A is for Africa volunteers Rick and Mary Anne Smith are reporting "great progress" on projects in Tanzania.
A Mount Airy-based charitable foundation, A is for Africa is currently working to improve educational opportunities for Maasai children in the Mount Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania.
This is part of the nonprofit's mission: to improve the safety, well-being and prosperity of the children of Africa by working directly with local communities to increase access to education, health care and safe spaces.
One of the foundation's priorities for 2014 was the establishment of a computer lab at Matimu Primary School. This project immediately met with challenges: There was no electricity to the school and no computers. A is for Africa raised funds to have electricity brought to the school and bought a new laptop computer.
The next challenge was supplying educational software appropriate for students in kindergarten through seventh grade. Mount Airy Middle School students raised more than $500 from their Mother's Day flower pen sale and donated all to A is for Africa. The funds were used to buy more than 20 educational software programs which were loaded on the new laptop, according to Rick Smith.
During the Smiths' June service trip to Africa, Mary Anne was able to teach the teachers how to use the computer and also started conducting lessons via a projector with a class of students. She said she thought they would have trouble picking up the lessons, as they were in English and that is the third language these children must learn — after their native language, Ma, official language of Maasai, and Swahili, the official country language. "In less than five minutes, these children were calling out the answers in English," she said.
This is the third year that the funds raised from the Mount Airy Middle School Mother's Day sale were donated to A is for Africa. Previous years' donations helped support a school lunch program for the students in Tanzania and bought playground equipment where previously there was none.
The flower pens were made by Mount Airy Middle School Mentors Club students as a community service activity. In addition, when local students heard that there was limited play equipment for the Maasai children, many brought in used pieces from home to donate.
"Children helping children is just wonderful," said Diane DeAtley, Mount Airy Middle School counselor and head of the Mentors Club.
The A is for Africa volunteers also delivered to little girls in the African community 41 pillowcase dresses made by student members of the South Carroll High School Key Club.
Key Club President Maddie Scalzi said, "We are so excited to know that we have a local charity that can hand-deliver our dresses to these needy children. During the 2014-15 school year, we will even make more dresses for these children."
The Key Club is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy, with Jim Jacobs as Kiwanis adviser and Linda Grace as club co-adviser.
"As a footnote, we have been contacted by many friends of A is for Africa regarding the recent ebola outbreak," said Rick Smith. "To date, this epidemic is restricted to parts of West Africa and our work in Tanzania is being conducted in East Africa, an unaffected area at this time."
—Submitted text
For more info
To learn more about the work of A is for Africa, go to its Facebook page, A is for Africa, or website, http://www.aisforafrica.org; email rick@aisforafrica.org or call 301- 829-3529.
