From Heartbreak to Hope: The Wollongong couple behind a $2m mission to keep families together
Forever Projects has empowered 2,100 women.
A decade after its humble beginnings at Lee & Me cafe in Wollongong, Forever Projects is celebrating a major milestone: ten years, $2 million raised, and more than 2,100 Tanzanian women empowered to build sustainable incomes and care for their 2,775 babies.
The Wollongong-based charity was founded by Mark and Anna Dombkins and grew out of their family’s remarkable personal journey.
The couple, now parents to six children - Jackson, Jemima, twins Shay and Charlie, their brother Jabari, and youngest Max - were first inspired after watching The Dying Rooms, a confronting documentary that exposed the harsh realities faced by orphaned children overseas.
At the time, their firstborn, Jackson, was just six months old. Deeply moved by what they saw, the Dombkins decided to adopt, eventually meeting three of their children, Shay, Charlie and Jabari, at a baby home in Tanzania.
Speaking at The Illawarra Connection dinner at The Lagoon in Wollongong on Tuesday, October 14, the Dombkins reflected on their journey and how that documentary has driven them to make a change.
“We walked out of the baby home that day carrying three babies … We literally had our arms full of babies, which felt like a lot in some ways. But in other ways, it felt like nothing, because behind us, in that same baby home, there were still fifty more babies, all of them with no possibility of a family,” Anna said.
“The question we asked ourselves that day we left, and every day since, is what would need to have been changed in those kids’ biological mothers’ stories so that abandonment and malnutrition could have been avoided in the first place.”
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That insight became Forever Projects. The charity supports Tanzanian women through a 12-month program providing emergency nutrition, housing and community support before helping each mother launch a small business. The aim is self-sufficiency and keeping families together.
Their first event, held at Lee & Me café in Crown Street in 2012, raised $16,000 from just 60 friends. That success paved the way for the creation of Forever Projects in 2015, with a clear mission to end the orphan crisis in Tanzania through income creation for women.
The charity’s 100% promise that every cent donated goes directly to projects in Tanzania is backed by a small group of local businesses covering all admin costs.
It’s an approach that’s drawn strong support from Illawarra companies such as Tibra Capital, Connected Digital and Lee & Me, and attracted national partners including Canva and Atlassian.
Mark told the audience that Forever Projects’ growth has been driven by people “using what’s in their hands.”
“Whether it’s a builder who gives part of every home he completes, or people climbing Mount Keira to raise funds, this movement is about creativity meeting compassion,” he said.
Forever Projects will celebrate its tenth anniversary this Saturday, October 18, at First Light Brewing.
For the Dombkins, it’s a moment to thank the Illawarra community that has supported them from the start, and to outline their plans for the next ten years.
“It doesn’t matter how many times I tell these stories; it still makes me cry just thinking of every woman there who gets to hold her own baby. And that is just possible because there are such beautiful people who are generous and help however they can,” Anna said.
The Forever Projects’ 10th anniversary celebration will be held on Saturday, October 18, at First Light Brewing Co from noon. You can get tickets here.