Help Mbayani Tayai to pursue his dreams!

My friend, Mbayani Tayai Lengima, is from Losimingori, Tanzania and is a member of the Maasai tribe. He arrived in St. Paul, MN in late December 2021, ready to start the Master of Public and Nonprofit Administration program at Metro State University. Prior to coming to the US, he had secured a sponsorship that would've covered his tuition and living expenses for the few years it will take him to complete his degree. Unfortunately, just as he arrived, he was told that this sponsorship was no longer available to him. He had spent a majority of his life savings on the plane ticket to the US and is now left with very few options since his visa will not allow him to work until after the first semester of his program.

 

We are asking for your help to fund his tuition and living expenses for his first year of grad school! He is currently staying with a wonderful family who agreed to host him for the time being but he will eventually need to find his own place to rent. Any donations you make will help to cover his tuition ($4000/semester), as well as school fees, transportation costs, food, and rent (approx. $2000).

 

Tayai is a motivated, smart, and kind person who is pursuing this degree because he is passionate about being a positive force for change in the world and, specifically, in his Maasai community. He is truly driven to use everything he learns to make life better for those around him and he is someone who gets things done! Along with his wife, Christina, and several other friends, he has established the Vijana Foundation ("vijana" means "youth" in Swahili), which is a non-profit focused on empowering women and youth in his village and the surrounding area.

 

They are working to tackle pressing practical issues, like finding better ways to provide clean, safe water to people. The women there, including Tayai's mother (pictured above), have to walk about 18 miles round trip to the nearest water source, which is not necessarily safe to drink but is the only option available to them. They must make this trek every other day for water for their household and livestock. The Vijana Foundation has been working to provide villagers with rain catchment systems and other solutions to finding safe drinking water during the record stretch of drought that Tanzania is currently experiencing. The foundation is also taking on larger issues by encouraging young people to become more involved in local and national government and the creation of policies that will help those in rural areas who are struggling.

 

Tayai's hope in studying in the US is twofold. First, to better learn the ins and outs of non-profit management and become even more adept at leading his organization. Secondly, he hopes to build relationships with other groups doing similar work so that he can create a professional network that will truly benefit the community he loves. He has a true passion for working towards a better future for people in Tanzania.

 

I met Tayai when he was teaching Swahili at Noonkodin Secondary School in Monduli Juu, Tanzania. I was staying at the school while working on my thesis research about medicinal plants that are used by the Maasai people. He welcomed me to his community with such enthusiasm, helped to teach me Swahili, and to learn about the culture into which I had been immersed. His friendliness and unerring kindness taught me a lot and comforted me greatly while living so far from home. When he reached out to see if I knew anyone in MN who could help him find somewhere to stay, it was a pleasure to return the kindness he had shown me many years ago. Now, I hope we can come together to help him continue to chase his dreams here in the US. He cares so much about his community and it would be so amazing if his new community could now care for him by helping out until he can begin to work and/or apply for other scholarships. He would be SO appreciative of any help you can give him and would love to meet any of you who are local to the St. Paul area.

 

 

 

***I am doing this fundraiser on behalf of Tayai, with his permission, and will be transferring all funds raised directly to his bank account.