History

Najma Manji began helping orphans in Tanzania in the 1990s. Malaika Kids came to be based in what is now the Reception Home and it had a capacity for about 12 children.

Najma’s daughter, Jamilla Manji-Koch, had moved to the Netherlands, where she found support for her mother’s efforts. Soon, Malaika Kids UK, Malaika Kids NL and Malaika Kids US were formed from an association mainly of alumni from London Business School. Once these bodies were legally formed the project moved into a higher gear.

We needed greater capacity to accommodate the children for whom we could not find a relative. In 2005, we acquired a 30-acre plot in Mkuranga, a town 30 miles south of Dar es Salaam, to build our children’s village. The plot offered enough space to build the modular design and gave plenty of space for the children to play and acres of land for crops.