Our team on the ground:

Seeing villages children walk 4 hours a day to and from school and sit in over crowded classrooms with not enough textbooks, inspired two individuals in Imbaseni to seek external help and support to bring hope and a better education to the children of their village. They are Ehisaria, the chairman of the village and Isaac, the headmaster of Imbaseni Primary.

Ehisaria Jitoi Nwiho is the chairman of Imbaseni village. As the son with a well respected local Meru Chief, he grew up in the village with 33 of his siblings. He served in the Tanzania army before he became the chairman of Imbaseni six years ago. Although he does not speak English well, he tries his best to tell the story of Imbaseni to every visitor who can potentially help support the village children. "There are so many things that we need help on and I am embarrassed to mention all of them. However, if you can only help with one thing, please look inside yourself and see if there is a way to help us build more classrooms, so that our children can have better education."

Isaac Nanyaro, the headmaster of Imbaseni Primary has worked as a teacher for 22 years, including 10 at Imbaseni Primary. Because of his hard work and dedication, with limited resources, Imbaseni Primary has been the strongest academic performer in the region's public school sector. For years, he has tirelessly worked to expand the school's facilities to accommodate the population growth in the village. Isaac lives up the hill from the school. Since he does not have electricity in his home, he walks long distance to get to an internet cafe in the nearby town to communicate with external supporters. Through his hard work, he was able to get external donations to expand the school from 8 to 11 classrooms and start a library for the children. He asserts that this is only the beginning of his efforts to make Imbaseni Primary a viable learning establishment for the community.

Our supporters

Ehisaria and Isaac's dedication and determination to bring meaningful change to the lives of the Imbaseni children has touched the hearts of many organizations and individuals who share this passion. This group is growing as words spread around the world.

Among them, are the

Bricks and Books Foundation: Ashley and Jessica, two young high school students from the US volunteered to teach in a rural school in Tanzania during their school break in 2007. Having witnessed firsthand the need for a better learning environment, they founded the Bricks and Books Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization, after they returned home from their trip.

Within a year, they raised sufficient funds to build a school for a Tanzanian community that was in dire need of a clean, safe learning environment. They worked with community members on the ground to construct the facility, buy textbooks and coordinate all of the necessary logistics so that the school could become operational as quickly as possible and begin taking in students.

When these two young women learned about Imbaseni, they decided to take a leadership role in helping to support the project for Imbaseni Primary. Brick sand Books' long-term vision is to develop a replicable model to empower communities like Imbaseni to achieve sustainable changes in the lives of their people, beginning with education. Ashley and Jessica believe that young people can make a difference in the world and they have demonstrated that they have the ability to turn their vision into reality.

 

Ecozuri, Inc. is a business based in California that develops and markets life-style changing, environmental friendly products made from recycled materials. The founder of Ecozuri visited Imbaseni on her recent trip to Tanzania and was determined to help.  Ecozuri has pledged to donate 10% of its on-line retail revenue to the Imbaseni Project and will provide pro bono consulting services to assist their self-sufficiency operations.

 

The Entrepreneurial Management Center of San Diego State University contributed a talented MBA and a professor to help the planning and marketing efforts at Imbaseni. Their research will not only benefit the village of Imbaseni, but also provide valuable insights to the strategy of the cultural tourism programs in Tanzania.

 

and many more others ...