Who are the "Friends of KCMC"?
Anyone reading this page is probably already a "Friend of KCMC" insomuch as you are clearly interested in, and supportive of, the work that KCMC does in helping the people of northern Tanzania!
Officially, the "Friends" are the Trustees of the charity Friends of KCMC (registered UK charity number 1089517) but, in reality, Friends are anyone with an interest in supporting and helping the work of the Charity and work of KCMC.
Being a Friend is not an arduous task unless you want it to be! It can be a simple as keeping up to date which what KCMC and FoKCMC are doing (which can be done via our mailing list or Facebook page). It can be fundraising either through a one-off event or regular donations. It could even be spending time sharing your skills with KCMC directly (as all our Trustees have done - they are a pretty committed bunch to be honest!)
The charity itself, has a fairly broad aim - to provide support and assistance to KCMC. This has taken many forms over the years but, given the issues around medical staffing in the area (indeed, across sub-Saharan Africa as a whole), our recent focus has been on providing financial support to medical students to enable them to complete their training if they are suffering financial hardship. The Trustees meet twice a year to discuss requests for support which are first reviewed by senior staff at Tumani University (the medical school attached to KCMC) to ensure that the student requests are genuine. We have supported over 20 students to date - not just medical students but also allied health professionals (physio, OT etc) and nursing students. You can read more about the students we are currently supporting here and about previous students who have graduated with FoKCMC support here.
Officially, the "Friends" are the Trustees of the charity Friends of KCMC (registered UK charity number 1089517) but, in reality, Friends are anyone with an interest in supporting and helping the work of the Charity and work of KCMC.
Being a Friend is not an arduous task unless you want it to be! It can be a simple as keeping up to date which what KCMC and FoKCMC are doing (which can be done via our mailing list or Facebook page). It can be fundraising either through a one-off event or regular donations. It could even be spending time sharing your skills with KCMC directly (as all our Trustees have done - they are a pretty committed bunch to be honest!)
The charity itself, has a fairly broad aim - to provide support and assistance to KCMC. This has taken many forms over the years but, given the issues around medical staffing in the area (indeed, across sub-Saharan Africa as a whole), our recent focus has been on providing financial support to medical students to enable them to complete their training if they are suffering financial hardship. The Trustees meet twice a year to discuss requests for support which are first reviewed by senior staff at Tumani University (the medical school attached to KCMC) to ensure that the student requests are genuine. We have supported over 20 students to date - not just medical students but also allied health professionals (physio, OT etc) and nursing students. You can read more about the students we are currently supporting here and about previous students who have graduated with FoKCMC support here.