School Essentials for my Students in Tanzania

Hi friends,

As some of you may know, it has been a dream of mine to travel to Africa to volunteer. I am currently in Arusha, Tanzania for 4 weeks as a volunteer teacher (among some other activities). I have been placed at Ebenezer Primary School & there are 117 children currently and the students range from 2-13 years old, and they are a ray of sunshine and so excited to learn and have the opportunity to attend school!

The school is extremely underfunded and lacks essential resources. A little goes such a long way! The students come from many different economic status’s, ranging from poor families to orphans. However, their status does not impact their love of school and eagerness to learn.

I travelled here with a huge suitcase full of goodies that I purchased for the children... everything from age-appropriate workbooks to fun little toys and games. The humbling part was realizing once I started at the school was that the children didn’t even have the basics in the classroom. They were sharing tiny little erasers and their pencils were all sharpened down to about 5cm and they could hardly hold them in their little hands. 

They are so eager to learn but challenged because of the lack of learning supplies. One class of 23 students shared 9 pencils last week.

It is hard to find the proper words to explain it without seeing it! Before I leave here in 3 weeks, my teaching partner and I would love to buy and make up each child in the school a goodie bag of school essentials…a pencil, sharpener, a pen, an eraser and a notebook. There are 117 students in the school, and it would be amazing to see every one of them have their own basic learning tools. If my friends and family each donated even $5, I know I could make this possible! 

Last week I went shopping to buy food (rice, beans, flour, etc) for a women’s outreach program to feed a family for a month, and this week we are visiting a local orphanage. Any leftover money will go to the local orphanage or women’s outreach program that provides food for the most vulnerable women in Arusha that I will hand deliver myself.

I am not one to ask for money, but any small donation would be greatly appreciated! If vou are interested in getting involved, there are multiple organizations and opportunities. Please message me if you would like to know more information.

If you’re not comfortable sending through GFM you can e-transfer me and I will ensure it’s part of the total funds raised.

Megan