International Teacher in Tanzania

Post written by Robert Flook, a United Planet volunteer.

In June of 2007, I made the decision to travel to Tanzania to learn more about the country. As a science student who had acquired some formal education about human diseases such as HIV, I wanted to share this knowledge with people in other countries. I hoped that by volunteering and teaching in African communities I might be able to make a difference in the lives of some of these people. Upon my arrival, I soon realized that there was much more to be done at Ezra Ministries School District than simply educate students about AIDS. I soon began teaching an English class, computer sciences, and a course in human rights. This experience became much more than a teaching job. It was a unique opportunity to form lasting friendships with some wonderful people living in Tanzania.

Upon returning to Canada, I realized that my teaching experience had given me an invaluable life experience. I was profoundly grateful to my friends in Tanzania for what they had taught me. I also realized that many children would not be able to get their education at Ezra Ministries due to the chronic shortage of funds so I began to talk to my friends about making plans for fund raising events.

We settled on “Hoops 4 Hope” – a basketball tournament that would allocate all its proceeds to United Planet for support of the school at Ezra. We recruited 25 teams involving more than 100 university students in this tournament. With this great participation, we raised enough funds to build a library and a computer lab for the school in Tanzania.

Sometimes the hardest part for people who are motivated to help in some way is to determine when, where and how to give. Hoops 4 Hope solved these issues and united two communities that were widely separated geographically. People warned me that the funds we were raising would not get to the destination we intended but these skeptics were shown to be wrong. All of the funds were delivered to the Ezra Ministry giving all the participants in Hoops 4 Hope the satisfaction of knowing their dream of helping had been realized.

The Ezra library and the computer lab are now real and getting lots of use. The children are learning and benefiting from the generosity of friends in a community thousands of miles away. The greatest gift for everyone involved in this fundraiser was to learn that our efforts will have a lasting impact on the education and lives of hundreds of children living in Dar es Salaam.

Hoops 4 Hope is a reminder of the importance of working together to achieve a common goal. I have witnessed the tangible results of such a collaborative effort. United Planet’s slogan reads, “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” All of our hard work, volunteering and donating has made a real difference around the world. We are all essential parts of the solution.