December 2025: A Stronger Foundation: A Year-Long Labour of Love at Tawfiq Orphanage

December 31, 2025

DECEMBER 2025 Coffee World Change Initiative

Decemeber 2025: A Stronger Foundation: A Year-Long Labour of Love at Tawfiq Orphanage

For Mama Shakira and the children of Tawfiq Orphanage in Mwanza, the heavy seasonal rains have always been more than just weather. They have been a slow, creeping threat to the very ground beneath their feet.

For years, a relentless stream of rainwater ran along the side of their property. With every storm, it ate away at the soil, eroding the foundations of the orphanage’s perimeter wall—a wall that many of their interior buildings lean upon for support. This wasn’t just a boundary in disrepair; it was a structural crisis. Inside the compound, the tell-tale signs began to appear: sinkholes, silent and alarming, revealing just how much earth had been washed away. The safety of the entire home was being undermined.

The solution was as massive as the problem. It required rebuilding the very land itself—a daunting project needing tonnes of rock, stone, sand, and cement to construct a proper, fortified water channel. For Mama Shakira, finding support for such an unglamorous, foundational task felt nearly impossible.

In early 2025, the Coffee World Change programme decided to take it on.

This was never going to be a quick fix. We committed to funding the project month by month, providing Mama Shakira with the steady support she needed to tackle the enormous task in stages. The work was backbreaking. A 30 metre stretch, which had become a dumping ground, first had to be completely cleared. Then, the painstaking process began: filling the deep channel layer by layer with large rocks, then smaller stones, then sand, before finally sealing it with cement to create a safe, permanent pathway for the water.

When we visited in September, we saw this labour of love in progress. The scale of the work was humbling, and while it wasn’t yet finished, the difference was already clear. The new channel was taking shape, a strong spine of stone and cement built to protect their home.

We had hoped to share news of its full completion this December. But the rains, the very force they are built to withstand, had other plans. A particularly heavy downpour hit before the final layers could set, damaging a section of the unfinished works. It was a heartbreaking setback, demanding even more materials and labour.

Yet, the spirit at Tawfiq is not one of defeat. The drainage channel is now almost complete. What remains is a testament to resilience—Mama Shakira’s, her team’s, and the community’s. This year-long project has been about more than moving water; it has been about building security.

Once finished, it will mean physical safety. It will mean no more fear of new sinkholes appearing overnight. It will mean the walls that shelter the children are no longer under threat. It is the ultimate form of care: ensuring the foundation of their home is solid.

This is the quiet, vital work that the Coffee World Change fund exists to support. It’s not always fast, and it’s rarely simple, but it builds futures that are safe, stable, and strong.

This is what change brews like.

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