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Health & Fitness

Tanzania School Foundation Update

Good Morning!

It is with excitement that we write our first blog for the Stoughton Patch.

For those that don't know about us, we are right here in Stoughton!  We are a small grassroots nonprofit working in Stoughton and Arusha Tanzania.  In Arusha we founded the School of St. Nicholas.  A School that provides a 100% free quality education to disadvantaged children in the village of Olosiva.  
As of today, we have twelve students: 8 girls and 4 boys.  We provide uniforms, shoes, daily meals, books, pencils, qualified teachers and have creative learning tools in our one classroom.

We have a plot of land and are currently building our school campus.  We have processed all our paperwork to get our school registered and accredited in Tanzania and are now recognized as an educational institution and received the approval for building!  It is exciting and challenging at the same time.  Christine Lott spends half the year in Tanzania to insure funds raised are applied to the proper intentions.  She is also busy interviewing and testing children and visiting their homes.  Two criteria that our students have to meet is that they are poverty stricken and the maintain a 78% average in the school work.  It is our intention to build one classroom every year to grow with our students.  Just think in 12 years we will have a full school from grades 1 through 12!  The thought of this warms our heart.
We do not get any funding from governments or foundations at the present time.  All of our fundraising has been raised through our dedicated volunteers at Gillette Stadium and our sale of handmade Tanzanian crafts.

Chris has been back from Tanzania for two weeks, getting acclimated to our other location:  Stoughton, MA where we have been busy.  Since back TSF has moved into new office space! Thanks to KC Realty's Steve Kelly we were donated office space.  We are really excited about having a 'real' office.  We should be fully up and running by the end of this week.  We are waiting for some computer equipment to arrive.  For the past five years, we have been working out of Chris' living room.  TSF was formerly Chris Cares International.  In September we changed our name to better reflect our mission, work and passion.

We have a lot going on in Arusha Tanzania and an equal amount going on here in Stoughton, MA.  Christine Lott is in Stoughton until January, where she is working hard on raising awareness and funding for the School of St. Nicholas.

TSF is at a craft fair or other similar event every weekend until Christmas and on Sundays we can be found at Gillette Stadium with a team of dedicated Stoughton students and residents.

It is amazing to witness what a group of dedicated volunteers and individual donors can accomplish.  It is truly humbling to find the support in the town which has been my home for the past 23 years.

The Tanzania School Foundation sells beautiful hand painted Christmas Ornaments with Tanzanian designs...They are unique and special!  Consider picking one up this holiday season, they make a great gift...the gift that keeps on giving!


Visit our website for more information or to see more photos:  www.tanzaniaschoolfoundation.org 
If you would like to get involved, send us and email: chris@tanzaniaschoolfoundation.org or visit us @ 2 Canton Street, Suite 222, Stoughton, MA (email or call us first to make sure a volunteer is there) 781 718 4307.  

On behalf of all those we serve in Tanzania - Asante Sana (Thank you so much) for reading our first blog posting!

Christine Lott
Founder/Director/Volunteer

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