OUR STORY
Hello,
We, Bijou Kalayil and Alka Shah-Kalayil, are the Trustees and founding members of Kujali.
We were both born in Africa, and lived in Zimbabwe and Kenya for our school years. After this, we moved to the UK where we now live with our two daughters (Anokhi and Jahnavi Kalayil), who are also Trustees of Kujali. We feel a strong link to Africa and its people as a result of our childhood memories from when we grew up there.
Our desire to help needy communities in Africa led to the creation of Kujali. As Kujali is run by us as a family, we incur no administration costs whatsoever. All money donated to the charity is distributed personally by the Trustees directly to community projects in Africa. There is no middle man. We pride ourselves in this direct approach and, through it, are able to guarantee that every penny donated reaches the people who need it most.
Our work is currently in East Africa, where we have identified rural areas with educational needs. We are committed to supporting the people of these areas through our fundraising efforts and carefully monitored support approach. Our familiarity with African traditions and culture helps us maintain an honest relationship with the people we work with. This ensures that our projects are sustainable and appropriate to the culture in which they are implemented.
We hope that our website gives you a good understanding of the work we do. Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like to know more.
Thank you for reading about us!
Bijou, Alka, Anokhi and Jahnavi
OUR APPROACH
"Caring for Communities"
All of our projects are based on the ethos of providing communities with the means to help themselves.
The projects are monitored from start to finish by the trustees who liaise closely with local community leaders and social workers.
Funding for all projects goes directly to the beneficiary; there is no middle man.
Currently, our projects are focussed on education for orphaned, disabled and/or vulnerable children in East Africa.
Previous projects have included borehole installation in rural areas, land investments, and school fees for children in Zimbabwe.