Help My Friends in Mwanza, Tanzania Go To School

04/12/2023

Link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZJqKJtUZF

I PRAYED FOR A KICK IN THE BUTT YESTERDAY. 12 of my friends and family had donated to support little Tanzanian school kids and their communities, and I was feeling unsure about how to ask others for $$$. "Who else can I ask? How much can I ask them for?" Here I am, selfishly trying to balance not alienating my friends with the chance to make a LIFE-changing difference for other little human beings.

This morning I was contacted by someone recently resettled to Pennsylvania from a refugee camp in Central Africa. He asked ME if he could give $20. That's HUGE! He knew the impact of his gift and gave what he had. I feel so humbled. BE LIKE THAT GUY.

Link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZJqKJtUZF

I'm raising money to help students and their families in Tanzania! Last year's fundraiser helped buy a suitable, safe, PERMANENT school building for preschoolers and kindergartners in Mwanza, Tanzania. I visited them this summer to see how our gifts and their hard work and ingenuity has created trem...

02/12/2023

Look what your money did last year!!!! You built a whole school building!!!!!

Now we're trying to do the same for another community of kids. And we still need funds to bring in power and water at this school! So many ways to help --

Link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZJqKJtUZF

28/11/2023

Do you have $5? Share it with students and their families in Tanzania!
Link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZJqKJtUZF
Last year's donors helped buy a suitable, safe, PERMANENT school building for preschoolers and kindergartners in Mwanza, Tanzania. This summer, I visited them to see how our gifts and their tremendous hard work has created opportunities for students in their neighborhood and beyond. I couldn't believe what I saw - our gifts have gone so far - a water well, school supplies, bathroom facilities, food, teachers.
Help do it again this year! Even a small gift can make a very BIG difference to literally hundreds of children from different tribes, languages, faiths, and socioeconomic backgrounds at the 2 schools I visited - one in the city, one in a remote village. In the U.S., we don't think our $5 can go very far (because here, to be honest, it doesn't). TRUST me - for our friends in Tanzania, it WILL. This is an awesome chance to invest in kids EARLY while creating capital and jobs for their wider communities. Support this and share!
Link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZJqKJtUZF
$5 is enough to supply 10 students with a notebook. HAVING A NOTEBOOK vs. NOT HAVING A NOTEBOOK is the same difference as GOING TO SCHOOL and NOT GOING TO SCHOOL. I was flabbergasted when I found out that making a difference was as easy as this. About $35 can send an elementary student to school for a year. The truth is, we need that $35 to manage our gas and food bills here, but if you can spare even part of that, YOU ARE STILL MAKING A DIFFERENCE. It matters.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
It all started with a case of mistaken identity. In 2019, I contacted a man named Yusuph - a friend of a friend on Facebook. I thought he was part of a resettled Swahili-speaking community in Scranton, Pennsylvania; I was developing a leadership program at the time and hoped to enlist people like Yusuph to build a network of support for newcomers. In return I'd provide volunteers with leadership training.
Yusuph accepted my friend request. He asked if he could call me because it was clear that he had absolutely no idea who I was. When we talked, I introduced myself and told him a little more about the leadership training. He was enthusiastic. He explained that his team had just started a church for the community; there were more than 200 children they were trying to help with basic needs, education, healthcare, and leadership training and education for men and women and children was exactly what they were hoping for. I was surprised to hear about all this and asked for clarification.
Me: "Wait, where do you live again?"
Pastor Yusuph: *says something that does not compute, and then "Maybe we could we switch to video chat?"
Me: *switches to video chat. Sees Tanzanian pastor with his entire family. DEFINITELY not Scranton.
Pastor Yusuph: "Where is Scranton again?"
The rest is history - we've been collaborating for over 4 years now. Our visit in person this summer helped me understand just how important your help is to these schoolchildren!!!
Link to donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ZJqKJtUZF

03/12/2022

I'm raising money to help students in Mwanza, Tanzania! This year we get to help buy a suitable, safe, and PERMANENT school building for preschoolers. It's an opportunity to invest in kids early while creating capital and jobs for the wider community. Support this campaign and share! It all started....

11/11/2020

Before you keep scrolling, PLEASE SHARE!

Elisha is 13 and lives in Tanzania. He wants to study computers and become an engineer.

Education across the globe is marked by unequal opportunities for students like Elisha. I want his family to be able to give him the same kind of chances that my family was able to give me. To encourage Elisha and over two hundred other students along with him, I’m supporting this Tanzanian community’s educational initiative – will you join me?

fundly.com/help-my-friends-in-mwanza-tanzania-go-to-school

10/11/2020

Can anyone explain to my friends from the United States what netball is???

11-year-old Jackline could! She loves netball, goes to school in Buchosa, Tanzania, and wants to study Science.

But many families in Tanzania struggle to ensure high quality schooling for students like Jackline. Donate to help Jackline and two hundred other students like her have a great upcoming school year! fundly.com/help-my-friends-in-mwanza-tanzania-go-to-school

06/11/2020

A STORY TO USHER IN THE SEASON OF GIVING

Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus.

Finally, there was only one other family between us and the ticket counter. This family made a big impression on me.

There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. The way they were dressed, you could tell they didn't have a lot of money, but their clothes were neat and clean.

The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly jabbering about the clowns, animals, and all the acts they would be seeing that night. By their excitement you could sense they had never been to the circus before. It would be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother were at the head of the pack standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You're my knight in shining armor." He was smiling and enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked the man how many tickets he wanted? He proudly responded, "I'd like to buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets, so I can take my family to the circus." The ticket lady stated the price.

The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, the man's lip began to quiver. Then he leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?" The ticket lady again stated the price.

The man didn't have enough money. How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight kids that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was going on, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and then dropped it on the ground. (We were not wealthy in any sense of the word!) My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket."

The man understood what was going on. He wasn't begging for a handout but certainly appreciated the help in a desperate, heartbreaking and embarrassing situation.

He looked straight into my dad's eyes, took my dad's hand in both of his, squeezed tightly onto the $20 bill, and with his lip quivering and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied; "Thank you, thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family."

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 that my dad gave away is what we were going to buy our own tickets with.

Although we didn't get to see the circus that night, we both felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus could ever provide.

(This story was copied and pasted from https://www.kindspring.org/story/view.php?op=sg&sid=168253 and is based on Chicken Soup for Little Souls: The Best Night Out with Dad. (1997). United States: Scholastic Incorporated. You may have seen it accidentally attributed to Katharine Hepburn. However, the story is Dan Clark's. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/katherine-hepburn-circus/)

23/10/2020

A little can go a long way! Help students in Mwanza, Tanzania!

I'm raising money to help students in Mwanza, Tanzania access better schooling! Donations will go towards tuition and supplies for the school year. Suppo...

21/10/2020

Students at one of the private schools in Mwanza -- learning to count by tens in English! :)