Nikki and Erica's Journal Entries

 The Tanzanian Education Foundation is a 
 non-profit organization formed in 2006 by 
 Nicole Miller and Erica Oblinger along with local 
 attorney Jay P. Cone of Charleston, SC.  

 In October of that year, Nicole and Erica traveled 
 to the village of Tengeru in Arusha, Tanzania to 
 volunteer as teachers in local, poverty-stricken 
 schools there. Over the month that they were there, 
 they formed a deep appreciation for the African 
 culture and absolutely fell in love with the children. 
 Over and over, they ran into cases of incredibly 
 poor children with great attitudes towards life and 
 an irresistible urge to learn. It seemed that the only 
 thing holding them back was a lack of money and 
 resources.  
  
 Back in America, Nicole and Erica could not shake 
 the desire to continue helping these children in 
 some way. Out of that altruistic urge, grew what is 
 now the Tanzanian Education Foundation. Our 
 organization is based on the belief that an offer of 
 help and hope will affect the future of these children.  
 We  believe that through education, academic as 
 well as cultural, they will be able to rise above the 
 obstacles set in front of them and lead themselves 
 and their own children out of the never ending cycle 
 of poverty and death that now afflicts this region of 
 the world.  

 We are working to implement programs to help 
 with this cause, such as sponsoring local schools 
 by providing educational tools like pencils, desks, 
 uniforms and other basic needs of academic 
 institutions.We will also be implementing 
 scholarships for ten children a year in which 
 we will fully fund anything and everything they 
 will need for four years of advanced education, 
 an opportunity almost unheard of in much of this 
 region of the world. Another immediate goal will 
 be to fund a nurse’s salary to provide health 
 checkups and HIV testing for all of these children
 and hopefully be able to educate them in some of 
 the issues in there culture which lead 
 to the unfathomable disease and death there. We 
 believe that, by starting small, we can plant the 
 seeds of education and awareness which will 
 hopefully flourish into a brighter future for such a 
 wonderful and beautiful people who might not 
otherwise ever get that chance.