Growing Compassion in Our World

It has now been nine years since I traveled to Tanzania to volunteer for Jane Goodall and I am so grateful that I have maintained such meaningful relationships with so many students, teachers and schools there. Some of you know how my time in Tanzania changed my life and inspired me to work to create cross-cultural connections between U.S. and Tanzanian students to build compassion, understanding and cultural empathy in the world. With heartfelt thanks to those who donated last year, over 200 handwritten pen-pal letters and 100 smartphone video "stories" were shared between students in 2021. With your help, we were also able to take the initial steps to create a computer training program.

For our 2022 fundraiser, we went directly to our 60 Tanzanian students and asked how we could best support their education in the most impactful way. Their answer was quick and clear! Our students asked for access to computers and training on how to use them.


Our dream is to provide 60 students with a dedicated classroom, additional laptops, learning resources, and a computer skills teacher. We are asking you to help us to realize this dream.

 

There is a severe digital divide in Tanzanian schools with less than 1,200 working computers available to secondary students. That is 1,200 computers for 1 million secondary government school students (the equivalent to U.S. public high schools). This translates to substantially less than 0.5% of Tanzanian secondary students having access to a computer, and even less than that having access to the internet. 

 

The great news is that we have already begun our work, but we are going to need help to finish it. With our 2021 donor support, we were able to transport 5 donated laptops to Tanzania. Upon arrival, our Program Manager, Warioba Nyaburere, set them up with Microsoft Software and created a training program tailored specifically to our students' needs. He also purchased a router for our primary partner school and we have been funding the monthly internet access costs. Warioba has been teaching our students twice a week (for nearly 6 months) by transporting the laptops in his backpack while riding on the back of a motorcycle and setting up at the school wherever he can find available space! In December, we were very excited to learn that the headmaster of our partner school in Dar es Salaam dedicated a classroom to us! This classroom is in significant disrepair and will need a lot of love, attention, and funding before it is functional...but we have a classroom to call our own! Also in December, 6 more laptops were donated and we are currently working on getting them to Tanzania. 

 

So, here is what we need to do: 1) renovate our dedicated classroom where the computers will stay safely at the school and where the students will have an optimal learning space. 2) Obtain 19 additional laptops so that Warioba can teach two computer classes to two groups of 30 students without them having to share computers. 3) Continue to provide internet access to the school. 4) Provide relevant books and learning materials for enhanced computer training. 5) Provide the necessary educational and training software to our students. 

 

Supporting 60 students with everything they need to have computer competency skills will cost $250 per student over the time-span of a year. And, of course, all donations of ANY amount help us to reach our goal! Computer literacy for our students is directly linked to increasing their future opportunities to successfully graduate from university, obtain higher paying jobs, and create positive change for their families, communities and country. Digital opportunities have a significant and far-reaching impact on increasing inclusion and reducing poverty in Tanzania.

 

Only with your help can we create a computer learning & resource center for our amazing and inspired students. Will you help us to enhance the education of 60 Tanzanian students and create a world with more compassion and global citizenship. Access to computers and training will also allow us to expand our cultural exchange programs and create more student equity through technology.

 

Please follow our fundraiser to meet our students through the videos they have made to share how the 1Humanity Computer Training Program has already made a positive impact!

 

To learn more about Global Compassion/1Humanity, please visit our website at https://www.1humanity.org and follow us on social media https://instagram.com/1humanity1world?utm_medium=copy_link https://www.facebook.com/1humanity1world/

*Please click on the “gear button” and turn on CC (closed captions) at the bottom of the video for subtitles.

"Without this chance with the 1Humanity Computer Program, we don't have another chance to learn about computers." ~Aisha Mohammad, 1Humanity Student Leader

*Global Compassion/1Humanity partners with Majani ya Chai Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Oltinga Secondary School near Arusha, Tanzania.