The Childcare program is the earliest program established by DKT. Every year, we receive about 40 children from the Kilimanjaro area who are in need of help, and provide them with free education, care, and meals. The children we accept are mainly from extremely poor single-parent families (80%), orphans residing with relatives (10%), and other children who need special care, such as children living with abusive or disabled parents (accounting for 10%).
The average family size of the children in this program is 3-4 people, the average family income is about 30 US dollars per month, and the average monthly rent per family is 12 US dollars. Therefore, the average monthly disposable income of each family is below US$20. Food prices in the Kilimanjaro region are roughly as follows: rice 1 USD/kg, corn 0.5 USD/kg, beef 4 USD/kg. Hence, children often suffer from malnutrition. This, coupled with poor sanitation in many families, has led to poor overall health of these children.
The childcare program provides two meals (breakfast and lunch) for the children every day. We make sure they have milk and eggs for breakfast, and meat and vegetables for lunch. There are professional preschool teachers to take care and educate the children. A few months after school, the children’s communication skills and health conditions have often improved significantly.
