Village Africa is a charity working in Tanzania, East Africa. It is based in a village called Yamba, high in the West Usambara Mountains in the Tanga region. Its aim is to alleviate poverty. Initially its work is in health and education. Locally it is known by the Kisambaa name 'Vyaadahikana' which means 'It is possible'.

Village Africa has reactivated Yamba Village Health Post (Catholic Church registered). It has done this by sponsoring the salaries of a clinical officer and a nurse/laboratory technician. It has also provided a stock of medicine, medical equipment and cleaning materials. 

Village Africa is assisting two government primary schools (Yamba and Milingano) and one government secondary school (Mibukwe). It is running a volunteer teaching programme to assist with the teaching of English and is providing teaching resources. The project’s building programme includes classrooms and school toilets. Village Africa is also running a child sponsorship scheme for primary school children. 

Village Africa was started in May 2006 by a British woman (Caroline Johnston) and a Tanzanian priest (Father Stanislaus Baruti). It is registered in the UK as an independent charity. Directors have been found and it has a small UK office run by a volunteer. The project has Tanzanian staff and employs a lot of village casual labour for building projects. The charity was initially financed by a very generous gift from the late Mrs Rhoda Lawley. It is now funded by donations from both individuals and companies. Teaching, building, nursing and other volunteers from overseas are self-funded.

Most villagers have no cash income - just the crops they grow. Despite the cold climate several months of the year, many adults and children have more than twenty holes in their clothes, no shoes, no sweaters, no blankets, no beds and no toilets. They experience frequent crop failures caused by drought. There is no electricity or piped water. The nearest bus is five hours walk away. Prior to the start of Village Africa, sick people and pregnant women were taken on a stretcher carried by six men down the mountain on a two day walk to hospital. Mother and child mortality are high. 

The villagers of Yamba and Milingano have a thirst for development and have proved this in practical terms. They donated land, buildings, building materials, food and hours of casual labour to get the project started. They spent five months turning the bush into a 3km road to give vehicular access. Village Africa has a four wheel drive vehicle which is used to bring medicine, supplies, volunteers and visitors to the project. It is used as an ambulance to take sick people to hospital in emergencies.

The villagers are friendly, hospitable and generous. They look after one another. They wear vibrant colours, sing, dance, drum and play the guitar to enjoy life. They are incredibly strong and can carry a 20kg bag of cement up the mountain.

The project has the support of the community, the village committees and government officials. All are assisting in ways that they can and all believe that development is possible ('Vyaadahikana').