)
Our story didn't start with a plan, but with an encounter.
In 2017 Jan travelled to Tanzania as a volunteer. He worked for the small NGO that Lalahe had founded with his then-wife Claire. Its explicit purpose: to bring education to Lalahe's home region. Through that work, Jan and Lalahe got to know each other. Lalahe, Maasai, born in the Ngorongoro Crater, had already helped set up the Lomiyon community's first improvised classroom in 2009.
From the encounter came friendship. A year later, on 12 July 2018, nine friends from Cologne signed the founding charter of Makuyuni e.V. The 100 % model applied from day one: donations go directly into building, administration is paid out of our Crewbeiträge.
Since then we work together with Lalahe and Lazaro. They run their own NGO on site, coordinate every build, work full-time on the projects. We finance. They build.
Year by year: how we grew.
From an encounter in 2017 to the first founding charter in 2018, then to five completed schools, a well for 3,200 people, and two more under construction. Without rush. Block by block.
- 2009Lalahe and the Lomiyon community begin Idimayii
In Lalahe's home region the first improvised school takes shape, with clay walls and a corrugated iron roof. Without us. With the people on site.
)
- 2017Jan travels to Tanzania as a volunteer
Jan works as a volunteer for the small NGO that Lalahe founded with his then-wife Claire. He meets Lalahe in person. Encounter turns into friendship.
- 2018Founding of Makuyuni e.V. in Cologne
12 July: founding charter signed. 9 founding members, the 100 % model from day one. First project: expanding Idimayii, together with Lalahe and the Lomiyon community.
- 2019Orkisima: start of the second school
In Lalahe's home region. Seven classrooms, a teachers' house, later a well for over 3,000 people. Lalahe and Lazaro take over construction management on site.
)
- 2020Well in Orkisima completed
Clean drinking water by WHO standards for 3,200 people. External drilling firm, Lalahe and Lazaro coordinate.
- 2021Selela: start of the third school
A community that had already built a classroom out of sticks and clay themselves. Today the largest school in our network.
)
- 2022Orkisima handed over. Makuyuni Juu: start of the fourth school
Handover of the first complete school to the Tanzanian government. In parallel, work begins in Makuyuni Juu, a community initiative from 2006 that we continue building.
)
- 2023Selela handed over. Zaburi: start of the fifth school
Selela becomes an official state school. Construction in Zaburi begins. A family from Germany supports the project.
)
- 2025Makuyuni Juu handed over. Lolera: start of the sixth school
Handover to the government. In parallel the sixth school: Lolera, financed by Bücherbörse Köln, the well by Bücherbörse Stuttgart.
)
- 2026Zaburi handed over. Lolera grows. Meleleki being prepared.
Handover of the fifth school to the government. The well, teachers' house and toilets in Lolera continue to grow. Meanwhile in Meleleki: main sponsor Bücherbörse Stuttgart confirmed, Block A already built by the community itself, our pre-check completed.
)
Who does this, actually?
Six heads on the board. Two supervisors in Tanzania. And a network that carries it all.
)
Questions about our history? Write directly.
If you want to know how a volunteer trip became an association, or why we had the 100 % model from day one: Jan tells you.
)
Jan
Jan Grandisch. Co-founder, since 2018. First contact for donations and projects. He met Lalahe in Tanzania in 2017.
Write directly. Jan usually answers within a few days. No marketing department, no ticket system.