The “Watoto – Dzieci Afryki” (Watoto – Children of Africa) foundation was established in January 2005 by a group of volunteers engaged (since 1997) in helping the war orphans of Rwanda.

The foundation is run by people of different denominations and occupations, joined together by a mission to make a dignified life possible for every single child in every country of the world. All people work for the foundation free of charge.

For twenty years we have worked, mainly with Polish missionaries, in the following countries of Sub-Saharan Africa: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, as well as in the Republic of Buryatia in Siberia and in Syria. The French organization “Association de l’Amour Vivant” (ASLAV) was also our partner.

The Foundation’s activities include:

• supporting the development, education and healthcare (oftentimes, lifesaving) of children and adolescents;

• financial aid and social investment for the benefit of local communities;

• enabling people from different cultures and societies to get to know each other, come closer and strengthen personal ties.

Examples of the Foundation’s activities:

• Funding education (or payment of education and maintenance costs) of 2,825 young residents of the above countries (including 147 university students). 1,885 of them completed successfully their education.

• Financing in whole the construction of schools in Rwanda: two elementary school buildings in Nyarushishi/Nkomero – 694 m² of usable area in total; two school buildings in Masaka – 1,342 m² of usable area in total; the biggest school building in the school complex in Educational Institute for the Blind in Kibeho – 720 m² of usable area.

• Financial assistance to five health centres in three countries (healthcare for children and the elderly, supply of medical equipment), funding of surgical operations.

• In 2014–2017: funding the stay of 68 senior citizens at the Village of Mercy (Mjia wa Huruma) in Kigera-Etuma, Tanzania.

• Covering in whole the cost of drilling a deep (72 metre) well and building underground and above-ground facilities for water extraction in Gilgel-Beles, Ethiopia.

• Purchase of a Toyota pickup car (year of production: 2003) and a new Power Tiller tractor for the Mercy Centre in Musoma, Tanzania. Financial assistance in construction of the roof and the electrical system as well as purchase of 10 cows for the Centre.

• Purchase of school equipment (e.g. 52 Braille displays for blind children and 38 sewing machines for the deaf-blind) and school furniture for three schools.

• Full coverage of the construction costs of smaller projects: the construction of 19 small residential houses for poor families in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the construction of a small hospital for children suffering from starvation disease in Karama, Rwanda, and the reconstruction of a kindergarten in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo.

• Financial support for 39 Syrian families in war-ravaged Aleppo, Syria – creation of jobs, retraining people or renting premises for craft or service activities.

• Covering 76.7% (EUR 40,200) of the costs of purchasing Xario 100 ultrasound machine for St. Louis Hospital in Aleppo, Syria.

• Covering 100% of the costs of constructing a maternity ward in Ruhango, Rwanda – 320 m² of floor space. We started the construction of a similar maternity ward in Uganda in 2024 (to be completed in 2025).

• From December 2021 till the end of 2024: funding monthly boat medical expeditions that reach villages inaccessible by land located in the floodplains of the Congo River in the Likouala Region of the Republic of Congo.

• Purchase of a wooden pirogue (boat) with a Mercury 15 CV outboard motor (produced in Japan) for the said medical expeditions.

In total, from 2005 to 2024, the Foundation donated EUR 3,206,066.00 and USD 185,586.00 for education, health and investment purposes.

We would like to sincerely thank all our Donors who contributed to all these achievements!

Statute of the Foundation is published on the Foundation website: https://www.dzieciafryki.org/fundacja-statut.html

The Foundation reports: Financial Statements and Annual Reports of the activities undertaken in recent years are to be found at https://www.dzieciafryki.org/fundacja-sprawozdania.html

The reports can also be downloaded from the Public Benefit Organization Database, published by Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy (https://sprawozdaniaopp.niw.gov.pl/).