Maisha Mema

Maisha Mema is Swahili and means good life. The Organization has been committed to this since 2016. “Maisha Mema Foundation Tanzania” is a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Grabs/Switzerland and in Tanzania. It runs it´s aid projects in the northwest of Tanzania, in the Kagera region. The NGO was founded with the aim of improving health care in rural areas, which are often medically undeveloped. The organization is not profit-oriented. The team consists of highly motivated people from Tanzania and Switzerland who are committed to sustainable development.

During a volunteer assignment in 2013, the founder Bettina Kuria-Isler met the local Rwizile family, who offered her a platform to work as a nurse in Tanzania. During a stay in Kibanga, in the Kagera region, the vision of a health facility emerged fairly quickly due to the great need of sick people. What was supposed to be just a small emergency ward in the founder's mind has now grown into a 12-room Dispensary with 23 employees and various projects.

Maisha Mema Foundation owns a 17-acre plot of land that facilitates the Dispensary, staff accommodation and a garden project. The Maisha Mema Foundation is committed to giving the people of Kibanga the chance for a good life, which we want to achieve through the following programs:

1) Basic medical care

We receive 20-30 patients every day in our Health facility. If necessary, these can be kept in the institution for monitoring for over 24 hours. We have been offering an eye clinic for two years and provide patients with glasses from Switzerland.

We offer home visits for people who cannot reach the hospital due to disability or serious illness. Several times a year the team goes on outreaches, during which we visit remote villages and bring medical help or carry out prevention and education programs.

The organization also aims to implement the concept of palliative care for patients with incurable diseases and to train health care professionals in this area.

There is an emergency fund for poor patients that pays for their treatment at Maisha Mema or a life-saving operation in a larger hospital.

2) Development aid

Our clients are often in great financial need, especially due to chronic illness or large hospital bills. They often sell all their belongings in order to be able to afford an operation or hospital stay. Maisha Mema helps such people with a microcredit so they can start a small business. We help children with illnesses or disabilities to attend school by placing them in special schools or by financing their education.

3) Garden Projects

Climate change is also bringing major changes to the Kibanga region. Often there is little rain or no rain at all during the rainy seasons. In a place where there is more than enough land available for agriculture and where there are also springs and streams, the people still suffer from hunger. With agricultural projects, we want to produce food for people in need on the one hand, but on the other hand we also want to teach local residents about new farming techniques.

4) Help for children with disabilities

Children, especially those with mental disabilities, are often kept in inhumane living conditions in the Kibanga region and often do not survive their childhood. The stigma of having a disability is great. A situation that motivated us to dedicate ourselves to these precious children. In our Agape Club, a self-help group for families with disabled children, over 50 families meet every Saturday to exchange ideas. They also receive tips and suggestions on how to deal with the children, and receive physiotherapy and medical help. Maisha Mema finances the children's walking, standing and sitting aids, as well as prostheses and splints.