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Hope through Education
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HABARI!
News from
Godparents for Tanzania
July-August, 2010
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Discovery Safari 2010
"Humbling and inspiring."
| Discovery Safari 2010 travelers, drivers and guides ready to board the safari cars and head to Tarangire National Park.
 | It was another great G4TZ Discovery Safari to Tanzania with another great group of travelers! One of our travelers offered this summary of the experience:
"Learning about and
witnessing the relationships that Godparents for Tanzania has developed with the
Tanzanians is humbling and inspiring.
The wildlife game drives were terrific but seeing the results of the
partnership between Godparents and the Tanzanians will touch your heart. We all know that education is important but
the Tanzanian children overcome incredible obstacles for an education that will
change their lives."
The next Discovery Safari will be departing before you know it. See below for more information. We would love to have you join us for Discovery Safari~2011!
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Student guides leave positive impression
| Discovery Safari-2010 student guides.
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On each Discovery Safari, travelers learn to know some of our G4TZ students who accompany us as "student guides." They are there to answer the many questions our travelers have, not only about the wildlife they see, but about what it's like to grow up in Tanzania.
This year our guides were (far left) Simon Manyara, a graduate student in geology. The other four guides were from the College of African Wildlife Management (l-r): Yona Gadiye and Rogathe Tippe, both second year students, and Thomas Massawe and Roggi Wado, both graduates of CAWM. They are pictured here after an all day game drive in Ngorongoro Crater. People appreciated an earlier "lecture" from Simon on tectonic plate movement in the Great African Rift and were impressed with how knowledgeable the others were about the flora and fauna seen in the Crater.
All five of these young men came from very poor families and would have had no chance at an education without the scholarship assistance provided by G4TZ sponsors. Each of them has demonstrated a determination to take full advantage of the opportunity they have been given. We are very proud of Simon, Yona, Rogathe, Thomas and Roggi.
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Discovery Safari 2011 dates set |
G4TZ student, Agripina, meeting her sponsor, Kris Kuhl.. |
Our 2011 Discovery Safari to Tanzania will depart Washington-Dulles on July 6 and return on July 21. Currently, 13 of 16 seats are available. For more information, please see the Discovery Safari pages on our G4TZ website. We will do our best to insure that sponsors have the opportunity to meet their students while in Tanzania. All of our students cherish the chance to thank their sponsors personally for the life-changing gift they have been given. Trip costs will be available later this fall. We invite you to join us for a great adventure in East Africa! |
Wakati Ujao Endowment Fund established
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Hope through Education
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With gifts totaling $26,000, Godparents for Tanzania has established the Wakati Ujao Endowment Fund ("wakati ujao" is Swahili for "the future" referring both to the future of the organization and the futures which are provided to G4TZ scholarship recipients).
Earnings from the endowment fund will be used to support operating costs. The goal is to grow the endowment fund to $1.75million. At this level, proceeds from the fund would fully cover the annual operating costs and free staff members to spend their time and energy seeking new sponsors for the many students on our waiting list.
Gifts to the Wakati Ujao Endowment Fund are gratefully received. Checks may be made payable to "Godparents for Tanzania" and sent to the address below. All contributions are tax deductible. Endowment fund policies and guidelines are available upon request. For additional information, contact Dwayne Westermann (dwestermann@godparents4tz.org).
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From the President
When we do not lift others from poverty, it is we
who become the most impoverished of all. |
Dwayne Westermann and new friend. |
Our 2010 Discovery Safari group worshipped at the Mongai Lutheran Parish high on the slopes of Kilimanjaro on June 27. We were there to celebrate the dedication of a classroom and woodworking equipment provided by St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Williamsburg, VA, for the vocational training school this parish is developing, one of several education projects supported by Godparents for Tanzania.
The worship service was into its third or fourth hour when the little guy in the photo at right just couldn't sit still any longer and wandered into the chancel, walked over to me and held out his arms to be picked up. He said not one word the whole time he sat in my lap, but to me he spoke volumes about why we are there in the first place.
This young child has the God-given potential to be anything he wants to be. Doctor. Teacher. Wildlife Manager. Scientist. What he does not have is the relatively small amount of money needed for school to start him on his way. Because he and his parents are poor, he will likely follow in their footsteps and spend his life working a small plot of land trying to grow enough maize and beans to survive from day to day.
He is one of Tanzania's and the world's greatest resources, more valuable than oil and precious gems; but it is a resource that risks being squandered for lack of a few dollars needed to go to school. And, if that happens to him, not only he, but the whole world, will be the poorer for it. When we do not lift others from poverty, it is we who ultimately become the most impoverished of all.
Mungu awabariki sana! (Swahili for "God bless you all greatly!") Dwayne J. Westermann, President
Godparents for Tanzania
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Godparents for Tanzania
is a 501(c)(3) public charity
incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Post: P.O. Box 20221, Roanoke, VA 24018
Voice: 540~353~6341
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