Project Goal: $20,241

Current Progress: $4,828.51 (24.00%)

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Help Equip Future Healthcare Professionals in Tanzania

Very rarely does someone get the chance to have an impact in the lives of entire communities. Even more rare is the opportunity to watch your dream come to fruition on more than one occasion. The GLEAN(Global Learning Exchange of All Nations) program I founded back in 2020 was my way of giving back to the children of Tanzania after I travelled there and was heartbroken by the lack of educational resources they had. So in February of 2020 I rallied my middle school students from New Jersey along with students from 9 other countries including Belarus, Vietnam, Russia, Japan and India to come up with ways we could help the children of Tanzania get the educational resources that we all were benefiting from. This resulted in a whirlwind of positive results over the next 3 years. First, there were 3 boxes of books sent with the help of Books for Africa, then there was a shipment of supplies sent from Japanese students. Then in March of 2023 we achieved our container shipment goal of sending over 20,000 books to Nungwi Primary School in Zanzibar. The impact of those books were tremendous for over 3,600 students. 

When I think back to that time and the feeling I had accomplishing that goal with my friends and students from around the world I can say that it was life altering. Never in my life was I so proud than when I saw that truck pull up to the school and saw the students excited to unload the boxes. They danced and cheered and as I watched that video I had tears of gratitude in my eyes and a feeling of satisfaction in my heart that I have not felt since. My fellow teachers that helped with that project have gone on to lead countless other projects collaborating in favor of Tanzanian students. 

The ripple effects of the first project were felt by other educational leaders in Zanzibar and I ended up meeting Mr. Mohamed Khombo as a result. He asked if I could help him get books for a new school in Tanzania focused on the health sciences and I was ecstatic to help. I met several of his students on a Zoom conference call where they told me about their aspirations of becoming health industry professionals and what was motivating them. They told me about a shortage of qualified health professionals in their communities and the suffering they witnessed as a result. Every one of the students I spoke with displayed a passion for wanting to serve their community. 

By donating to this project you are making you impact with thousands and potentially tens of thousands of Tanzanians who will directly benefit from the professional expertise that the students of this school will have in the future as a result of their receipt of these books. 

Lastly, my late grandmother, Ethel Lanman, said this when she donated to the first project: “Books are a great treasure and to pass that on to the younger generation is my pleasure.” I´d like to honor her legacy of helping others through education in this second Books for Africa project. 

Meet some of the students who would benefit from this shipment:

Contact: Amir Doctry, amirsdoctry@gmail.com