|
London charity NGO funds Zanzibar house project
2006-05-03 09:42:26
By Issa Yussuf, Zanzibar
A London based charity organisation has funded the construction of modern houses for six humble families at Chaani-Masingini villages, in Zanzibar.
The houses were handed over to the six families, on Monday by Gatsby Charitable Foundation Director, Micheal Pattison and officials from London.
’We have been living in coconut - leave thatched houses for a long time, and now we can stay in an iron sheet roofed house,’ said Zalia Mohamed, a jubilant mother of ten.
During the handing over ceremony, Pattison said his foundation was committed to supporting economic development in developing countries, including facilitating the provision of standard houses in the rural areas.
’This is just a pilot project to help poor families in developing their living houses. Economic development cannot be spurred without good shelter,’ said Pattison
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, with its working groups in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Cameroon collaborates with the Habitat for Humanity Tanzania in developing the poor in individual countries.
According to the Tanzania Gatsby Trust General Manager, Olive Luena, the soft project for better housing in Tanzania has been going on in Mtwara, Rukwa and Zanzibar, at 100m/- annually for the construction of at least 10 houses.
’These are cheap houses for the poor families costing about 1.2m/- each. Each family is required to pay back about 10,000/- or an equivalent of the price of one bag of cement in the local market,’ Luena said.
She said the project would last 3 years and underscored the commitment of charitable organisations to alleviate poverty in Tanzania, through credit provision, marketing development, training and technology transfer.
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation is also having a four day Gatsby Inter-Trust seminar on ’upscaling Microfinance’ at the Zanzibar Beach Resort.
|
