Tanzania has a history of kidnapping people with albinism, killing and chopping parts of their bodies and trading with them in the belief that it will bring the owner wealth and happiness.

The Catholic Sister Mosha was alert to the situation and founded “The Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi Primary School” in 2000. At first, she went to live with 20 children in a wooden shack near the Kilimanjaro airport. School enrollment has since grown to 380 children and youths who now live and learn in the integrated boarding school and being helped by 11 nuns and 24 teachers. Most children at St. Francis are there because they were rejected by their parents. Some have blindness, deafness, and physical disabilities. Many children in the school have albinism. All the children at St. Francis need protection: from albino-hunters, wild animals and some even from their families.

The DEAR Foundation is happy and proud to help this strong and well-functioning school that saves the lives of many children. Everything is done there to give them the best possible start in life and prevent them from falling into the vicious circle of insufficient education, unemployment, and poverty.

The DEAR Foundation funded the construction of a protective wall around the school campus. We also provided funding to complete the construction of a new dining room, a maize-grinding facility, and the renovation of the school’s poultry farm.