Hello Friends of Powering Potential,

I spent five days with Dana Rensi in the Amazonian Region of Loreto, Peru, meeting people and visiting schools and other sites for K-12 education. Our goal was to explore possible projects which we could develop to partner in providing digital educational content and enrich learning environments.

Left to right: Ena Haines, Dana Rensi

We were based in Iquitos, the regional capital, which is a city of nearly half a million, the fifth largest in Peru. It is the largest city in the world which cannot be reached via road, and is the gateway to the many communities of varying sizes along the Amazon and its tributaries.

Project Amazonas (https://www.projectamazonas.org/) is a non-profit which has been active in the area since the mid-1990’s, with its medical boat bringing healthcare to remote areas, and field stations dedicated to preservation and reforestation in the jungle. They have a successful volunteer program to bring skilled volunteers as well as high school students to work there. Dana invited three local educators and a technology student from Iquitos to travel with us to Santa Cruz, the site of a Project Amazonas (PA) Forest Reserve. At the village by the river of about 100 families we were shown its three schools: the primary school for 95 students, the community center that is used for secondary school for 40 students, and a small kindergarten building.

Exterior of the 95-student primary school

Interior of the 95-student primary school

Community Center / Secondary School

PA has led a volunteer effort over the last two years to construct a dining pavilion that is to be turned over to the community this month (August, 2017). The state provides breakfast food for primary school students, which in Santa Cruz is shared among all of the students, and therefore runs out by the third week of each month. PA plans to find additional food aid to cover the gap. The local population does have food sources, e.g. fish, although clean drinking water and balanced nutrition are challenges.

Don Dean, a science teacher and musician from New Jersey who heads the PA Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, has led the effort with the community, providing educational enrichment for students at the field station and installing solar power for the schools, in addition to building the dining hall. He was very glad to receive Dana’s gift of a Raspberry Pi loaded with the Spanish version of RACHEL configured as a wi-fi hotspot and server. He and his local assistant will use it with the children at the field station, and would like to place additional Pi’s with RACHEL in the primary and secondary schools. After spending the night in the field station camp, we traveled back as we had come via two rivers and an overland transfer between them, to the CONAPAC (Conservacion de la Naturaleza del Peru, A.C., http://conapac.org/) Amazon Library. It serves young people aged 6 to 20 with educational enrichment including reading, English, and music lessons, crafts and games. Children come after school on a regular basis from 8 nearby schools, with some outreach to another 45 river schools as well. CONAPAC was founded by leaders of Explorama Lodges in 1990 and has a long history of projects including building community drinking water filtration facilities as well as supporting local schools with school supplies and teacher professional development and leadership training. The teachers on our trip did a lot of brainstorming on creating local content for the students in the rural areas. They feel strongly that the educational material should be based on the local environment, in which the river and the forest are the major features. The government assigns teachers to the schools, but these are viewed as hardship posts and retention is a problem, as is teaching some subjects, such as science and English. The educators at the sites and in our traveling group have all been impressed with RACHEL, but the idea of adding local content is of great interest to the school and University people traveling with us from Iquitos.

We spent a morning with several dedicated faculty at UNAP, the Universidad Nacional Amazonia Peruana in Iquitos. A few of them had experience working with secondary schools in poor areas near Iquitos. In addition to communities along the rivers, there are about 52 rural schools along the highway (carretera) which have similar challenges. There have been efforts to provide solar power and computers, but we didn’t hear about much success. For example, one faculty member described a school where he works where the government had solar equipment delivered with no support for installation. The school has unsuccessfully sought government as well as NGO support for installing the equipment. We were told that the parents are very interested in computer training, but sometimes the teachers don’t see the value and don’t want to get involved.

Dana Rensi and Ena Haines on the Nauta River with educators from Iquitos

There was a lot of discussion about bringing teachers from the region for training in Iquitos when school is out in January and February. Meals would need to be provided, but most people would be likely to be able to stay at home or with relatives. Some suggested that the teachers would be motivated by earning a certificate recognized by the education authority.

I came away impressed by the dedication and creative energy displayed by these educators. They have been involved with poor schools, and were interested in being involved. We had heard about three specific schools which had eager proponents of RACHEL.

Ena Haines and Dana Rensi brainstorming with UNAP faculty

Dana Rensi introducing UNAP faculty to the RACHEL offline digital library

Dana and I visited Rosa de America, the beautiful private school where she taught English as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher in 2005-6. It is bright and colorful, preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary, with new buildings and plans for continued expansion. The students and teachers, all in uniform, greeted us warmly. We met with the Director along with Cledy Grandez Veintemilla, the science teacher who has remained a close friend of Dana’s, who had been on our trip to Santa Cruz. Dana and Cledy demonstrated RACHEL to the Director, who was very impressed with it, even though they do have textbooks and impressive educational resources. They will use it in their computer lab.

Twice each year, Cledy brings students from Rosa de America to visit a public school in Belén, a poor district on the outskirts of Iquitos. The school, like its surrounding community, is built on stilts because of the flooding during the rainy season. Although the school was closed for two weeks of vacation, the principal was glad to meet us there and show us around. She is in the middle of a three-year assignment to the school, and has made enormous progress against challenging problems. For example, the school had been closing for weeks at a time because its roof didn’t keep out torrential rains, but she managed to get the government to replace it.

Dana Rensi with science teacher Cledy Grandez Veintemilla, in Cledy’s classroom

She also managed to get the building cleaned, and developed a school tradition in which the students now keep it clean. She has reached out to the community to send their children to school. The enrollment is so large that they use the classrooms for primary grades in the morning and secondary grades in the afternoon. They do have electricity, although we did not find out whether it is any more adequate than the furniture, which does not accommodate all of the students. They have five laptop computers that work and a good technology teacher, although he, too, is there on a three-year assignment. Dana promised the principal that Cledy would return with a RACHEL Pi for them to keep. Between Cledy and a good technology teacher, it seems as though it should be successfully deployed.

From right: Dana Rensi, Ena Haines, and Cledy Grandez Vaintemilla

As I left, Dana was in the process of arranging meetings with the regional education authority (DREL) and the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), a government institute created in 1980 which “offers various services to society, mainly related to research and specialized studies of Amazon natural resources, training and technology transfer.”

Thanks to Dana’s leadership, we accomplished our goal of learning about possible projects. Next steps include learning of the interests and possibilities with DREL, IIAP, and additional schools, which she has under way. Then we can develop a couple of specific proposals from the ideas for technology installations, teacher development, and content development that arose.

o o o

Spanish is the language of Peru. The following translated Spanish proverbs are another taste of South American culture.

Fortune and olives are alike: sometimes a man has an abundance and other times not any.

From the tree of silence hands the fruit of tranquility.

“Education is essential for a good life standard. The lack of learning material leads to a high NEET rate. This project helps to increase the opportunities for economic progression, it has improved students’ learning outcomes and provided communities with a more optimistic set of expectations for their children’s future.”

Swahili is the language of Tanzania. The following African proverbs are another taste of the beautiful language:

Aliye na hamu ya kupanda juu hukesha.

Earlier this month, on May 19th, Powering Potential Inc. held its annual spring fundraiser. 39 people in total showed up to show their support for Powering Potential’s important development work and 18 people contributed even though they could not attend the event.

Left to right: Henry Seggerman, Denis Petrov, Georgia Allen, and Janice Lathen

o o o 

Swahili is the language of Tanzania. The following African proverbs are another taste of the beautiful language:

Heri yako heri yangu.

Your happiness is my happiness.

Bega kwa bega.
Shoulder to Shoulder.

Probably going to have myself an anxious vomit, thanks for asking. Oh, please no — did I forget my business cards? Wait, they’re right here. Whew. Breathe, Zack. Breathe. You got this.

Oh, lord have mercy…

The place was huge. It reminds me a little of the vendor building at the big annual event of my childhood, the Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee (which is as backwoods-redneck as it sounds). That’s where they sold things like raunchy t-shirts, custom license plate covers, hand-held massagers, and cheap knives and lighters.

The only difference being that here, the vendors print their names on the cheap crap and give it away for free to anyone who happens to wander by.

Really, Clif Bar? They’re like that kid that’s always getting perfect scores and ruining the curve. I’m over here setting up my $20 Kinkos sign, and they’ve got freaking ping-pong. I tried tweeting at them from Powering Potential’s Twitter — hoping, like a meager parasite, to benefit from an association with a well-established brand — but they ignored me. Jerks.

As the event started to wind down, and long after I’d given away all my business cards, I took a quick stroll through some of the other exhibits. After a few minutes they all seemed to smudge together into a blur of self-promotion. Here is something pointless related to the internet of things. Here is a gadget that will flash emojis and hideously invade your privacy. Here is something the CEO describes as the new Uber, except for something that isn’t taxis. Here are one, two three apps that you can’t believe you’ve lived without. Please take a complimentary corporate-logoed keychain, stress ball, or beer koozie.

At what point does our right to pursue our self-interest end, if it ever does? Sometimes I feel like America (among other Western nations) is too isolated from the realities of the world. There was nothing in that warehouse that I hadn’t managed to live without for my entire life, and yet there it all was, loud and exuberant and well-lit by fluorescent floodlights. 

There are people in the world who aren’t having their basic needs met. There are people in the world who are having their basic needs met but aren’t being given the education needed to make that basic-need-fulfillment self-sustainable. Do I really need to be able to order a picnic through my phone? Do I really need another program that links together all of my various social accounts? Do I really need another beer koozie?

My little nonprofit booth may be small and goofy, and we might not have free stuff or flashy banners, but it’s something I’m proud to put my name on.

P.S.: Big thanks to The Yard for sponsoring Powering Potential’s TechDay booth — we wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise. Also a big thank you to PPI Board Member Milt Finger for offering to pay for Zack’s travel expenses. We have the greatest board members, don’t we, folks?

A child is like a young tree which can have its growth stunted and twisted or which can be fed until it grows beyond its unassisted height or whose branches can be pruned and trained so that maximum fruit is obtained at maturity. And the people who have the opportunity to shape these young people – who have the power – are the teachers in our schools.  -Julius K. Nyerere, President of Tanzania 1964-1985

Albin Mathias PPI Country Director

Powering Potential Country Director Albin Mathias and Community Relations Manager Tumaini Rweyemamu recently attended the two-day Tenda Teachers National Training Conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

The conference’s stated goals were to “bring together government and nongovernmental organizations committed to teacher education, especially in-service teacher training, to share current and future plans, learn from one another, and explore possibilities for working collaboratively to strengthen in-service teacher training in Tanzanian schools.”

The Tenda Teachers National Training Conference hosted an impressive list of local aid and development organizations, including Tenda Teachers/Project Zawadi, Zinduka DIF, Mwenge Catholic University, Probono, Mwangaza Partnership, Equip Tanzania, USAID Tusome Pamoja Project, Haki Elimu, Tanzania Teachers Union, AfricAid, University of Dar es Salaam, Dodoma University, Twaweza, TZ Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Tanzania Institute of Education, and the President’s Office of Regional Administration and Local Government.

Albin with other Tenda attendees

The conference provided a great deal of important information, advising NGOs on procedures to undertake to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Tanzania. Dr. Elia Kibga, the Director General of the Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) and longtime Powering Potential supporter, called upon implementers to register their projects with the authorities for monitoring to avoid an inefficient duplication of effort. Dr. Kidga stated that TIE is implementing initiatives to improve networking with NGOs.

Albin speaking at the conference

Dr. Kibga also emphasized that large portions of teachers lacked basic computer skills, and therefore could not effectively integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the teaching process. In response to this, TIE has put forth a few key technology initiatives, including designing and developing practical teacher guides for Physics, Chemistry and Biology; the development of training videos by teachers with the required practical skills; and the World Bank Retooling Project to assist teachers in handling difficult topics by utilizing ICT resources (implemented in 11 regions of Tanzania so far, and funded by the World Bank).

Albin had this to say about the event:

As with all these initiatives, I think sustaining the efforts of the Tanzania Institute of Education and the Tanzanian government is important. The Educating Through Technology Computer Lab and Pi-oneer (mobile projector/computer to aid teaching) programs implemented by Powering Potential Inc. (PPI) and the Potential Enhancement Foundation (PEF), PPI’s counterpart in Tanzania, provide a solution. Most schools lack computer labs, electricity, and basic computer skills. PEF and PPI are well organized to provide solutions to these challenges. I also think the Tanzanian Institute of Education should promote the use of open source software, since this technology is sustainable and affordable for all community schools which have limited budgets.

The conference was organized by Tenda Teachers, a program of Project Zawadi, which promotes student engagement through student-centered learning, and provides teacher training programs to facilitate this.

“Watu wanafanya kazi pamoja wanaweza kufanya mambo makubwa.”
“People working together can do great things.”

Luther Lee, PPI Volunteer Administrative and Technical Consultant

A little over a year ago, three secondary schools (Sazira, Mekomariro, Kabasa) located in the home district of former Tanzanian Minister of State Stephen Wasira were individually selected to receive a solar-powered Raspberry Pi computer lab provided by Powering Potential, Inc. (PPI).

The team included Albin Mathias, Elitumaini Reweyemamu, Tito Mathias, Neema Lyimo, Denis Christopher,  Karmeli Marko, and Luther Lee. In the U.S., Rich Segal, V. Ena Haines and Manny Ackerman provided technical support.

We’ve been en route to Bunda for several hours and I’m still as excited as a bridegroom on his wedding day. The nose of our rugged Land Cruiser that started the day white is now powdered red from the thirsty Earth. We, its passengers, brace through our “African Massage” as it lurches to and fro, absorbing the contours of the road. My tailbone remembers the last pothole and pities my companions’ tailbones seated on crates in the rear of the cruiser.

Packing the Land Cruiser was a game of Tetris, only winnable by stacking boxes floor to ceiling in such a way that a couple people would have to keep the towers propped up. Our driver, Matiku, strapped the remaining boxes that couldn’t fit inside the cabin to the roof rack.

I breathe a sigh of relief that Matiku used extra straps for the roof cargo, and as I peer forward to thank him for his wisdom, irony strikes me. Matiku, a Bunda district elder, is talking on a high-end smartphone I haven’t even seen in America. Its screen size is three times that of an iPhone. He ends his call and begins texting with the kind of dexterity you see in Manhattan tech-savvy youth, the kind you joke about having athletic thumbs.

As we’re travelling through Ngorongoro I gaze out the window, mesmerized by the sun-bleached grass scrublands whose crust has grown a pale mustard color during recent parched months. A woman I met earlier informs me that geological evidence indicates that these vast “grazing lawns” are the result of a volcano erupting 7500 generations ago which gifted nutrient-rich, ashen soil. The grass thrives during the rainy season. Right now at the end of the dry season, it’s just peppered with short, ruddy shrubs as far as the horizon.

Peering out the side or rear window of our rattling, dusty Land Cruiser you wouldn’t notice it, yet the windshield clues us in that the clouds are actually sneezing a mist of rain on our little cargo-carriage. Matiku and Powering Potential Inc’s (PPI) director in Tanzania, Albin, start chattering in Kiswahili and then it hits me: in the chaos of departing for the day, I don’t remember the straps going over a tarp. I only remember them going directly over our sealed, corrugated boxes. Did we make the mistake of leaving home without our umbrella?

With much trepidation I ask, “Please tell me we brought tarps?”

“Luther, I’m afraid not,” Albin responded.

A moment later, Matiku pulls over, gets out, and steps up on the rear bumper to see how soggy our corrugated boxes are growing. So far it’s just superficial dampness. As if it wasn’t already challenging enough for our colleagues in the rear, I’m pretty sure our Matiku pulls a couple smaller containers off the roof and crams them in the already claustrophobic rear cabin.

Matiku resumes our journey and the clouds decide to further crank open their spigot. I begin to grow anxious and ruminate. I imagine the computer equipment taking a bath, equipment that so many people gifted their hard-earned savings and the PPI team labored so diligently to prep. As if responding to our pleadings, the clouds close their spigot minutes later.

We are far from clear of danger, however, because we’ve only been on the road five hours. It’s another six to Bunda which lies at the western edge of Serengeti and the eastern edge of the largest freshwater lake in all of Africa, Lake Victoria. Other than the boxes being well sealed with tape, are the contents inside wrapped in plastic? I’m thinking I’d rather a soggy box bouncing around in my lap than a drowned box on the roof.

A small encampment of huts appears on the horizon. As we draw nearer, I squint my eyes; am I hallucinating, or are half of the huts actually wearing blue stocking caps? With the huts a little more than 100m off the road, Matiku pulls over as close as we are going to get. To my astonishment, of the twenty huts before us, enchanting blue plastic tarps enshrine eight of them!

I hope we can obtain tarps not vital to the bushmen. As much as I’d like to be helpful in carrying a tarp back, I know that the presence of a Westerner could serve as more of a hindrance than a help. The bushmen might charge us a mzungu tax (Westerner tax), and at the moment I have no extra shilling to give. With a little chatter between Albin and Matiku, it’s agreed that Albin, Elitumaini, Karmeli, and Tito will go. I remain in the Land Cruiser, curious as ever to the deal-making of the group.

They start off towards the encampment. The anachronistic spectacle of Elitumaini and Albin running towards the huts in formal attire of suit coat, slacks, and dress loafers might as well have been scripted comedy. After they disappear into the encampment, a couple of bushmen already wandering the scrubland pay a visit to our Land Cruiser.

Matiku, pacing as he waits outside, greets them with a warm smile. They briefly exchange words. Smile. Nod. Smile. Nod. With his driver side window down, he leans in grinning, “I couldn’t understand anything they said. I expect they speak Maa language.”

As the visiting bushmen walk off, disappearing into the horizon, I contrast the parallels between them and Americans back home. Bushmen tattoos have significant personal meaning just as they do for people back home. Like Americans, bushmen opt for body piercings on their ears and elsewhere.

Technology, on the other hand, isn’t always met with enthusiasm. Human psychology is wired to be skeptical of the disadvantages as well as advantages of technological marvels. It’s a perpetual balancing act between heritage conservatism and cultural progressivism. In America, there are a couple hundred thousand rural families that live enthusiastically “off the grid.” To name three American groups more inclined to live off-grid, there are the Amish, Native American, and wilderness off-gridders.

Much like Tanzania’s bushmen, most of these off-grid groups aren’t absolutist; they’re adopting technology at their desired pace. The wilderness off-gridders use store bought tarps. The Amish leverage phones and PCs to conduct business. And all three leverage automobile transport as it suits them.

Be it Tanzanian bushmen or American or off-grid groups, I see the allure of our cultural heritage, allure of simplicity, and allure of technological tools. The degree of technology use, however, balances differently for each group. It’s easy to admire them all and respect how they’re adopting changes at their own desired pace when met with enthusiasm.

An Albert Camus quote rises to the forefront of my thoughts:

“Don’t walk in front of me… I may not follow
Don’t walk behind me… I may not lead
Walk beside me… just be my friend”

With these things in mind, just how enthusiastic are Tanzanians about adopting technology? If cell phone use is a reasonable proxy indicator, then Tanzanian technology adoption is skyrocketing. Three quarters of Tanzanians currently use cell phones, a seven percent increase from 2014-2015 alone. At that pace, there could be one cell phone per person by 2020. I can even attest to seeing other bushmen herding their livestock with an o-rinka in one hand and cell phone in the other. O-rinka is Kiswahili for a wooden club walking stick.

World Bank Data for Skyrocketing Cell Phone Use

Between those facts and Matiku’s tech-savvy, it’s no wonder why he travelled all day yesterday to chauffeur the PPI team and our precious computer cargo 300 kilometers from Karatu to Bunda. Other elders and teachers eagerly await our arrival as we bring computer systems that will serve the twelve hundred secondary-school youth of their community.

French sociologist Gabriel Tarde wrote in 1888 the following: “We may call it social evolution when an invention quietly spreads through imitation.” Likewise, Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek wrote in the 1960s that in social evolution, the decisive factor is “selection by imitation of successful institutions and habits.” I don’t know about “quiet”, but I’d say technological inventions are spreading through Tanzania like wildfire, and Tanzanian’s habits are undergoing a technological revolution.

My mind snaps back as Tito and the others reappear from the encampment with the blue treasure in hand. Awkward as they appear fumbling with a dirty tarp across the open field, I imagine them as warrior bannermen gallivanting across the land, proudly waving their ancestral coat of arms. Victorious heroes! They arrive back at the Land Cruiser with a heavily-worn tarp, but it’s enough to protect the equipment.

Six hours later, hours past sunset, and our fuel tank signaling empty, our Land Cruiser is received with fanfare by teachers and elders at Sazira Secondary School in Bunda. Using the LEDs on their cell phones to illuminate our efforts, they help us unload the equipment. In the weeks that follow, the PPI team will install the solar energy systems and computer labs with raging success.

Flash forward to a year later: I’m deeply grateful for my Tanzania experience. I’m mindful of the abundance of opportunity that remains to make a positive impact on Tanzanian children. And I’m once again reflecting on some of Tanzania’s statistics that nudged me to journey half an Earth from my home.

▀ 3M children aged five & younger have severe growth retardation (stunting due to malnutrition) [1]
▀ 400,000 children aged five & younger have extreme malnutrition and are 5-20 times higher risk of dying from common diseases like diarrhea or pneumonia than normally nourished children.
▀ U.S.: 1 physician per 400 persons. Tanzania: 1 physician per 30,000 persons, among the world’s lowest [2]

Prior to this journey, my life had been so insulated from challenges like these. I think about the many times I’d felt lousy as a child with pneumonia, strep throat, influenza, ear infections, and broken bones. How would I have felt recovering without seeing a medical doctor? Would I have always recovered? Fortune has smiled upon me. My health and survival isn’t remotely as worrisome as it is for others in this world.

Coupled with the dearth of access to medical care are the literacy challenges Tanzania faces.

▀ Most children don’t start attending school until age 7 [3]
▀ The ratio of pupils to qualified teachers in Tanzania primary schools is 43:1 [4]
▀ Net enrollment in primary school Grade 2: 64%, Grade 4: 50%, Grade 7: 37% [5]
▀ 19% Primary students have sole use of a math textbook. 16% a science textbook. [6]
▀ After age 13 years, 23% of children remain in school [7]
▀ Net enrollment in secondary school Grade 12 is 12% of Grade 8 [8]
▀ 60% secondary school children have a math textbook, 50% have a science textbook [9]
▀ 4% of Tanzanians attend college [10]

In order for a community to have doctors, students must matriculate to medical school. With teachers and textbooks in short supply, how can Tanzania’s educational opportunities be increased? My conviction remains in the Kiswahili and English Khan Academy platform with its computer-guided lectures and exercises. This platform provides a phenomenal opportunity to expand the availability of education to Tanzania’s children, hungry to learn. Check out the English Demos for yourself:

Demo 1
Demo 2

I remember just a couple short years ago reading PPI founder, Janice’s, blog about organizing individuals to seize this opportunity. I’m grateful to have been able to help PPI with some odds and ends during that time. Other than the smiling girls and boys at the schools we served, the greatest privilege has been to observe the tireless heavy lifting of some of the organization’s backbones.

West of the Atlantic, I’ve seen the tome that is Rich and Manny’s, PPI’s programmers, hundreds of lengthy email exchanges. I know these emails are just the end result snippets of the countless hours they dedicate to programming, updating, and problem-solving tasks. I’ve seen Janice ‘ninja networking’ with the 300 executives of the Defrag Conference, Tanzanian government officials, and others. I’ve seen Ena, a PPI manager, hosting meetings, building consensus, and keeping projects organized. I’ve seen Olivia’s glowing personality and brilliant job with the blog and Facebook.

East of the Atlantic, I’ve seen Albin be a road warrior executing deployments and keeping things on track. He and his family were tremendously kind to welcome me into their home. I miss you guys! It was a special treat to see PPI Tanzania’s staff of Neema, Karmeli, Elitumaini, and Denis’, surgeon-like skills in prepping the network and Rasberry Pis at Sazira.

It’s been an honor to serve this organization, and I’m overjoyed to see it continue to grow. It’s because of these folks that 10,000 additional students in Tanzania now have technology access unavailable to them ten years ago. It’s because of people like these and others that literacy in East Africa has doubled since 1980.

While in Tanzania I shared with the girls and boys an interactive map of how the big blue marble we live on looks at night as seen from the International Space Station. They were astonished how brightly the global north shines at night compared to their home.

Later when the holiday season arrived in Tanzania I saw this article:

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/12/22/460699220/what-burns-more-kilowatt-hours-americas-xmas-lights-or-tanzania

That’s right. American Christmas lights use more than all the energy Tanzania uses in an entire year.

There is a Kiswahili proverb that captures the essence of their intrigue and of Powering Potential boosting youth education. “Elimu ndio mwanga uongozayo kila shani.” Translated this means, “Knowledge is the light that leads to everything wonderful. With intelligence one emerges from a difficult case.”

As you reflect on holidays past, surrounded by friends and family, and likely how your community was illuminated with Christmas lights, I invite you to join with Powering Potential in brightening the future of the girls and boys in Tanzania. Every bit of light helps.