Growing up in a village in Tanzania, Seif Sakate never dreamt that he would one day fall in love with an Australian and move to the small Victorian town of Port Fairy.

Neither did he think that he would become the co-founder of a charity and lead 70 of his new Australian friends and neighbours back to his home village in Africa to build a school and a kindergarten.

Key points: Tanzanian Seif Sakate met his wife Catherine Ryan in Africa and they moved to Port Fairy in south-west Victoria

Tanzanian Seif Sakate met his wife Catherine Ryan in Africa and they moved to Port Fairy in south-west Victoria They inspired 70 of the town's residents to travel to Africa to build a school and a kindergarten

They inspired 70 of the town's residents to travel to Africa to build a school and a kindergarten Mr Sakate has become one of the coastal town's "icons" because of his good work

But Mr Sakate, 33, has done all of these things.

And he said none of it would have happened had he not moved to Port Fairy, 295 kilometres west of Melbourne at the end of the Great Ocean Road.

Mr Sakate moved there with his Australian partner Catherine Ryan, who is from the town.

The pair met and fell in love with when she was volunteering at his home village of Mto wa Mbu in Tanzania.

When the couple were first considering moving to Port Fairy, a lively and popular tourist hub with a thriving arts scene and numerous million-dollar properties, Ms Ryan was concerned that her partner would stand out.

"Growing up here, you never saw anyone of a different skin colour — at all," Ms Ryan said.

'The only black man'

She turned out to be right.

Mr Sakate did stand out, so much so that for many years he proudly titled himself "the only [African] black man in Port Fairy".

Mr Sakate's first job was at the community's only supermarket, where he met everyone from the town, and where everyone got to know him.

Seif Sakate is a "livewire" on the footy field according to locals. ( Source: Supplied )

He quickly made new friends and soon started talking with them about how to raise money to help the kids at home.

One-by-one, the Port Fairy locals became more invested in the plight of Mto wa Mbu's poorest children and day-by-day Mr Sakate became more of a Port Fairy local.

"I felt like, being in Australia, I had access to a lot of things," Mr Sakate said.

"And I realised I was more lucky than people back in my home village.

"I was living in Australia, and I had everything.

"I knew there were kids who would never have the chance to have an education, and their families never had a chance to have education."

Mr Sakate said his African heritage worked in his favour — everyone in Port Fairy knew who he was and what he was trying to do at Mto wa Mbu.

"I became quickly, so much part of the community, and everyone was nice," Mr Sakate said.

"I ended up knowing more people than Catherine — everyone introduced themselves to me."

Catherine Ryan was volunteering in Tanzania when she met Seif Sakate and her life changed forever. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

Beginnings of the Bandari Project

Mr Sakate had been telling the locals how they could help children access existing, overcrowded public schools in Tanzania.

"It started with us talking about school shoes," Ms Ryan said.

The pair, who have two children together, began fundraising to shoe the bare-footed, impoverished children of Mto wa Mbu so they could walk long distances to school.

Gradually, the whole thing got bigger and soon they found themselves embarking on the road to becoming an international charity — and taking the town of Port Fairy with them.

In 2015, they founded the Bandari Project after Rotary offered them money to build a kindergarten in Mto wa Mbu.

"We have raised maybe $200,000 in the past few years," Mr Sakate said.

Carpenter Eddie Purvis met Seif Sakate on the footy field, and volunteered in Tanzania in 2017. ( ABC South West Victoria: Emily Bissland )

Edward Purvis, a carpenter in Port Fairy said, Mr Sakate was a "bit of an icon around town", a livewire on the footy field and definitely considered a local.

"He's got the wild hair, the big dreadlocks, he's a really bubbly personality and he's part of the footy club.

"Everyone knows him, and he's certainly made more of an impact on this town than me!"

Mr Purvis, who volunteered in Mto wa Mbu in 2017, puts the success of the Bandari Project down to the spirit — and the size — of Port Fairy.

"Because Port Fairy is such a small community, many people know Seif and Catherine," he said.

"It's nice to donate your time or money to a cause where you know it is going straight into practice."

Skills and education

Bandari means 'port' in Swahili, referencing both Port Fairy and the ambitions of the project to provide shelter and protection to Mto wa Mbu's most vulnerable.

"We think of it as trying to break the cycle of poverty through education," Ms Ryan said.

Ms Ryan said she had seen money "thrown around a lot" in Tanzania to little effect.

Young children from very poor families stand proudly outside their new school. ( Supplied: Bandari Project )

The Bandari Project aims to give people skills and education, rather than money.

In just three years, their list of accomplishments is long and is a measure of the generosity of the Port Fairy community as well as the willingness of the Mto wa Mbu community to work hard.

A new kindergarten and playground have been built together with a school for 60 students in three fully-furnished, bright classrooms.

They have also established a women's sewing class that aims to give employment skills to the large number of unemployed single mothers in the village.

These children attend the Bandari school in their local village. ( Supplied: Bandari Project )

A sustainable school

In a bid to move Mto wa Mbu towards financial and environmental sustainability, Bandari now also has an agricultural arm.

"We've got cows, chooks, ducks, a fish farm, two greenhouses. So we sell our excess produce and we also use some of that produce to feed the children," Ms Ryan said.

Ms Ryan finds the support of her home town for her partner's village overwhelming.

"It sort of blows my mind a little bit," she said.

"I think we've had people go two or three — we've had one person go four times!"

"There's something special about Port Fairy," Mr Sakate said.