Mission
To serve “the least among us” (Mathew 25:40) by helping them with education, housing, healthcare and disaster relief services, and also by promoting environmental conservation.
Shaji was a senior banker based in Dubai and Europe. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (from India) and a master’s in financial risk management and regulation (from Germany). Shaji is the founding-trustee since its beginning. Before returning to India, he was also aiding social service works in Kenya and Malawi.
Shaji is the Chairman of the Foundation looking after its operations and reporting to the Board of Trustees.
Sajisha has been working with us since beginning. She serves as Secretary to the board of trustees and looks after finance and administration. As our seniormost staff member, homemaker, mother and wife she extends valuable insights during evaluation of applications.
Risin is a graduate in English literature from India. She joined the board of trustees from the year 2018. Among other things she advises the Board in the sensitivities while dealing with family related cases – especially of elderly women, of women-in-distress and of children. She is a brilliant home maker, taking excellent care of her aged parents and in-laws, her daughters Michelle and Rachel and her husband and trustee, Shaji. Before joining the Foundation, for more than a decade she had owned and managed own business abroad.
Anagha is a qualified social worker. She finished her MSW (master’s in social work) from Calicut University. She is a gentle family person who extends great care to her aged grandparents, parents and brother. She was our employee once and after moving into a full-time councilor job specializing in tribal affairs, she joined our board of trustees from 2024 onwards. She adds value to us due to her previous experience as a successful administrator and current profession as a councilor, especially in tribal affairs and mental health awareness.
Sri Babu started his work-life as a mason and joined us to assist us in our housing portfolio. In 2024, he was promoted as Project Director overseeing housing and special projects. He helps us to expand our base among daily-wage working families by providing insights into the kind of support they need, doing field visits, and developing grass-root level contacts.
Annemarie Foundation is registered as a charitable trust in India. It started in the year 2017.
To serve “the least among us” (Mathew 25:40) by helping them with education, housing, healthcare and disaster relief services, and also by promoting environmental conservation.
To become a reputed charitable organization that makes a positive difference in the lives of the underprivileged. To achieve this, we shall rely on our faith in God, on scientific knowledge, and on our core values.
While prioritizing applications, we shall give preference to the most vulnerable applicants (in that Program).
We shall run the organization in a transparent manner to our donors and regulators.
We believe in the God who created us all. Our services are spiritually driven and is open to all. We shall treat our donors and beneficiaries with love, respect, and dignity.
On the eve of the 6th of February 2012, a meeting between The Founder and a student-friend took place at a coffee shop (named ‘Coffee Fellows,’ located at Kaiserstraße 14, Frankfurt am Main) in Germany. That meeting gave the Founder the inspiration to start his long-cherished dream of leaving some good deeds and words behind. That was the beginning of ‘Annemarie Foundation.’
He began that work during the same year by sponsoring the education of a high-school student in Kenya, named Joseph Mbuthias Kanyiri. Joseph graduated from Nyeri National Polytechnic, Kenya on October, 2018. Few more students were supported in Kenya. Some good works were done in Malawi (in Africa) as well.
After a few years, the Founder relocated to India. On the 15th of December 2017, ‘Annemarie Foundation’ was registered in India as a charitable trust. His parents, Jose and Mary, were the settlors and their son, Shaji, its founding trustee. It was established with a mission to serve “the least among us,” as desired by Jesus Christ.
Its logo, given below, was designed by Mr. Jenshoo Francis, in 2013.
As of 2016, 42% of the 44 million people in Kenya live below the poverty line. There are 2.5 million orphans. Here we operate in Nairobi and Nyeri. Our (sponsored) children study in schools across Kenya.
As of 2016, the foundation supports fifteen children in Kenya. The students have been personally chosen by the founder and board members after professional screening of their academic records and family circumstances. They are currently studying in some of the best schools in Kenya, fully or partially sponsored by the foundation. The first student, Joseph Mbuthiya Kanyiri, selected and supported since 2012, is currently doing his second year of mechanical engineering at National Polytechnic, Nyeri.
Our first meal program was held at Gikondi Parish under the Archdiocese of Nyeri.
This project involved collection, packing, shipment, and distribution of 9,000 pieces of good-quality used clothes (1.7 tons) from Asia to Kenya. The beneficiaries were poor children and families located in Kanguruwe slum in Nairobi and in Gikondi parish located under the Archdiocese of Nyeri. Some pictures of this project are shown below. A video of this project is available at:
Watch Video
Clothing Selection in Asia
Clothing distribution at Toto Angel School, Kanguruwe slum,
Nairobi
Clothing distribution at Gikondi Parish
Founder with the Archbishop of Nyeri.The archdiocese welcomed him and
provided support on the ground.
According to the World Bank (2016) report, Malawi is the poorest country in the world with the lowest GDP per capita. On top of that, as per official data, 10.8% of the population are HIV infected; unofficial estimates are much higher. Life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world, with HIV and malaria among the major causes of death. Infant mortality rate as of 2015 is 43/1000, one of the highest in the world. For every 100,000 live births in Malawi, 807 mothers die as a result of pregnancy- and childbirth-related causes. There are 6.8 million children in Malawi, 51% of the population. Out of that 6.8 million children, one million are orphans, and more than half of them have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Malawi is a landlocked country, with no sea ports; air transport is also very expensive and time consuming. All these, along with a currency that lost half of its value in less than a year, make the prices of commodities volatile and expensive.
www.unicef.org/malawi/children.html
Annemarie’s hill, our first project in Malawi, was to help build a school (and a church) in partnership with the villagers and well wishers in the Chabwera village in Dedza district, where around 600 children are studying at present. Capuchin mission in Malawi were our local partners who helped us to build this for the villagers.
Chabwera is a remote village in the Dedza district of Malawi. This was a feast for the villagers who partnered with us to build the school and church there.
Children are fun and with toffees it’s even better. They are the
angels of our world.
Children, toffees, and games. Children are the hopes of God.