On April 9th I will be leaving on a journey to Moshi, Tanzania to volunteer at a school helping high school aged students work on their english skills in partnership with a nonprofit called Make A Difference Now (M.A.D.) 

Founder Theresa Grant with Students.

MAD was founded by Theresa Grant. Grant left a marketing job in Silicon Valley, California to make a difference in the world by investing in education. She started helping up to 2,000 children in Zambia, Africa by sending them to government schools, but later found that many of the children were not acquiring the knowledge, nor skills they needed to rise out of poverty. The conditions at the schools were insufficient for learning. Many teachers were underpaid and failed to show up for class. Additionally, the children lacked the resources they needed to get the quality education which they deserved.

Volunteers working with the students in the classroom

While helping in Zambia, Grant was asked by local Tanzanians to come to Tanzania to support the formation of an orphanage. After much research, Grant discovered that the conditions at the government schools were very similar to that of Zambia. Thus, she committed to send the children to locally run private English medium schools. The difference in quality of education was clear. After only one year of sending the children to private schools, Grant was able to see the difference being made in the children’s lives.

Donated supplies from volunteers

As part of our volunteer trip we are asked to bring donations in the way of supplies for the school and the kids.  This is where I need your help.  The list of supplies ranges from backpacks and pens to bedsheets and shoes.

I had the chance to meet the kids today via skype and their energy and enthusiasm blew my heart wide open.  I'm hoping to raise $1,000 in funds to put toward buying supplies which I will bring for the students on my trip in April.  Please consider making a donation.

Graduation day

To read the essays of the students I will be working with and see a list of supplies they need, click here .