Tacoma, Washington-based Relief Bed International has partnered with Orphans Africa (OA), an organization dedicated to educating orphans in Africa.
According to a news release, Orphans Africa, also headquartered in Tacoma, was founded in 2007, has built and operates six schools for orphans in five locations in Tanzania, East Africa. Relief Bed International, founded in 2015, provides strategically built beds to global relief organizations and homeless shelters in the United States.
Relief Bed International’s first major donation on the African continent was to an orphanage in Kampala, Uganda, during Christmas 2015. The children who received the relief beds had never slept on a traditional bed off the ground; this donation was complemented by custom metal bunk beds from another donor. Another donation, in partnership with World Vision, was made to a rural health center in Zambia. These beds provided a comfortable place for patients who traveled long distances to rest and rejuvenate at the health center. An added advantage of the innovative way Relief Beds are built is that students can take their beds home during school breaks, allowing them to enjoy rejuvenating sleep while at home, the news release said.
“We are honored to partner with Orphans Africa in support of their new dormitory for girls [at their vocational-technical college] in Tanzania, East Africa,” said Scott Smalling, founder of Relief Bed International. “We understand sleep is the third-most important biological need, bested only by food and water and is even more critical to children who need proper sleep to grow and learn to their full potential.”
Read more on Relief Bed: Relief Bed International Celebrates a Decade of Giving.