Project TEMBO Fundraiser

Hello,

Welcome to my blog for first time visitors and welcome back for those who have already visited! The goal of this project is to raise money for the Tanzania Education and Micro Business Opportunity (TEMBO) registered Canadian charity. Founded in 2005, the goal of Project TEMBO is to provide educational and small business opportunities in the rural Longido (pop. 7,630) and Kimokouwa (pop. 3,600) areas of northern Tanzania. This is done through funding projects such as financial support for the training of teachers, tuition for girls to attend secondary school and start-up financing for small business initiatives.

Secondary school in Tanzania costs 250$ for the first year of tuition, while the average per capita national income is 280$. Evidently, many families cannot afford the “luxury” of sending their kids to school. Project TEMBO focuses specifically on funding for girls, who only account for about 5% of those attending secondary school.

Women in Tanzania have limited rights and few opportunities for employment. Many of these women wish to send their children to school, but lack the funding to do so. Project TEMBO gives these women the opportunity to have economic independence through their small business initiatives. TEMBO will give a maximum loan of 150$ to these women which they will then use to buy animals such as chickens or goats, whose produce they can sell for profits.

As a part of an initiative to raise money for TEMBO, I have decided on running 45 kilometers on Monday, April 26th. I will be running this distance in the Gatineau park and will be carrying a GPS unit with me in order to make sure that I have run the full distance. Having never run 45 kilometers before, I am indeed challenging myself! That being said, I have been training lately by doing short runs of 1.5hrs maximum to get a feel for the running legs after the long ski season. I am very excited to be running for such an awesome charity and look forward to sharing my experience with the world. Thank you everyone for your donations,
Stay tuned for more updates,

Andrew Stewart-Jones

p.s. here is a link to the TEMBO website: http://www.projectembo.org