ABOUT US
More About us
St. Mariagoreth Organization is situated in Bukoba Rural, Kagera Region, on the North West of Tanzania, South boarder of Uganda, near Lake Victoria. Most people are peasant, earning less than USD 10 per month. As we have two rain seasons, people depend on the products from their gardens for food crops, like maize, potatoes, cassava and beans. They also grow coffee and do small fishing business as for cash collection. In general their food and cash production are not enough according to their need because the soil are not more fertile, and are not able to use artificial manual due to poverty situations.
St. Maria Goreth Organization was officially established in 1991. It is run by the Sisters of Saint Therese of the child Jesus-Bukoba Diocese. It serves especially Orphans and Most Vulnerable Children, who lost one or two parents. Some of them are cared by their grand parents, or lives with foster families and other orphans are headed families. The Project also takes care of the HIV/AIDS patients and edged people, to provide home visits including home based care.
In the year 2000, we started the Vocation training centre for Tailoring and Carpentry for the Orphans who were not selected to join Government secondary school, the course which takes three years. The aim if these courses is to rescue them from beggars, street children, girls trafficking, drug abuse, child early marriage and childhood pregnancy, because we train them in different skills where they can be employed or employ themselves and become productive members of the society. St. Maria Goreth Organization was officially registered on the 2nd September 2005, been duly registered under Non- Governmental Organizations Act, 2002 with Registration No.00 NGO/0937.
OUR STORY
Sister Stella Storch, a Dominican from Sinsinawa, Wisconsin visited Bukoba in 2000. When she later learned about trafficking in persons, she remembered the AIDS orphans she had met earlier and whom the Sisters of St. Therese were assisting to keep them from being exploited. She was selling many knitted scarves and other Items from the orphans to raise money in the USA. In 2006, Jan Puta organized a Tanzanian Trunk Show (TTS) in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to sell placemats, dresses, shirts and later Batik Bags.It was also a good time to educate people about the project and trafficking. The TTS was discontinued in 2013 in hopes of going online. Sr. Stella continues to raise money for the project.
VISION
To have a transformed society where poverty is reduced and livelihood of people is enhanced in social-economic, cultural and spiritual aspect as catalyst of sustainable development.
MISSION
- To provide essential needs to Orphans and Vulnerable Children like Education, School uniforms, stationeries, equipments and health care.
- Creating awareness on HIV/AIDS to orphans, care takers and village leaders
- To provide Counseling to orphans and care takers related to spiritual, physical and psychological problems.
- To provide capacity building and skills to MVC who are not selected to join Government Secondary Schools trough Vocational Training Skills such as Carpentry and tailoring.