thank you for your support

Registered Trust number SO.NO.14813

Email: kygncenter@gmail.com