I appreciate you sharing you opinion but I disagree on a few levels.

First of all, no western NGO workers profit from the Tanzania Education Project. On the western side, I'm doing all the work and I take zero money and I never will take money from this effort. All the money (except for bank fees) goes to the kids education and healthcare.

On the Tanzanian side, I think things are more complicated than you are presenting. While you may be right about western societies in pre-industrial times, we are no longer in pre-industrial times. Tanzania got their independence in 1964. Before that they were systematically oppressed by a host of different countries who would mine their resources, steal their land, and force their population into labor. Today's landscape is different. Powerful nations like the US and China compete for rights to Tanzania's minerals, they own their businesses, and they interfere in politics.

I've spoken at length with an economically and geographically diverse set of Tanzanian's about how to address the issues in their country. Every time the conversation returns to education. In many areas, especially rural, the state does not provide sufficient education, or any education at all. I don't know how we can expect anything to change if people don't have access to education, and powerful foreign (and some times domestic) agents are actively exploiting the population.

If you believe that wealth should be shared, then why don't you believe in sharing it with people who need it most? The goal of TEP is not to enrich anyone. The students are receiving what I think should be basic human rights, not sums of cash in their bank account.

Framing this effort as a way for people to feel good about themselves is disingenuous. I think you agree that these kids deserve access to education, so why don't we give it to them if we can?

As for the goal, it is to provide education and healthcare to the kids of Ibumila so they can have the tools they need to assess and change the environment around them. I believe this will lead to positive change.

If you have a better idea of how to address issues in Tanzania, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks for your comment.