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What if you could build a school?
With Makuyuni it's possible. We are a non-profit from Cologne, building schools in Tanzania. Together with the people there.
5 + 2
Five schools completed, two under construction
1,000+
Students
3,000+
People provided with drinking water
100 %
All donations go into building schools
Each school has a story. Each begins with the people on site.
We don't build schools for communities. We build them with them. The idea comes from the people themselves. Lalahe and Lazaro coordinate everything on site. They know every family, every need. We provide funding, ideas, and support.
Our goal with each school: transfer to the government. Then we step back, the community takes over. Help towards self-help, not dependency.
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Zaburi Primary School (2023)
Until 2023, the children from Zaburi had to walk several kilometers along the unlit main road to the next school. Today they learn in their own village.
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Makuyuni Juu Primary School (2022)
Since 2006, the community has been building this school. Over 17 years, two classrooms and a teacher's house were created. In 2022, we joined in. Since then, it has continued to grow together.
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Selela Nadosoitok Primary School (2021)
The community had already built a classroom. We joined and expanded it. Today, Selela is the largest school in our network.
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Orkisima Primary School (2019)
The project began in 2019 from personal connections to families in Orkisima. In 2020, the well was added and provides 3,200 people with drinking water.
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Idimayii Primary School (2018)
Our first school, built together with the Lomiyon community in 2018. It has now been handed over. Another nonprofit organization continues to support it.
A school costs less than you think.
Sounds crazy: We built a whole school with classrooms and a teacher's house in Orkisima for under €120,000. That's less than a 2-room apartment in Cologne-Ehrenfeld.
Lolera, our sixth school, starts even with €76,000 for Block A: classrooms, teacher's house, and toilets. Your donation doesn't vanish in administration; it builds walls and roofs and pays for school benches and learning materials.
Friendship that builds schools.
Makuyuni e.V. didn't start with a business plan. It started with a friendship. In 2018, Jan and Andy from Cologne met Lalahe and Lazaro from Tanzania. This meeting led to a question: Why don't we build a school?
Today, we are over 90 people in the network. Six on the board in Cologne, all volunteers. Lalahe and Lazaro have been working full-time on site since 2018. No marketing department. No board salaries. Just people getting things done.
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Lalahe
Project management Tanzania
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Lazaro Laizer
Project management Tanzania
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Andreas Klein
Board · Sponsoring & Finances
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Jan Grandisch
Board · Donations & Projects
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Daniel Vogelgesang
Board · Merch
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Olivia Vogelgesang
Board · Events & meet-ups
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Dana Bergmann
Board · Marketing & PR
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Oliver Blank
Board · All-rounder
Wear the message. #wearresponsibility
Our merch collections are made together with artists from Cologne and printed by fair print shops. Material and packaging come out of our crew contributions. 100% of the purchase price goes into school construction.
Every piece starts a conversation: when someone asks about your socks, you get to talk about Makuyuni.
We're often asked this.
Learn more and get in touch directly.
Learn more about our partners, check our transparency report, or find out what drives us. Do you have any more questions? Then write directly to Andy or Jan.
Who builds with us.
Families, foundations, book charities, companies. The partners without whom no school would stand.
Where your money goes.
100% of all donations go into school construction. Three pots, a transparent financial report. Audited by the Cologne-Altstadt tax office.
What drives us.
Why we do what we do and the criteria we use to decide where the next school will be built.
Andy
Andreas Klein. Co-founder, involved since 2018. First contact point for sponsorships, partners, financial reports, and technical matters.
Jan
Jan Grandisch. Co-founder, involved since 2018. First contact point for donations and projects. He met Lalahe in Tanzania in 2017.