Amity Office in Africa

Amity Africa Office and Amity Printing Africa Service Center was established to promote exchanges and resource sharing between the Chinese and African people. We encourage and mobilize local NGOs, enterprises and volunteers to participate in the philanthropy projects together and serve people in Africa. We strive to put the “twin engines” model into action, which means that social service organizations and social enterprises work together to pursue our goals. Four years since the establishment, Amity Africa Office has been devoted to providing education for disadvantaged children, humanitarian relief, medical support for patients who live in poverty and climate change mitigation. Furthermore, we provided capacity building for single mothers who were experiencing economic hardship, and for young people living in slums.

Highlights:

1. In August 2019, Amity established the Kenya office in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The establishment of Amity Foundation Kenya Office and Amity Printing Kenya Office marks a new milestone for Amity’s Practice of the “twin engines” model. The newly established Kenya office will further bridge cultural exchange between China and Africa, and contribute to Africa’s social and economic development.

2. In 2019, Amity Foundation raised funds for nearly 500 disadvantaged children from public schools near Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, through Tencent Charity, Amity Coffee, and Chinese enterprises in Ethiopia. The project provided school bags, pencils, pens, notebooks, and other basic school supplies for their one year’s study. These improved their learning conditions and protected their rights for inclusive and fair quality education. Amity has always insisted on purchasing donated items locally such as small school bags, pens, and notebooks. This supports the local market on the one hand, and on the other hand, it reduces the impact of longdistance transportation on the environment.

3. In response to Goal 4 of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”, Amity has supported a local partner Dream Building Service Association (DBSA) in Kenya to jointly carry out a project to provide educational support for children living in slums. Supporting children with suitable classroom facilities such as student desks and chairs helps to create a safer and better learning environment and provides necessary backup for their happy learning and physical development. Funded by the Jiangsu Provincial Government’s micro-fund for “Going Global” of Jiangsu NGOs, Amity Small Desk Project has provided 125 school desks with chairs for 7 schools in Mathare. Nearly 400 children have benefited from the project.

4. Amity Coffee, a product of the cooperation between Amity and Le bunna Coffee, was sold online through Amity Bakery’s shops in China. In 2019, Amity cooperated with Hong Coffee Studio, a fine coffee brand owned by Le bunna Coffee and launched two different products, Yirgachefe Coffee
and Sidamo. Moreover, Amity Bakery includes Amity Coffee into their products, which was highly welcomed. Amity hopes, by sharing coffee culture, to get more attention from the general public on the development of Ethiopia, and support the remote coffee producing areas and disadvantaged children there.