WHO WE ARE

Founded by Lachlan Miller in 2013, Yes Arusha provides educational support to young people in Tanzania. After first visiting East Africa in 2010, Lachlan began inviting family and friends to sponsor individual children to school. He coordinated this on his own at first by traveling frequently between Australia and Africa. By 2013, the sponsorships had gained much support in Australia and Lachlan enlisted the help of some friends to formalise Yes Arusha as a not-for-profit organisation. Thanks to some incredible generosity, the initial goal of sponsoring 50 students was met within two years of starting the organisation.

Providing effective support to students on the other side of the world requires a dedicated local partner, and Yes Arusha was lucky enough to find a remarkable Tanzanian school to work with – Haradali Schools. An independently operated institution, Haradali offers some of the highest quality education in the country, while maintaining a community-orientated vision. Founded in 2005 by Simon Severua, the school has developed from one classroom of 12 students to two campuses with over 1,500 students. Mr Severua was eager to assist Yes Arusha and welcomed our students into his school with open arms. Since then, Haradali Schools has collaborated with Yes Arusha on several projects, including the Safe House, a school library, and our new scholarship program. Yes Arusha covers school fees for each of our students to attend Haradali Schools. These fees cover the basic cost of teacher salaries and students' meals, but the school has gone beyond this to provide real care and support to our students who often require extra attention due to individual hardships.

Yes Arusha is focused on providing a high quality of education and care to our students. We have steadily expanded our projects over the past few years, but always with a focus on long-term sustainability. We do not employ any paid staff in Australia, ensuring that our funds are spent as effectively as possible and directed straight to our students and their educational expenses. Yes Arusha is run by a voluntary board of directors who oversee the day-to-day operations of the organisation. Lachlan continues to travel to Tanzania each year to coordinated our projects and programs with Haradali Schools and assess the progress of each of our students.

To date, we have provided educational support to 70 young people in Tanzania. Many of our original students are now in secondary school and we are hoping to support even more young Tanzanians through our scholarship program. Yes Arusha is deeply grateful to each and every sponsor, donor and volunteer for driving our cause.