The Tongole Foundation

The Tongole Foundation is a charity working to meet the economic, social and environmental needs of the most vulnerable communities within Africa and more specifically the Nkhotakota district of Malawi.

The Tongole Foundation was founded due to the sad loss of Vitu Kalanga who was David Cole’s daughter’s boyfriend back in 2006/7. Vitu’s father Bentry had only moved from their native land, Malawi to Kent a few months before the tragedy in January 2007 to give his son a chance at a better education and realise his dream of becoming a doctor.

Vitu’s father Bentry & David Cole decided to do something in Vitu’s memory but with a difference from the usual.

They decided to create a two part project:

1. A sustainable business which would create sustainable employment and training opportunities in a very deprived part of Malawi.

2. A children’s education charity which would support 3 schools initially but with much bigger long term plans, including Conservation projects.

The business is a Wilderness Lodge which took over two years to physically construct in Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve which created over 100 jobs over that period many of whom have children at the 3 schools we are supporting.

At the end of the construction phase we have employed over 30 full time employees which of course has far reaching benefits i.e. 1 employed person directly affects over 20 people!

The Charity was registered in December 2010, Registered Charity Number: 1139568