Funding Girls Education Thru Photos
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Hey, good people of the world!
For about eight years I have subconciously limited the success of a Girl-Education project by not pushing it as much as I could. Whatever the reason(s), this is the truth.
Another truth? That I have realized what I have (and haven't) been doing and am actively working on making this education project a long-lasting success.
Just what IS this project I write of? Empowering girls in Zanzibar by funding their education.
I was born in Tanzania, a country which was formed by the joining of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Although I have had the fortunate opportunity to live in other countries, I feel the closest to Tanzania. Most of my family lives there, and for a few years my mum lived in Zanzibar.
While she was in Zanzibar my mum met and became good friends with Headmistress Abeid. The school that Headmistress Abeid leads is named Regeza Mwendo Secondary School. The school actually teaches children in the primary grades/levels in the morning, and secondary levels in the afternoon. There are over 1000 students, and Headmistress Abeid personally pays for as many students as she can, so they can continue attending school and finish at least their high school (O level) education. This is why we got involved with this school.
In 2008 my mum and I began raising funds for some students at Regeza Mwendo. Through the help of our friends, we raised enough money to send 21 children to school for a year!! How much money did it take to do so? Less than $1000. To be fair, that was eight years ago and things have changed, but not too much & I will talk about that in just a bit :)
In 2010 my daughter Ruh and I went to Regeza Mwendo and visited with most of the students we were blessed to have financed for two years. We saw the condition of the science lab, which was almost non-existent, the library (which was about the same as the science lab), and the classrooms in which the students learned. The upper grades students walked to a school about two miles away to use their better-equipped science lab. The school itself sits on a beautiful property. It's very simple, and there isn't a playground with slides or anything of the sort. The school is in Zanzibar, though, and the leaves on the trees are really green and the skies are the bluest blue! Still, the difference between the condition of that school, and the average public school in North America was definitely striking!
So why am I here? Why am I reaching out to everybody about this? Because I am one human who happens to know about this school and the girls who attend it. I believe it's my responsibility to make their lives better by helping them start going to school, and ensuring they have support until they finish. I am focused on girls' education because they truly are the world's first educators. If girls are educated in and out of school, the outcome can only be beneficial, and it's so for everyone!
Will you please join us in sending these girls to school? The AWESOME thing (not yelling, just emphasizing :) ) is that to send a girl to the primary/elementary levels, it costs $60 a year.
It costs $120 to help a girl finish her secondary level schooling, for a whole year.
I keep replaying these amounts in my head and keep asking myself: "for a whole year? That's all??" $60 and $120 aren't the smallest of amounts, but I'd wager that many of us have spent this same amount eating out, or buying halloween costumes, or doing something that wasn't nearly as impactful as sending a girl to school; and we have done this multiple times during the year.
The money will be used to:
1) buy school uniforms
2) buy notebooks and other school supplies
3) local travel costs for my mum to get to the school to follow up with the students.
I am going to Tanzania the first week of June and will go to Zanzibar to deliver all funds (My mum typically takes care of this part). Now, if we happen to raise the $5,000 I hope we raise, then I'll send that to Headmistress ahead and won't be carrying that around in my pockets (laugh)
When I go, I will be taking portrait photos of some of the students (it'll be holidays time, so they may not be available), as it's not something that is usual to do, but I think they'd enjoy it!
There are pictures of the students we helped at Regeza Mwendo, on my Facebook page 'Captivatingly You Photography (Get Cyp'd)'.
This means a lot to me as a woman and as a person. I hold the belief that if every girl is raised with the assumption that it is proper and right for her to be literate and educated, that her take on life would be much different than what it currently is for many girls around the world. She'd also raise children around her, or of her own, with knowledge she wouldn't otherwise have.
Thank you for your participation!
Let's DO this!
Summary of details:
Funds needed by: June 1, 2016
Lower grades amount: $60 per girl per year
Upper grades amount: $120 per girl per year
For about eight years I have subconciously limited the success of a Girl-Education project by not pushing it as much as I could. Whatever the reason(s), this is the truth.
Another truth? That I have realized what I have (and haven't) been doing and am actively working on making this education project a long-lasting success.
Just what IS this project I write of? Empowering girls in Zanzibar by funding their education.
I was born in Tanzania, a country which was formed by the joining of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Although I have had the fortunate opportunity to live in other countries, I feel the closest to Tanzania. Most of my family lives there, and for a few years my mum lived in Zanzibar.
While she was in Zanzibar my mum met and became good friends with Headmistress Abeid. The school that Headmistress Abeid leads is named Regeza Mwendo Secondary School. The school actually teaches children in the primary grades/levels in the morning, and secondary levels in the afternoon. There are over 1000 students, and Headmistress Abeid personally pays for as many students as she can, so they can continue attending school and finish at least their high school (O level) education. This is why we got involved with this school.
In 2008 my mum and I began raising funds for some students at Regeza Mwendo. Through the help of our friends, we raised enough money to send 21 children to school for a year!! How much money did it take to do so? Less than $1000. To be fair, that was eight years ago and things have changed, but not too much & I will talk about that in just a bit :)
In 2010 my daughter Ruh and I went to Regeza Mwendo and visited with most of the students we were blessed to have financed for two years. We saw the condition of the science lab, which was almost non-existent, the library (which was about the same as the science lab), and the classrooms in which the students learned. The upper grades students walked to a school about two miles away to use their better-equipped science lab. The school itself sits on a beautiful property. It's very simple, and there isn't a playground with slides or anything of the sort. The school is in Zanzibar, though, and the leaves on the trees are really green and the skies are the bluest blue! Still, the difference between the condition of that school, and the average public school in North America was definitely striking!
So why am I here? Why am I reaching out to everybody about this? Because I am one human who happens to know about this school and the girls who attend it. I believe it's my responsibility to make their lives better by helping them start going to school, and ensuring they have support until they finish. I am focused on girls' education because they truly are the world's first educators. If girls are educated in and out of school, the outcome can only be beneficial, and it's so for everyone!
Will you please join us in sending these girls to school? The AWESOME thing (not yelling, just emphasizing :) ) is that to send a girl to the primary/elementary levels, it costs $60 a year.
It costs $120 to help a girl finish her secondary level schooling, for a whole year.
I keep replaying these amounts in my head and keep asking myself: "for a whole year? That's all??" $60 and $120 aren't the smallest of amounts, but I'd wager that many of us have spent this same amount eating out, or buying halloween costumes, or doing something that wasn't nearly as impactful as sending a girl to school; and we have done this multiple times during the year.
The money will be used to:
1) buy school uniforms
2) buy notebooks and other school supplies
3) local travel costs for my mum to get to the school to follow up with the students.
I am going to Tanzania the first week of June and will go to Zanzibar to deliver all funds (My mum typically takes care of this part). Now, if we happen to raise the $5,000 I hope we raise, then I'll send that to Headmistress ahead and won't be carrying that around in my pockets (laugh)
When I go, I will be taking portrait photos of some of the students (it'll be holidays time, so they may not be available), as it's not something that is usual to do, but I think they'd enjoy it!
There are pictures of the students we helped at Regeza Mwendo, on my Facebook page 'Captivatingly You Photography (Get Cyp'd)'.
This means a lot to me as a woman and as a person. I hold the belief that if every girl is raised with the assumption that it is proper and right for her to be literate and educated, that her take on life would be much different than what it currently is for many girls around the world. She'd also raise children around her, or of her own, with knowledge she wouldn't otherwise have.
Thank you for your participation!
Let's DO this!
Summary of details:
Funds needed by: June 1, 2016
Lower grades amount: $60 per girl per year
Upper grades amount: $120 per girl per year
Organizer and beneficiary
Sophia Neghesti Johnson
Organizer
Columbia, SC
Regeza Mwendo
Beneficiary
