In preparation for their trip to Tanzania in July, 11 students have created three distinct fundraising projects to collect money, stationery, glasses, and saline solution for members of the Maasai Tribe.

The money will be used to buy textbooks, which along with the stationery will be donated to a Tanzanian school the students are visiting.

“These children have the exact same potential as we do; they just don’t have the same resources,” said Namrata Vakkalagadda (11), one of the students traveling. “I feel like we have to give them the resources they need to fulfill their potential with the textbooks.”

At the Research Symposium, students traveling to Tanzania sold snacks to visitors in order to raise money. Each Swahili textbook costs around $4.

“When I was there last year, I was shocked by the conditions in which the students learned,” chaperone Anita Chetty said. “One classroom holds 150 students, and so I asked them what their greatest need was. They said it was textbooks; they just didn’t have enough.”

Additionally, members of the community can donate extra prescription glasses in the boxes placed at Shah office, Main office, and the Dobbins office. While in Tanzania, the students will test the eyes of local Maasai people and give them glasses to help correct their vision. According to Chetty, the Maasai are well known for the intricate bead work they do, often in dark light, which has impacted the eyes of many.

“[I have been] raising funds for the glasses drive and actually getting glasses from manufacturers and Costco and my optometrist,” said Shazdeh Hussain (11), another student traveling to Tanzania. “We have 100 pairs now, and we hope to get 100 more.”

A final fundraising effort will focus on collecting stationery including pens, pencils, paper, erasers, or any other supply that benefits an elementary school. The students traveling to Tanzania hope to deliver the supplies to these younger students in order the give them resources they need to learn.

So far, the students have collected about $200 which will buy approximately 50 textbooks. According to Chetty, they hope to raise $500 which will allow them to buy a classroom set of textbooks. In addition, they have collected three boxes of glasses, two of which were donated by Costco.

“Because we are a community, a very altruistic community, people will remember that we are going incredibly far away and know that they will have a way to reach these youngsters and their families in a little remote village in Tanzania,” Chetty said.

The group will continue fundraising until the end of the school year.