Alaffia Foundation

Bicycles for Education: GACE donated 323 bicycles to students and community health agents in Togo, West Africa. These bicycles were collected from organizations and individuals in the US, and many would otherwise have gone to US landfills. GACE has repaired & monitored over 10,000 bicycles in distribution to poor secondary school students in Togo. Our Bicycles for Education program addresses the extremely high dropout rate in rural West Africa. 80% of boys and 90% of girls in Togo do not graduate secondary school. In rural areas the distance, family chores, and lack of transportation are key barriers to education especially for girls who are burdened with daily chores like fetching wood and water, or gardening. 95% of our bicycled students are staying in school or graduating.

Reforestation: GACE planted 7,260 trees of various species (Shea, Mango, Cassia, Mahogany, Moringa, Neem, and Eucalyptus) in five prefectures of Togo, West Africa. Togo is within the African Sahel, which forms a vulnerable "green wall" against encroaching deserts of North Africa and is a critical carbon sink for mitigating climate change. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of international attention on savanna tree cover losses, and without support for solutions, deforestation will continue. Since 2006, GACE has been planting trees to help slow tree loss and bring awareness to the issue in our communities. Our reforestation project is about survival. We increase chances of tree survival by choosing species that are suitable for the environment and by planting them with community groups, such as schools, organized farmer collectives, and shea nut collector groups. Groups are more likely to provide irrigation needed to get seedlings through the first dry season and protect the young trees from grazing livestock and wildfires.

Maternal Health: In 2023, GACE funded antenatal, delivery and post natal care for 180 extremely poor mothers in Togo, West Africa. We partner with national health clinics, local leaders, and community volunteers to provide healthcare and training. GACE provides services including managing health records, billing records, and ensuring each participant receives copies of all her health records. GACE also provides family health trainings on topics such as infant nutrition, breastfeeding, birth spacing, and impacts of female circumcision.

Health Programs: We donated 1,721 reading and sun glasses to individuals in Togo, West Africa and 7,427 used prescription glasses to the Lions Club Eyeglass Recycling program. Expenses are primarily value of donated inventory. Protection from the sun and dust is important to proper vision health care. Sunglasses keep harmful UV rays from the eyes, and help prevent cataracts later in life, which can develop from excessive sun exposure and lead to near-sightedness and other eye problems. We collect used sunglasses and reading glasses from natural health food store customers around the United States. After sorting and shipping them, we distribute them to our communities in West Africa, keeping thousands of pairs of eyeglasses from landfills each year.

School Construction Program: in 2023, GACE built and installed desks for the newly constructed primary school in Tambonga, Togo. Tambonga is a farming community in northern Togo. In 2015, community volunteers built a temporary original straw roofed structure to function as a school for over 115 students. GACE chose this community to receive a school building for their middle school. There is a high demand for schools in Togo, and government funding is inadequate to provide needed infrastructure. GACE builds schools in our Togolese communities to help meet the critical need for childhood education.

Administrative costs of programs, including office supplies and equipment, management of Togo programs, travel, postage, shipping, communication, and banking costs. This includes smaller programs such as clothing donations.