Solar Lamps for EEF Tanzania Kids

For those of you who don't know me and what I am up to here in Moshi, Tanzania - let me try to summarize as briefly as I can what I have been up to and what I am asking of you.

My name is Kristin Crowe and I'm a Social Work student through the University of Maine completing my final semester in Tanzania. I have been working with an organization called Excel Education Foundation (EEF) here in Tanzania for the past 7 weeks. EEF is an amazing Non-Profit Organization that matches poverty-stricken children in TZ whose families cannot afford the basic cost of education with sponsors from all over the world to help them (and their families) afford food and pay school-fees (including uniforms and textbooks, etc.). [Please feel free to check out Excel Education Foundation on Facebook to learn more about the many amazing things they do here in Moshi!]

Now - here is where I need your help! Part of the expectations of our 63 EEF children is that they must keep their grades in good-standing in order to keep receiving their funding - this is extremely difficult for almost all of our children as they do not have electricity at home and many of them walk as far as an hour-two hours to/from school and it is dark by the time they return home from school (not to mention, many of them  have a list of chores they must complete upon returning home from school as well). During my 7 weeks I have completed many home visits and interviews with these kids and their families and have gotten to see first hand where these children live, learning that the majority live in very impoverished areas.


The project that I have designed for EEF and our kids provides each child with a solar powered light that will allow them to complete their school work and keep up in class. I have met with a company called Karibu Solar which is run by two brothers from Ontario (how cool, right?) and is located here in downtown Moshi, Tanzania. Upon meeting with them this morning, I found out the cost per solar light is 80 000 TSH ($50 CDN) - which is higher than I had anticipated but has not discouraged me! The reason I have decided to go with these solar lights rather than the less-expensive option is that they are amazing quality and offer a product most of these families could never have imagined they could own. 

Any donation, big or small, would mean the world to me, my co-workers at EEF, Karibu Solar and most importantly - our EEF kids and their families.

Much love and thanks, 

Kristin