Our way
Sometimes it’s the years of experience
that we don’t want to miss!
How it all began
During a holiday in Mombasa in August 2006, the idea for Mama Africa was born. Spontaneously, a first project is initiated with private funds: a village shop as a direct source of supply. Two more businesses are founded, also supported by private funds.
Renting of the “Mama Afrika Haus” in Bamburi, Mombasa in Kenya, as a center of activities for five of the Mama Afrika projects. The “Mama Afrika Haus” will also be used to set up the “WOMEN” tailoring workshop as a support project for single mothers.
Personnel changes in the team due to the departure of co-founders Manfred Schirmack and Marion Pirschkalla. On-site support is provided by three local process facilitators. Mama Afrika is now also on the “donation list” from the Ministry of Finance.
The economic crisis in Mombasa is also hitting Mama Afrika’s projects hard. Tourism has completely collapsed and many businesses have lost their basis. At the same time, the cost of daily living has risen sharply. The local support model has collapsed. What worked well for years no longer works. The process facilitators have lost their reliability, the economic hardship makes them think more about themselves than about others. At the end of 2015, we are close to ending Mama Africa.
We have regained our courage! It turns out that thanks to modern means of communication, we can supervise the projects directly from Austria. And a woman from Ukundu also gives us courage with her unbroken will to improve her and her daughters’ lives. Intensive evaluation and reflection work leads to the new concept “Mama Africa 3.0”, a development model with 4 phases. The applications so far show that we are back on the right track.
Monika Wäg had already made a trip to Ghana in 2019 to volunteer in a school in the Volta region. With this experience, a collaboration with Mama Africa was born, which then resulted in the joint supervision of a pilot project in Ghana in 2020. In this project, a young, ambitious and well-educated woman is supported to successfully run and expand her farm. In 2021, a second and large project was taken over with the Gbekebii School of Art and Culture in the district of James-town in the capital of Ghana, in Accra, which for the time being aims to give 150 children not only a school education and food, but also a professional perspective for the future.
