Our story
One woman, a handful of school fees, and a refusal to accept the odds
Teach Me To Fish Foundation began in September 2010, funded out of one person's own pocket, supporting a handful of children through primary and secondary school in Cameroon. Fifteen years on, the work reaches hundreds of children a year.
From the founder
Teach me to fish, do not keep giving me fish, so when you are not there to provide the fish, I will fish for myself and not go hungry.
The Cameroonian parable the foundation is named after
I started this in 2010 with my own money and a handful of children. There was no organisation behind it and no plan beyond keeping those children in school for one more year.
What changed was not the ambition but the arithmetic. Ten thousand francs, a sum most people in the UK would not think twice about, covers a child's school fees, uniform and books for a full year. Once you know that, it becomes very hard to do nothing.
We cannot reach every child in Cameroon who is out of school. We have never pretended otherwise. What we can do is start with a few, do it properly, and add more each year, and that is exactly what the last twelve editions have been.
Dorothy Akoh-ArreyFounder and CEO, Teach Me To Fish Foundation
How I got here
In 2006 I took my first role at a well-known human rights charity in the UK. It was the introduction I needed to how fundraising and cause-related campaigning actually work, and over the following years I held roles across several of the UK's largest charities.
One goal never moved: doing something for children back in Cameroon. I became certain that education was the route, and that conviction, grounded in my faith and a sense that this was work I was meant to do, is where TMTF came from.
It took a long time to reach fruition, and that turned out to be the right grounding. Running a non-profit whose beneficiaries are thousands of miles away means understanding the law, the legal implications of fundraising across borders, and the practical limits of what a small charity can promise. I took a specialist course at City University's Cass Business School to close those gaps, and that is the backbone TMTF was launched on.
I am influenced by organisations like the UN, Grassroots Trust, Room to Read, Cardinal Hume, Asante and the Africa Educational Trust. My ambition is a Cameroon where at least half of underprivileged children, girls and boys equally, have access to education.
Our mission
To champion every Cameroonian child's right to an education, and to remove the practical barriers that stand between them and a classroom.
Most children we support are not out of school because they lack ability or willingness. They are out of school because a fee went unpaid, a uniform could not be bought, or a family's circumstances changed. Those are solvable problems.
We work with schools, colleges and the local education delegation to identify children who would benefit from long-term support, and we pay fees, uniforms and materials directly rather than handing over cash. Every child we sponsor has their progress tracked with their school.
Our vision
A Cameroon where every child can read, write, and choose what happens next.
We want to reach the point where a community facing a child's school fees knows exactly where to turn, and where no child's education ends because of a bill their family could not meet.
Literacy is not the end of this. It is the beginning of economic independence, for the child and eventually for the country. That is the long game, and it is why the foundation is named for teaching rather than giving.
What we hold to
Five things we do not trade away
Education first
Everything we fund has to put a child in a classroom and keep them there. We do not diversify into work that sounds good but does not do that.
Capability, not dependency
The parable in our name is a commitment. We fund the route to a child providing for themselves, not a permanent transfer.
Open books
Supporters are owed an accurate account of where their money went and what it achieved, including when a number is smaller than we would like.
Safety before storytelling
A child's protection outranks any photograph, profile or appeal that might raise more money. Where the two conflict, the child wins.
Every child, regardless
No child should be denied an education because of what their family earns. We defend that as a right, not a favour.
Our approach
How the work actually runs
Identify
Schools, colleges and the local education delegation help us find children who show promise and face real barriers.
Fund
Fees, uniform and materials paid directly to schools and suppliers.
Track
Each child's progress is followed with their school, year on year.
Stay
Support continues as long as the child stays in education, primary, secondary and beyond where we can.
Our roots
Why Cameroon?
People often ask why Teach Me To Fish Foundation focuses exclusively on Cameroon. The answer is simple: charity begins at home.
Our founder was born and educated in Cameroon, completing her academic journey from nursery school through to university before building an international career in the United Kingdom. Having experienced the Cameroonian education system first-hand, she understands both its strengths and the challenges that prevent many talented children from reaching their full potential.
Before founding TMTF, she worked as Cameroon Editor for Macmillan UK Publishing, leading the development and editorial review of academic textbooks across the national school curriculum. That experience provided a unique insight into education, not only how children learn, but also the barriers that many families face in accessing the most basic learning resources, from textbooks and exercise books to uniforms and school supplies.
Rather than spreading our efforts too thinly, we have chosen to invest deeply in the communities we know best. By working consistently with the same schools, families and local organisations over many years, we can build trusted relationships, understand changing needs and, most importantly, measure the real impact of every donation.
Cameroon is where our story began. It is where our roots are deepest, our relationships are strongest, and where we believe we can make the greatest and most sustainable difference.