Who We Are

Organizations like organisms do evolve. Buyegi Trust Fund (BTF) is no different. Looking back 8 years ago, 3 years prior and 5 years, after the official registration of the organization a lot has been achieved in relation to its vision, mission and objectives.

The establishment of Unique Child Daycare in 2018 was answering to a call that the Msengi family (the founders) had no option than do due to the fact that the need for inclusive learning centre and facilities, in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, was huge and overdue but no one was ready to accept and take the challenge.

Their son who was diagnosed with ASD at age 3, like many others under this category, couldn’t fit into any existing school set-up in the region. He was labelled and marginalized but the family knew that he was just gifted differently.

Stepping into that challenge and start paving a new path required Dr. Miriam L. Elisha to sacrifice her career and dedicate herself full time to the call. On the other hand, the family had to commit financial resources to support the initiative on a monthly basis apart from the investments made on infrastructure and learning facilities.

Eight years later, everybody in the family feels a great sense of satisfaction because of the impact that the sacrifices (both financial and in-kind) made by individual family members as well as the family as whole is evident on over 500 children served directly, approximately 20 people who earn a living as employees and over 100,000 people who have benefited indirectly through training, workshops and advocacy programs carried at the school and outside through various platforms. 

Apart from that, the mindset and perspective change on children with special learning needs and ASD (autism spectrum disorder) in the community is an achievement that it’s difficult to quantify. Now, children with special learning needs and ASD are regarded not as inconvenience or bewitched but as people who are gifted differently and have abundance of abilities (Ability Galore) that need to be realized and unleashed.

It didn’t end there, the establishment of BTF Centre in November 2025 was another unwilling call the Msengi family had to answer after realizing that the gap between the teacher at school and the parent or caregiver at home not only on understanding but also helping the children and youths in focus was evident, hence, sabotaging the efforts. However, the gap could not be addressed at a school setting instead at a neutral place with a different set of skills and tools. BTF Centre now fills that gap through tailor made evidence-based interventions not only for children and youths but most importantly for parents and caregivers. The results and impact is astonishing.

As Buyegi Trust Fund celebrates its 5th Anniversary since its official registration by RITA, it is worth reflecting back, assessing the journey and charting a sustainable way forward for the next 5 or more years ahead. Among the evident realizations that the organization has reached is that, there is a need to re-invent itself by looking at its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities available. The key strength is that BTF has been self-sustaining before and after its formal registration. However, the key weakness is that the organization has been operating at the goodwill of the family and entirely dependent on family resources, hence, limiting its impact.

On the other hand, there are enormous opportunities that BTF can seize in order to broaden its relevance and scale its impact nationally and internationally. That’s why the organization has re-written its vision and mission, expanded its governance structure and ventured into the creative and innovation space to develop and deploy Systems for Livelihood Resilience.