Latest News
Physiotherapy: The specialist occupational therapy and physiotherapy equipment has arrived and ASFA Physiotherapy Centre will commence scaling to capacity in early 2022. The final item on our wish list is solar panels to provide hot water to the bathrooms and kitchen. If you would like to read more about this project or perhaps make a donation, please kindly click here. Please click here to see a short film about ASFA Physiotherapy Centre and click here to meet Mugisha – a shining example of what hard work and determination can do to maximise your independence.
Education: GS Rusuzumiro Schools ICT classrooms are now in full swing! Please click here for a short film about The SmartClasssroom Project. The next project due to start in Jan 2022 is a retaining wall and a new fence.
COVID_19: Our projects have been severely impacted by the pandemic – from the suspension of construction for seven weeks, increase in building materials, extra staff travel and accommodation costs and PPE equipment at ASFA Physio. Impact on future school projects has been felt too from the increase in building costs and an understandably reduced fundraising capacity here in the UK. We are all volunteers and here for the long term. Every penny we raise goes directly towards our projects so please, now more than ever, consider being part of our work – together we really can Make a Difference.
Thank you and as our motto goes…“if you think your too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito!”
Team MAD 4 Africa
Troy Aitken
Founder, Chairman & Trustee
Troy is an experienced project manager who has had a love affair with Africa since 1999 when he worked at a primary school in South Africa. In 2006 he started...
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working with Oasis Africa in Kenya and the following year spent four months in Rwanda as a project manager building eight classrooms in Nyaruguru District, Southern Province.
“Since volunteering in Rwanda many years ago I’ve been passionate about Africa. I founded Make A Difference 4 Africa with the aim of making a real difference to people’s lives through education and healthcare projects. I live by the mantra 'Be the change you want to see in the world’."
Jette Jakobsen
Consultant Paediatric Physiotherapist & Trustee
Jette holds a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy from University College Lillebaelt in Denmark. She has over 25 years’ experience and works as a paediatric...
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physiotherapist at Achieving for Children where she is part of the Integrated Service for Disabled Children.
Jette has visited Rwanda a number of times and her paediatric expertise has been instrumental in establishing ASFA. Her dedication and can-do attitude are inspirational and there is nothing she can’t do with duct tape!
“The ASFA Physiotherapy Centre is so much more than ‘just’ a centre that provides treatment; it has become a unique hub where children with disabilities and their families can get advice, support and meet families with similar needs. It is a place that enables and opens up possibilities of independence, inclusion and improved quality of life.”
Jacinta Darrant
HR & Communications Advisor
Jacinta is originally from Rwanda but now is a full-time mum living in the UK. Her dream is to make a difference to children's lives by meeting their educational and medical needs. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Human Resources from Middlesex University.
“It’s amazing to see how a small change can create a big impact to an individual and to the community as a whole.” From teaching English, sewing, carpentry, bricklaying, cookery and physiotherapy ...the list goes on! Thanks to MAD 4 Africa these programmes have made huge impacts on people’s lives! We are a small team with big dreams and I’m so proud to be part of it”.
Alison Hawksley
Chief Operating Officer & Trustee
Alison worked in commercial property before venturing into the entrepreneurial world as a co-owner of Lush and Balmonds and co-founder and director of Steamcream.
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One of her most rewarding jobs, however, was working with a child with learning differences at Barnes Primary School. It was here that she first became inspired to set up a partnership in 2009 with a school in Rwanda and help establish ASFA so that children in Rwanda with learning differences could reach their potential too.
“On my first visit to Rwanda in 2008, I was moved by the children’s industriousness, resilience, zest to learn and their ambition to achieve. I felt we in England had much to learn. I love that when two communities in different cultural settings plant the seeds of a vision together, something truly spectacular can grow and have lifelong benefits for many people.”
Margo Rodrigo
Educational Adviser
Margo is a Year 6 teacher at Barnes Primary School, a Leader for Learning and a member of the School’s Leadership Team.
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Margo has over 20 years experience in both the state and independent sectors and is also involved in working with teachers from other schools through Richmond Borough’s school partnerships programme. She has made numerous visits to Rusuzumiro Primary School and has played a lead role in fundraising, teacher training and strengthening school partnership link.
“I have had the privilege of visiting Rwanda on two separate occasions and in July 2018 I will be making my third visit. It has been a remarkable experience being part of this positive partnership whereby both schools - Barnes Primary and Rusuzumiro Primary - can learn about each other's education systems and cultural differences. Working together and learning from each other are the first steps to help 'Make a Difference' for people within the school and wider communities.”
Kate Hunt
Consultant Physiotherapist & Trustee
Kate holds a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy from King’s College London and an MSc from the University of Surrey in Counselling and Psychotherapy
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She runs her own practice in London, Hunt Physiotherapy, where she provides a full musculoskeletal physiotherapy service to employees at The Telegraph and News UK newspaper groups. She has a specialist interest and expertise in the treatment of work-related upper limb and spinal disorders, posture and postural-related problems and is an expert in core stability training. Hunt Physiotherapy was accredited by the Rwandan Allied Health Professionals Council in May 2018 as an official provider of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Kate also holds a Foundation Degree in art and manages to combine her love of physiotherapy and art wherever she goes. Kate first visited Rwanda in 2014 to help train two newly qualified Rwandan physiotherapists and has been hooked ever since.
“Even with 31 years’ experience as a physio in the UK, it still amazed me, on my first trip to Rwanda, to see the impact physiotherapy can have. The simplest of interventions based on clear clinical reasoning and individual treatment planning can have the most incredible results and truly ‘'Make a [huge] Difference’ in the life of a patient. We have seen first hand how our physiotherapy input has helped a child to walk unaided, meaning they have been able to attend mainstream school for the first time.”
Richard Cooney
Treasurer & Trustee
Richard is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years experience in financial services. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Otago, New Zealand and first visited Rwanda in February 2020 to see the charity’s work first hand.
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“What stuck with me most from visiting Rwanda was the pure joy and appreciation that I felt from the children. Their smiles were infectious and I saw first-hand the life changing impact the charity was making.”
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UK registered charity number: 1127976