October Newsletter

Dear Friends,

An honest newsletter…

First of all, thank you to all who have sponsored students, supported our organization and helped us finish out 2020 with little stress.  Without you, our small organization would not have survived.  Your support has helped us educate 30+ children, employed 6 people and supported many others in Tanzania along the way.   We fed over 100 families in April, May & June at the height of the pandemic.  Thank you so much.

Time has flown by and our work in Tanzania continues as the school year wraps up in December.  Our team on the ground has been busy advertising and marketing Fr. Christmas Academy for a new group of students for the 2021 school year. (Tanzania school year: Jan-Dec).  However, the school needs to generate the majority of their revenue from school fees for the upcoming 2021 year.  We will continue to sponsor students at the school, however, during this pandemic it is impossible for our small organization to pay for everything at the school and all the moving parts.   The sustainability part is very difficult as the economy in Tanzania has taken a beating as well.

It has been seven months since I have been in Tanzania.   The longer I am away, the more disconnected I become.

All of our fundraising events have been cancelled this year.  Selling Tanzanian art, volunteering at Gillette Stadium and other events would raise approximately $75,000 a year…it  has vanished.   These events energized me, without the frequent interaction of people getting involved and helping our cause, it is very difficult for me to be energized.  Very often I am at a loss of where to begin.  I know our team in Tanzania is suffering too.  They need their leader and to feel confident of their future.

It also comes at a time when the health of our co-founder has suffered and needs a kidney transplant…with no health insurance and very little income, he is looking for help too. I am at such a loss here, we need help and we need it now.

I have learned that building a beautiful school campus and drilling a well is expensive to maintain.  The electricity transformer in the village had a power surge and blew out power in the school and we had an unexpected $3000.00 repair bill.  We had to replace wiring, outlets, light fixtures etc.  Our School bus needed repairs, the this year we had to have an audit of two entities:  TSF, Tanzania and Fr. Christmas Academy each costing approximately $2000.00 each

I feel like I am sinking in a big hole. TSF needs to raise $75,000 to sustain itself in 2021.

To our wonderful student sponsors your donation covers the cost of educating a child.  This includes, books, meals, and the teacher’s salary.

However, running a school is much more than paying a teacher.   We have the cook, the school manager, watchman and our maintenance staff.   All of those salaries were paid with our fundraising….

There are many other expenses that go into running a school and organization in two countries. The need is tremendous!

• Maintenance of the buildings, water well and overall property
• Propane and cook.

• Auditing,
• Insurance,
• School bus and more.
• New infrastructure.
• Desks, chairs, white boards
• Painting & finishing a classroom
• Plastering, installing windows and doors

I have learned that what I began is a huge undertaking.  Please help us in keeping our investment in Tanzanian education sustainable until the world recovers from this pandemic and it could sustain on its own.

Now that I am in the USA for the long term, I am looking for a job.  I will continue to work on TSF on my free time. As many of you know I was a VP in the operations division at Goldman Sachs for twenty-five years and am looking to re enter the Investment Banking world…

I will not give up on this project…I need to be part of a local team, I need to be part of a team; to earn an income and feel better about myself…It is hard to ask for money all the time, even if it is not for me.

Thank you for all you do!

Christine