The Aninga Project is a dynamic grassroots organization working to educate and empower young women in East Africa. By supporting The Aninga Project you are helping to make dreams become reality.
Our Work
The Aninga Project works to fund the education and empowerment of young women in East Africa. When we commit to supporting a girl, we support her fully by paying for school fees, boarding fees, transportation costs, food, water, medicine, and much more. We also commit to supporting her entire education, through the post-secondary level.
We currently have over 60 girls in school in East Africa. We are very excited to say that seven girls that The Aninga Project began supporting in 2007 have already graduated from university and are currently working in their communities.
What does the Aninga Project do?
The genesis of The Aninga Project is a friendship between the Benson family and a young Zimbabwean woman they met through her participation in the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
When their friend, Constance, settled in Uganda with her Ugandan husband, Dr. Asiki, the Benson’s asked if they could work together at a grass roots level to create educational opportunities for young women. Our Ugandan friends identified a girl who would benefit – Aninga – and we sent money from Canada to be disbursed by them for her school fees and other necessities.
Aninga’s village in northern Uganda is close to both Sudan and The Democratic Republic of Congo: a dangerous area with little infrastructure. Educational opportunities generally are scarce, and for females, virtually non-existent. This opportunity was life changing for Aninga.
After meeting Aninga and learning the positive impact that they were having on her and her family, the Bensons knew that they needed to expand the initiative. In 2009 The Aninga Project began to take the steps required to become a registered Canadian Charity and East African NGO. It grew from supporting Aninga in Uganda to now supporting more than 60 young women in Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
How did the Aninga Project start?
It seems that the main reason why this project works so well is because it is a person-to-person, “on-the-ground” project. The money gets sent through wire transfers directly from the project’s account to our Volunteer Leads in Uganda, Kenya, and DRC. These volunteer leads are in tune with local culture and conditions, and they have the capacity and commitment to stay in touch with each girl’s situation.
We continue to strengthen our networks in East Africa to allow for this important aspect to remain intact as the project grows.
Why does it work?
Would you like more information or updates on the work that we are doing in East Africa? Fill out your information below to join our Supporter Squad.