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Building Hope ‐ Transforming Lives
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Development Program

Lift the Community−Children

Songea's Kids works with our local partner NGO, national and local government, and village leaders to strengthen the communities in which orphans and vulnerable children live. Our focus is on three primary areas: housing, clean water and economic development. Housing is mainly focused on ensuring safe housing for the orphaned and vulnerable children. Water is focused on creating clean, safe, sustainable water sources for the community thereby for the children. Economic development is focused on creating enterprises that bring employment and opportunity to the local area and benefits for the children.

  • Repair foster Homes for safe housing.
  • Replace forster homes to provide serviceable housing.
  • Build residential housing for vulnerable children and orphans to provide a nurturing home.

  • Drill community wells to provide a clean safe water source.
  • Build water storage and distribution systems.
  • Develop and build safe sanitation systems.

  • Develop or establish agricultural enterprises to provide income, employment opportunities and food.
  • Establish or support small enterprises to provide services and employment opportunities.
  • Train and employ local workers in Hope Village building projects.

Safe Housing

A New Home for Hamadi and Yasini

Hamadi and Yasini live with their mother. During the heavy rainy season, their home collapsed, leaving them homeless. Songea’s Kids worked with our local NGO partner to build a new home and latrine. Their new home is built to withstand the elements.

Providing Safe Shelter

Songea's Kids needs to repair or replace the homes of our children. When the condition of the home makes it unlivable, we will rebuild the home using funds from the Greatest Needs donations. Some times it's putting a new roof on a house and sometimes it's building a new house to replace one that has collapsed.

Help Provide Safe Shelter!


Donate to the Greatest Need

Clean Water and Sanitation

In many communities, villagers walk long distances to collect water for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene. In addition to the loss of productivity from hours-long daily trips to collect water, the water itself is often from a contaminated source, thus increasing the risks of serious health consequences. Working with our NGO partners and our pro-bono USA water team, Songea's Kids has helped communities by donating deep wells to provide clean, accessible water for villagers and their children.

Clean Water Projects

2010: Songea's Kids provided a deep, hand-pumped well in Mshangano Village, near Songea. The pump is still in operation today, meeting the needs of villagers need for clean water.

2016: Songea's Kids provided the first clean water wells for Lutukira and Hope Village. These deep wells provided the first clean, hand-pumped water for villagers and their families.

2019: Songea's Kids provided a new deep water well at Hope Village that provides clean, solar pumped water for the Rotary Health Care Dispensary and the Masonry Classroom. It will soon be providing solar pumped water for the first residential orphan home that will open in Fall 2023.

Mshangano Well

Songea's Kids with the help of Russ Prior drilled a well in the village of Mshangano to bring fresh clean water to the children and villages of the area. Prior to this, water was drawn from creeks and ponds in the area. The water sources were distant often taking the children and villagers hours a day to get water. The water would often bring disease that would be dangerous for small children and older villagers. Now with the well, they have clean water that's close.

Economic Development

Songea's Kids provides support to help local villagers establish income-generating projects that provide value to the community. Here are some examples.

Tailoring Cooperative in Songea

Songea Tailoring Co-op

The tailoring cooperative was established to provide opportunities for students in its program to learn valuable tailoring skills that would provide a source of income to support themselves as they enter adulthood. In additional to making clothing and other items for sale, the cooperative produced hygienic kits that made it possible for girls to stay in school all month, and during the pandemic, the cooperative made thousands of face masks that were distributed throughout the communities to help keep children and their caretakers safe.

Tailoring Enterprise at Hope Village

During the pandemic, local village women, supported by the Sammamish, WA Rotary, joined together to produce thousands of face masks that were distributed to villages throughout the Madaba District.

Agricultural Enterprises

Songea Chicken Farm

Songea's Kids provided funding to start a chicken project in Songea that became a source of income and additional nutrition for the children and their families. A similar program is planned for Hope Village in the future, along with production of maize and other agricultural crops.