Latest News
MAD4Africa: 100% Volunteers, 100% Impact
Every penny you donate goes directly to changing lives. Help us deliver our projects by donating today. Remember our motto:
“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito!”
ASFA Physiotherapy Centre – watch this film about our project for children with disabilities disabled in Rwanda, ASFA Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Centre. Watch here to learn how this project began and meet young Mugisha – a shining example of what hard work and determination can do to maximise a child’s independence.
Rusuzumiro School, Rwanda: Barnes Primary have raised money to co-fund lunches with Rusuzumiro School, buy health cards for families on low incomes so they can access primary health care and classroom furniture and outdoor play equipment for the nursery students . Click here to donate to this life-changing project and support the students at Rusuzumiro School. Barnes Primary also built two ICT classrooms in 2020 to connect their partner school friends to life beyond their village. Watch The Smart Classroom Project to find out more.
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...
Read More
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 Physiotherapist
Jette holds a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy from University College Lillebaelt in Denmark. She has over 25 years’ experience and works as a paediatric...
Read More
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.”
Alison Hawksley
Chief Operating Officer & Trustee
Alison worked in commercial property before venturing into the entrepreneurial world as a co-owner of Lush, Steamcream and Balmonds skincare brands.
Read More
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.
Read More
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
Read More
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.
Read More
“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.”
We're fundraising!
Be part of our life-changing projects and Make a Difference today
UK registered charity number: 1127976