Habari!

            Many thanks to those of you who have already responded to our "Christmas Card" which you should have received in your mail recently.
            The good news is that almost all of our sponsors are continuing to support their students. We have had almost no one discontinue support for their student due to the economy. That speaks very highly of the commitment which our sponsors have to the young people they are helping.
            The not-quite-so-good news is that we are finding it very tough to pay our staff and our bills. We now have two full time staff members, Kristin McFarland, our Administrator, and Pastor Yotham Baha, our Program Coordinator in Tanzania. We have other staff who are full or part-time volunteers. In addition to paid staff, our other operating costs include such essential expenses as website hosting, international wire transfer fees, software, office supplies, etc. However, an additional essential expense which is unique to our organization is the Annual Student Interview. We have learned it is critically important to "interview" as many of our students annually as possible (this year we interviewed 113). Only in this face-to-face contact with our students do we learn such important information as their need to see a doctor or to make sure they have medication for malaria attacks when they need it (55% of our students have malaria). This also provides us an opportunity to share information about our students with their sponsors.
            This Annual Student Interview requires that at least one US staffer travels to Tanzania. Our kids have no money to travel to their interviews and, once there, need to have a decent meal. For many of them, it will be the best meal they have all year! There are also lodging and transportation costs for the staff and sometimes for the students. Our Annual Student Interview costs last year were about $6,000.
            I can assure you that we operate on a "shoe string" budget, but we do have these essential expenses. We recognize that times are hard for a great many people, but I can also assure that our students know the meaning of hard times, too. We want to continue to support them and we have the sponsors who are willing to do so. What we need are the operating funds to continue to connect the two.
            Your tax deductible contribution can be made by check in the reply envelope you received in our most recent mailing, or online at our website with our secure donation service (click any "Donate Now" button). Thanks so much for whatever you are able to do to keep Godparents for Tanzania up and running and Tanzanian kids going to school!
            Finally, I convey to you the heartfelt thanks of our G4TZ students, including: