Comment by lukehandcool
8 hours ago
I could arange this. Meeting in person is tough. It takes me about 40 hours door to door to get to the village from my house (plane ride, taxi to a bus station, 12 hour bus ride through the country, another taxi, then motorcycle for the last leg). However, if you wanted to support a specific student, I could absolutely arrange that. The cost varies from year to year with exchange rates but it comes out to around $1200 a year. Email me at tanzaniaeducationproject@gmail.com to talk more. Thanks!!
As you have experienced it yourself (and as I wrote in my other comment), I think that coming to Africa and see the reality in person is in itself very valuable. We need more people who get a realistic picture of Africa to take home and share with friends.
If there are people who want to do that, maybe I can help arrange things locally. I would recommend individuals only, or families, but not groups in order to allow the visitors to focus on their interactions with locals and not just socialize with each other.
I agree. The only issue I have is that for the price of a plane ticket and hotel, a kid could go to school for a whole year. Also, going to Tanzania or similar places just to experience the poverty can be very problematic and needs to be done with a lot of awareness. I have seen people go to Tanzania and leave with what seemed like a very distorted view of the country and the people. I do really appreciate you sharing your perspective on this thread.
This is of course true, but I see no way around it. Educating the people in developed countries about the realities in Africa is necessary too. And when it comes to the awareness it really depends on the people. You had that awareness when you came here, and we can only hope that anyone else who does come here displays that same awareness.
I do believe however that it is possible to have an influence on what people experience. For one it is not even necessary to travel to remote villages. One can see the reality in the cities and just a few km out. I would introduce them to average people here, meet business owners and give them an insight to what is a typical life here.
This also should not be a short trip. A month minimum. And ideally not in a hotel but some form of homestay or maybe AirBnB where you have to cook for yourself. Go to the market, buy ingredients, realize what is available to the average person. Then maybe visit a village and find the difference. The idea is to get an experience of what is it like to live here, and not just be a tourist.
Any of these visitors can then multiply their impact just like you did. They can motivate their friends to sponsor students and act as ambassadors.
1 reply →
Could a group of donors be dedicated to financing an individual - with group members connected to each other? Communications could happen on one of the federated platforms, maybe coordinated by a temporary group head.
That is certainly a possibility. I'd love to talk more about it. You can reach me at tanzaniaeducationproject@gmail.com