The ANC was becoming a normal growing society at SOMAFCO since its inception in 1979. Among some of its divisions that existed was the pre-school component. The growth of the population of the ANC community in Tanzania in general and at Mazimbu in particular, brought with the concern of how to look after the children of the members. This was pertinent as it impacted heavily on both young and adult parents who had various tasks in the ANC missions. It necessitated a place where kids could be housed together to free their parents to do some of the ANC duties and prepare them for schooling in later years. It was indicative of how the ANC attached the importance of womens participation in its overall functions. This was seen as the primary objective of the Children's Centre at Mazimbu, i.e., to enable mothers to pursue education, productive and political activities on behalf of the ANC.

The work on the construction of Children's Centre started in January 1982. Sweden International Development (SIDA) under Radda Barnen sponsored the Centre. The Centre started with a staff of 34 and 4 matrons. By then there were 29 mothers assisted only by two trained teachers. When it started, the centre had had 95 children, aged between 6 months and 3 three years. With the expansion of the population at SOMAFCO, so was the number of the children. Additional staff had to be trained to cope with the growing number of children. The followings were the objectives of the Centre:

" The followings were the objectives of the Centre:

" To provide facilities and a programme for the care and early education of the children

" To familiarize children with their country, culture, and history

" To develop a programme for the provision of childcare services

As years went by, most of the objectives set above were implemented and enabled the centre to meet some pressing needs of the children.