Simcoe Rotarians Give $8,000 To The TUMAINI Children’s School in Tanzania, Africa

Story by: Ron Baker

Simcoe Rotarians Give $8,000 To The TUMAINI Children’s School in Tanzania, Africa

Simcoe resident, Cherie M. Szucs, Founder/Executive Director of TUMAINI CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION, www.tuchifo.com located in Usa River, a village, near Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, East Africa; shall receive a Rotary donation of $8,000, and a welcome by a large audience of Simcoe Rotarians, dignitaries, friends and visitors on Saturday morning, August 1 at 11:45 a.m., as The Rotary Lynn River Music and Arts Festival opens at Wellington Park in Simcoe, Ontario. "TUMAINI" means "Hope" in Swahili. it is also a school for poor kids. Part of the funds, raised during The Lynn River Music & Arts Festival, shall go to support TUMAINI.

Matching funds, of $8,000, have been pledged by other Canadian Rotarians; more are sought.

Since its founding in 2010, TUMAINI has grown to provide a healthy, safe and love-filled home, with good food, clean water, medical care and quality education, for 54 disadvantaged, orphaned, or abandoned children and youth in the Village of Usa River, near Arusha, Northern Tanzania. Cherie Szucs has just returned to Simcoe, after working for many weeks at TUMANI with the children and volunteer staff, developing the facilities. Rotary funds shall be used to purchase and install solar panels for electricity. In a continuing project, backed by Rotarians, Cherie Szucs is applying high Canadian standards to build a 10 room school expansion, with a residential home for the benefit of all the village children in need, the staff and volunteers, on a new 12 acre secured site. Simcoe Rotarians are helping lead long-term TUMAINI fund raising.

The Rotary Club of Simcoe Executive Board, led by President Tim Fitzgerald, Past President Gerry Goddard and a number of area Rotarians, have identified TUMAINI as worthy of substantial, long term development help. New funds from wider sources in Norfolk County, Western Ontario and New York State, USA; as well as the whole Rotary International network, are being sought. Partners, in various Rotary Clubs, and their many friends, including Norfolk County residents, have been assembled: in Europe, The Netherlands, Canada, USA and Tanzania, to assure that TUMAINI flourishes as a not for profit, volunteer-led, Foundation. Over 96% of every dollar contributed, as tax-deductable donations, goes directly to children’s care.

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