Givology - give to learn, learn to give

Each year EfforTZ seeks to provide basic school supplies and materials that will enable children to not only attend school but participate in the basic aspects of learning. Without pencils to write with, paper to write on and other necessary items for use in the classrooms these children will never be able to rise out of poverty.
For the 2014 school year, we have collected school supplies for the 461 students attending Eluai primary school in one Maasai village in Tanzania. This school receives no government support and the village families are very poor, surviving on less than $1 a day per family member. These families barely have enough money to pay for their children’s uniforms; they do not have enough to pay for school books and supplies, too.
We have the school supplies for these children. They have been generously donated by our more than 130 volunteers and supporters. What we do not have is the funding to pay the transportation costs to get the school supplies to the children. We have until January of 2014 to raise the funds we need. The cost of transporting them is $1.30 per child. The total cost we need to get the supplies to Tanzania, and into the hands of the 461 Eluai Maasai children, is $600.

EfforTZ Foundation is a small US registered charity that works to provide quality educational opportunities to impoverished children in Arusha, Tanzania by providing scholarships to students and books and supplies to primary schools. EfforTZ is run by dedicated volunteers from the fields of business, nonprofits and education. EfforTZ believes that every child deserves a quality education and a chance at a life not mired in poverty.
Participation in Tanzanian primary schools has been increasing over the past 10 years but has failed to translate into higher enrollment in secondary schools. In a September 7, 2013 article in the Tanzanian Daily News, Dr. Kitila Mkumbo of the University of Dar es Salaam Department of Education, Psychology, and Curriculum Studies, said “…the proportion of students passing the primary school … examinations (for secondary school admission) has been declining steadily…” Among the reasons he noted is the lack of books and school supplies.
EfforTZ’s objective with this project is to provide the books and school supplies to the Eluai primary school that the government is not providing and the parents cannot afford.

In 2011, EfforTZ began donating school supplies to some of the poorest primary schools in Arusha, Tanzania. Our goal was to help them improve the quality of the education they were providing to their students. Through the 2012 school year, EfforTZ provided 2,720 lbs. of school supplies to four schools.
The schools that participated in the EfforTZ school supply program in 2012 saw an increase of 3% in the number of students gaining admission to secondary school. This contrasts with the18% decrease in admission to secondary school experienced countrywide.

EfforTZ board members and its volunteers have been working and volunteering in Tanzania for almost 8 years. Three years ago, EfforTZ began working in the Maasai village with the Eluai primary school. One of our board members is Maasai and originally from this village. Other members of our board and volunteers have visited this village and formed relationships with its families. Our Maasai board member and local operations director have worked closely with the village chief and village school over the past three years