BY THE ARUSHA NEWS REPORTER
ARUSHA’S philanthropist and poultry entrepreneur, Mrs Faye Cran, widely known as Mama Kuku, celebrated her 85th birthday last week, marking a milestone in a life that has brought hope, dignity and opportunity to thousands of disadvantaged Tanzanians.
Born in England during the Second World War, Mrs Cran moved to East Africa with her family while still a child and made the region her home. Her entrepreneurial journey began modestly with just 20 chicks. Through determination and business discipline, the small venture grew over the decades into a poultry enterprise, earning her the Kiswahili name Mama Kuku, meaning “Mother of Chickens.”
Yet, beyond the business, Mrs Cran’s enduring legacy is found in the lives of people who might otherwise have been forgotten. For decades, she has used her experience, friendships and Rotary network to mobilise support for poor families, abandoned children, people living with disabilities and communities affected by disease, stigma and exclusion.
She was a driving force behind the establishment of the Upendo Leprosy Victims Rehabilitation and Self-Reliance Centre in the mid-1990s. The centre became a refuge for children and adults rejected by their communities because of leprosy. It provided not only shelter and medical support but also a path towards independence through farming, livestock keeping, weaving, maize milling and the production of handicrafts.
Mrs Cran also became closely involved in programmes protecting and empowering Tanzanians with albinism. The initiatives provided children with beds, mattresses, mosquito nets, protective hats, sunscreen and visual aids. They supported community education to confront dangerous myths, trained health workers, helped hospitals treat precancerous skin conditions and enabled beneficiaries to establish small businesses. Her approach was never simply to give relief, but to help people regain confidence and earn a living.
Education has remained another pillar of her service. The Faye Cran Chem Chem Primary School, incorporating the Mama Kuku Preschool, was established in a community that lacked a public school. The complex was designed with 16 classrooms, a library, staff facilities, housing and sports grounds. By 2021, it was fully operational and capable of serving up to 1,300 children, many from families unable to afford school fees. In its first year, every pupil sitting the national examinations passed, placing the school 16th out of 318 schools.
Her work has also extended to vulnerable children living or working on the streets, women’s agricultural groups and livelihood projects. Through partnerships developed with Rotarians in New Zealand and elsewhere, volunteers and donors have supported hundreds of Tanzanian activities. Many visitors were hosted by Cran in her own home, often at her personal cost, before being taken directly to the communities they had come to assist.
What distinguishes Mama Kuku’s philanthropy is its human character. She has not served people from a distance or reduced poverty to figures in a report. She has sat with the sick, listened to mothers, welcomed abandoned children, searched for livestock for orphanages and opened her home to strangers who shared her desire to help.
At 85, her story reminds Tanzania that humanity is measured not by what a person accumulates but by what they place in the hands of others. A classroom, a bed, sunscreen, a chicken, a sewing machine or a word of encouragement may appear small, yet each can become the beginning of a new life.
Her birthday is therefore more than a personal celebration. It is a national moment to honour a woman whose compassion became action and whose action became schools, homes, livelihoods and restored dignity. For countless Tanzanians, Mama Kuku is not merely a name. She is proof that one determined human heart can change the future of a community.
