Dr. Susan Wilson, Founder and CEO of the Tumaini Fund.

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Dr. Susan Wilson’s mission work in Tanzania, one of the ten poorest countries in the world, started in 2001 when she and her family spent four months in Kagera, in the North West Province of Tanzania.  She and her husband worked as medical doctors in a local hospital.  The family found themselves shocked at the abject poverty faced by the local Tanzanians.  They were even more shocked at the desperate times faced by AIDS widows and orphans, a result of the widespread raping of women by the Rwandan, Burundian and Ugandan militia in the 1990s.   It was estimated that there were approximately 200,000 orphans at that time.  She has dedicated herself to helping those widows and orphans through the non-profit organizations Tumaini Fund, UK established in 2003 and the Tumaini Fund, USA established in 2009, Tumaini Fund, Scotland and Tumaini Fund, Canada.

 

As of 2016, 25,000 orphans are now being provided the basic necessities of life by these non-profits

yet tens of thousands more still need help.   The immediate goal is to extend the support now provided

to those 25,000 orphans within Kagera to all the remaining orphans in the AIDS crisis of this region.

 

This support consists of:

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1.   Adult head-of-family; decent housing; improved farming and nutrition.

2.   AIDS testing and treatment.

3.   Income-generation - microfinance projects and education to the level each child can achieve.

4.   Clean water and hygienic sanitation.

5.   Improving the vehicular capability, in a remote, mountainous region where most driving is off-road.

 

Dr. Wilson was given the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) award by Prince

William in 2013 for her outstanding service to alleviate the suffering of so many people in

Kagera.