Victory Day Care — A Daycare in Dodoma, Tanzania

Our work

This page introduces our social project. Read through it in your own time, then decide whether you would like to be part of it.

We have put our heart and our own money into this for more than three years. Because we believe in it. And because it is meant to become the largest project of its kind in Tanzania.

Every kind of help is received with the heart and honoured.

Why it is needed

A spark of hope

Imagine a childhood in which education is an unreachable luxury.

Children in class in the makeshift classroom of Victory Day Care

In remote regions of Tanzania many children grow up in poverty. Far from the opportunities we take for granted. They are excluded from the community before their path has properly begun.

It does not have to stay that way. We have the chance to give these children not only hope, but a tangible start in life.

The goal

Early education. For every child.

Our heart project has one clear goal: we are building a daycare in Tanzania.

More than a building. A safe place to learn, and a place where these children belong. Early childhood education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

We want to reduce the exclusion of children in areas nobody has reached so far, and give them the foundation for a better future.

The road so far

Our milestones

This project is not a sudden idea. It is the result of years of work.

Before

An evening in Hamburg

Edward and Nico do not know each other yet. What connects them is a mutual friend: Dyoniz. He brings the two together in Hamburg.

There Edward speaks about his dream — a daycare in Tanzania. An idea that brings together everything he can do: his work as a development worker and his time as a children’s circus trainer.

Nico is a kindergarten teacher and has long carried the wish to make a difference for children somewhere in the world. He knows his skills belong where the need is greatest.

That single evening seals the partnership — and gives the dream a shape.

2021

The beginning

Edward researches and seeks advice from people who have already built educational institutions in Tanzania. Nothing is started before it is clear how it actually works.

2022

The ground

We acquire a 4,900 m² plot in Dodoma — the project’s first own ground. That it would not stay that way, nobody knows yet.

2023

Don’t wait. Begin.

While we wait for the building permit, we make a bold decision: we open a daycare in Edward’s own house.

We hire our first teacher and welcome the first children. And we go from house to house to talk with parents about why early education matters so much.

The children of Victory Day Care with their teachers and Edward

2024

The way to the children

More and more children come. With your help we buy a car and set up a transport service — so that children who live too far to walk can come as well.

In the same year Bernhard stands in front of it himself for the first time. In Nzuguni, Dodoma.

2025

Twenty-seven children

What began as a few families willing to try has become a steady group: 27 children now come regularly to the daycare in Edward’s house.

The daycare gains support — a trained nursery teacher with experience in early childhood care.

2026

Ground of our own

42 children. Fifteen more than the year before.

Over these two years a heart project has become an institution. Five things carry that:

Recognised by the government Victory Day Care is fully registered and officially recognised in Tanzania — forms, fees, paperwork, all of it done. That builds trust with families and support on the ground.
Surveyed ground of our own The plot from 2022 is no longer available to the project — the authorities decided otherwise. The new ground is officially surveyed and truly ours: 12,382 m² for 20 million Tanzanian shillings, around €6,500. Two and a half times the size of the first. This is where the permanent daycare will be built.
A harvest of our own On a sugar cane farm, something is growing for the first time that brings in money without anyone having to donate it. The first harvest is estimated at over 3.5 million shillings, around €1,100.
New sources of income A hair salon and a small shop for the daily needs of the neighbourhood have been added — two more ways the project carries itself, instead of only waiting on donations.
The first ones have moved on Children who started here have finished daycare and moved on to primary school. That is exactly what this is about.

The new Victory Day Care hair salon, with hood dryers and product shelves

It has not been easy. Water, equipment, staffing — every one of those has been a struggle. The next big step is the build on the new plot: classrooms, play areas and a reliable water supply.

Learn. Share. Laugh. Grow.

The people behind it

Why we do what we do

Our connection and our drive are deeply personal.

Edward Community Developer, Dodoma

Edward knows these difficulties first hand. He grew up in a poor family, and his own path to education came at great cost. That experience shaped his unshakeable wish to stand up for disadvantaged children.

It is his life’s dream to help children develop and to give them the access that once came so hard to him.

Nico Kindergarten teacher

Nico carried the deep wish for a long time to make a difference for children somewhere in the world. He knew his skills would be best placed where the need was greatest.

Dyoniz The mutual friend

The friend without whom this project would not exist. He brought Edward and Nico together in Hamburg — and stayed in the background.

For Edward, the realisation of his dream. For Nico, the chance to live his calling where it is needed most.

Right now

What is needed now

Our journey has only just begun. For the build to continue and the daycare to stay safe, this is what comes next:

The teacher Salary and housing, month after month — so she can stay and the children keep the person they trust.

Ongoing

The building plans An architect has to draw up the blueprints for the actual daycare building.

Open

The transport service The car has to be painted — a legal requirement, so the transport service can keep running.

Open

Long term

The building stages

Every contribution flows straight into this house and into the children who will learn in it. This is what we want to build — and this is what it costs:

Three classrooms€13,599
Furnishing: furniture, materials€13,152
Two mini buses€6,000
Fence for protection€3,500
Toilets€2,000
Kitchen€1,500
Staff room€1,237

What the build costs in total

€40,988

So far €2,348 has come in through GoFundMe. From 65 people who did not look away.

Add a brick

Be part of it

Become part of this story

Children of Victory Day Care putting their hands together on a table

This is more than a building project. It is a movement for education, belonging and hope.

With your contribution you are not just giving bricks and pencils. You are giving a child the chance at a better future, and at unfolding their full potential.

What your contribution does

Money carries a different weight on the ground. That is why even a small amount does a lot:

€50One month’s wage for a teacher — 150,000 shillings
€1,237The staff room
€1,500The kitchen
€2,000The toilets
€3,500The fence that protects the grounds
€6,000Two mini buses for the transport service

Support now

Through GoFundMe. Every amount counts, the small ones too.

Before you decide

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the daycare?

Victory Day Care is in Misheni, Nzuguni “A” — a neighbourhood of Dodoma, Tanzania. Until the actual building is finished, the daycare runs out of Edward’s own house. It currently cares for 42 children.

For the permanent building, the project owns a surveyed plot of 12,382 m² in Dodoma, bought for 20 million Tanzanian shillings — around €6,500. The first plot from 2022 is no longer available to the project.

Where does my contribution go?

Straight into the project on the ground. First into what is needed month by month and right now: the teacher’s salary and housing, the architect’s building plans, and the legally required paintwork on the transport car.

Your contribution carries further there than it does here: a teacher’s monthly wage is around 150,000 Tanzanian shillings — roughly 50 euros.

After that, into the build on the new plot — classrooms, a kitchen, toilets, a fence and a reliable water supply.

Is my contribution tax-deductible?

Not yet — and two things are worth telling apart here. In Tanzania, Victory Day Care is officially recognised by the government and fully registered. That does not count for tax purposes in Austria or Germany: for that, a registered association would be needed here, and there isn’t one yet.

So there is no donation receipt, and contributions are not deductible. Founding an association is planned. Until then, every contribution goes straight into the project — without a detour through the tax office, but also without a tax benefit. That belongs to the truth of it.

Will the project always depend on donations?

No — that is being worked on. Victory Day Care now grows sugar cane, runs a hair salon and a small shop for the daily needs of the neighbourhood. The sugar cane harvest alone is estimated at over 3.5 million Tanzanian shillings — around €1,100 that nobody has to donate.

The goal is a daycare that step by step carries itself. Until then it takes both: the building work on the ground, and the people who help carry it from here.

How much is still missing?

The seven building stages together cost €40,988. Through GoFundMe, €2,348 has come in so far, from 65 people.

The rest is open. That is exactly why this page exists.

Can I help every month?

Yes. Bernhard Thaler has contributed every month since 2022.

If you would like to do the same, write him a short note at info@alchemyuncensored.life — and the two of you will find a way that fits you.

Who is behind the project?

Edward, a community developer in Dodoma who grew up in poverty himself, and Nico, a kindergarten teacher. Their mutual friend Dyoniz brought them together in Hamburg.

Bernhard Thaler of Alchemy Uncensored has accompanied the project since 2022 and stood in front of it himself for the first time in 2024.

On the ground

Still something open?

Not finding your question here? Get in touch with Edward and Nico in Dodoma directly — or write to Bernhard.

Victory Day Care
Misheni, Nzuguni “A”
Dodoma, Tanzania

+255 784 998 294

victorydaycare@proton.me

Rather ask Bernhard? Message him on Telegram