I highly recommend donating some amount of your time, expertise, or money to good causes, regardless of your financial situation. Even the smallest amounts compound to amazing results—especially over long stretches over time.
When I was a student I made (very!) modest contributions to clean water projects, microfinance organizations, and the reports I now read as a mature adult are so gratifying.
I also try to keep a "charity" type project in my queue - volunteering my tech skills to help fix/build things for NGOs so fun to look back on.
I will echo what others have said and say this is amazing on a personal level, but also super cool to share with others. I think especially in tech we can get a little focused on efficacy and scale instead of human impact, and some might quibble about that in the comments ill be interested to see the discourse.
Your impact is undeniable, and i think quite importantly very tangible and concrete to you. Very inspiring.
This is great man. I've been on the other end of this. My annual high school fees cost $700. Couldn't afford it, and it was extremely stressful. If not for the benevolence of my high school principal, I have dropped out. It completely changed my life. You're making a massive difference.
Some friends were involved with an aid organization which helped several rural areas across a few different countries in Africa.
A key point was the organization didn't finance things. Instead they financed seminars, workshops and such. They'd pay for travel, food and accommodations, as well as renting a place and one or more speakers.
They'd facilitating people learning basic accounting skills which they could use in the co-op back home to make it harder for another co-op member to embezzle money, for example.
A lot of aid per buck this way.
Seems like you're well on your way with something similar. Well done!
Highlight the fact that it's a 501(c)(3) on the website. Being a non-profit opens up opportunities for donations from large corporations and applying for government grants. I notice that you have a PayPal Donate button. IIRC, PayPal has a specific payment structure for nonprofits.
This is great. Thanks for sharing. I'm always happy to make a donation for education.
Weird HN type question. On your site you mention paying $5 for hosting the site but didn't mention that here. We're you able to figure out a free way to host?
I wasn't. If I remember correctly I had to pay the $5 for proper security certificates to be able to put the PayPal link. The $5 just comes from my personal bank account so that is taken care of separately from the org. Thanks for donating!
Wow, that is amazing, congratulations on making such difference on peoples lives. Btw, you can use Netlify to host your website for free and still be able to add a PayPal client button. That would save you 5$ per month that could be directed to the cause you are helping for all those years.
Thank you all for the responses. I wasn't exactly sure how this would go over here. Someone pointed out that I have a typo in my email on the site (thank you!). I'll fix that when I get home from work tonight. The correct email is tanzaniaeducationproject@gmail.com (not .org) if you want to reach out
I love this hyper-individualized approach. I would be way more willing to meet someone and sponsor _them_ than I would be to just give anonymous dollars.
I could arange this. Meeting in person is tough. It takes me about 40 hours door to door to get to the village from my house (plane ride, taxi to a bus station, 12 hour bus ride through the country, another taxi, then motorcycle for the last leg). However, if you wanted to support a specific student, I could absolutely arrange that. The cost varies from year to year with exchange rates but it comes out to around $1200 a year. Email me at tanzaniaeducationproject@gmail.com to talk more. Thanks!!
Thank you very much. When I was 19 I was convinced that my understanding of the world was wrong so I decided to travel to East Africa to see some of it for myself. Tanzania is a relatively safe place to travel and I wanted to learn swahili.
A friend of a friend of my parents heard that I was going and asked me to check up on a orphanage they were funding in the Njombe region. That's how I ended up in such a remote place. I helped work on the orphanage and spent time getting to know the village. That's where I met Anwarite.
I go back every few years to check up on things. It's quite the journey to get there.
I haven't though of documenting actual data points about this yet. I think that's a good idea. Any ideas on where to start?
This is amazing. I once adopted a kid's education who lived in Colombia. The organization would send me a letter with his picture every 3 months or so, giving me some updates of how the kid is doing in school etc. After about a year I asked the organization if i could say Hi to the kid on a video call (i think i was watching some show on netflix or prime, where the main plot was how seemingly non profits scamming donors or something like that). I kinda grew suspicious that how do i even know if these kids are real and if this money is actually going somewhere. The org said they can't do it, they can't arrange for the kid to say Hi to me on the video call. I decided to cancel the payment from that month's onward. I redirected that money to doctors without borders. I don't know if i did the right or not; the point is that trust is extremely important when it comes to non profit efforts and the donors need to be able to get some sense (even a teeny,tiny action) that this effort is real. Again, thank you for what you did. you sound like an amazing person.
I really appreciate this response. It's my biggest worry because I share the same skepticism as you. That's part of the reason I started doing this because I started question where my donations to bigger organizations were going.
I will say that I could arrange video calls for sure if you wanted to support a kid. I want to grow this as much as possible and trust is the way to do that. I'm all ears for anyone with any advice for how to build trust.
I see where you're coming from, but it is not a penpal service either and they don't want to be passing messages. I traveled to a school in Uganda which had some students' education sponsored by Americans. They were real students, and the issues were usually student performance, if students had a problem or got pregnant would that affect their scholarship, etc. Knowing that it is assigned to an individual person is important for some donors, but you might just want to donate to doctors, schools, etc. in general.
This is a fair point. There is a way these things can overly performative. My thought was always that it's not supposed to make the donators feel good, it's just supposed to be something that they do because it's fair and right. I think most people, if they got to actually see this village, would understand what I mean.
That being said, I want people to trust the effort, and if that means having some sort of communication or feedback from the kids in the program, then I'm totally OK with that.
I think the most interesting thing about this is that no one but the kids benefit from this. I take zero payment and everyone involves is volunteering. It's not easy to find an organization that doesn't spend %30 of their budget on ads and overhead.
She said that when she earns her PhD she wants to bring it back to the region but what would a degree in Language Studies bring to a region with so little?
That's a fair question. I made a decision early on that I wasn't going to push any student in any particular direction. They were free to pursue any education they wanted. Anwarite chose this route and I'm happy to support it.
However, just the fact that she is so educated, regardless of the degree, I think can make a huge impact on her village. Most adults I met there had around a second or third grade education at most. Many never went to school at all. The fact that she can speak English, use a vomputer, and teach could be transformative.
I wholeheartedly agree. While I admire OP in his charitable endeavors. I can't help but think that this puts the incentives on studying things that offer little to no market value. Market value of a degree tends to be a huge predictor of how needed that skill is in the market. I don't know if what Tanzania needs right now is language PhD's instead of Architects, Engineers, Doctors, etc...
I understand your line of thought, but the individual specifically being talked about is returning to her home to contribute to the success of her community. Literally the exact opposite of what you are complaining about. Seems like this form of support, just providing an opportunity, succeeds in its goal.
People leaving a village or city for other opportunities is nothing new and something pretty much all humanity (and species) experience.
10 years ago, I paid a lump sum to have three roughly 5 year-old Indian girls go all the way to college and I used to get yearly updates and pictures but then I moved a couple of times. I wonder how they’re doing now. I did my due diligence at the time with the charity and saw that their overhead was less than 12% and 88% of whatever was donated went to the kids.
This is beautiful. Bravo. You created an opportunity for someone to thrive and grow. There are few higher callings to humanity than that, IMHO.
I also did something sort of similar: I had a close friend in Brazil (former roommate when he eas in the US; self deported) who was going through a very difficult time. As an experiment..I gave him $100/month, no strings attached. Blow it on food and games, rent, whatever he wants.
Tl;dr it went very well, his life significantly improved, I did it because he was my friend, I had the money, and wanted to see what would happen.
We Skyped after his shift ended one night and he was very depressed. With a VPN and a credit card I ordered him Dominos to cheer him up. I sent a feast that.. only cost me $10.[1]
Realizing the exchange rate benefit, I got the idea of giving him $100 each month as an experiment; $500 Brazilian Reals.
I wanted to know if the extra money would help and if I could use the exchange rate to help my friend get to a better place in life. Sort of a UBI but not quite.
Now, $100 to me is a bit of money, but 500 BR to him was a crazy amount of money to be given.
Over six months, it allowed him to quit his job at McDonald's, get out of a financially unstable roommate situation, move closer to his family in his own place, and find a better job. He started dating again.
I told him I would commit to a year, but he actually said at the 6.5 month mark that he's doing so well that I don't have to keep giving him money.
Three years later he's still doing great. I have concluded from this that more money in our pocket always helps, but there is a certain responsibility (maybe in general) needed when a gift like that lands in our laps. It can be easy to blow it [2] but just as easy to use it to move life forward.
It has certainly made me more ..aware/appreciative of my privilege and (sometimes fragile) security.
[1]. Two medium four topping pizzas, two 2-litre bottles of soda, breadsticks, and chicken nuggets.
[2]. I was once given a generous stipend from the Student Government of $140 which I did not use for school supplies, rent, or even groceries. Nope. I bought alcohol.
When I was a student I made (very!) modest contributions to clean water projects, microfinance organizations, and the reports I now read as a mature adult are so gratifying.
I also try to keep a "charity" type project in my queue - volunteering my tech skills to help fix/build things for NGOs so fun to look back on.
Your impact is undeniable, and i think quite importantly very tangible and concrete to you. Very inspiring.
A key point was the organization didn't finance things. Instead they financed seminars, workshops and such. They'd pay for travel, food and accommodations, as well as renting a place and one or more speakers.
They'd facilitating people learning basic accounting skills which they could use in the co-op back home to make it harder for another co-op member to embezzle money, for example.
A lot of aid per buck this way.
Seems like you're well on your way with something similar. Well done!
Weird HN type question. On your site you mention paying $5 for hosting the site but didn't mention that here. We're you able to figure out a free way to host?
Shouldn't it be @gmail.com not .org?
Relevant to the topic: https://www.cato.org/books/beautiful-tree
How did you end up in Ibumila? Do you ever go back there?
You ask how much can a village change. Are you trying to document that in any way?
A friend of a friend of my parents heard that I was going and asked me to check up on a orphanage they were funding in the Njombe region. That's how I ended up in such a remote place. I helped work on the orphanage and spent time getting to know the village. That's where I met Anwarite.
I go back every few years to check up on things. It's quite the journey to get there.
I haven't though of documenting actual data points about this yet. I think that's a good idea. Any ideas on where to start?
I will say that I could arrange video calls for sure if you wanted to support a kid. I want to grow this as much as possible and trust is the way to do that. I'm all ears for anyone with any advice for how to build trust.
Thank you!
It would make sense to separate kids from the people who are donating money to them, but they could have offered to let you chat with the parents.
That being said, I want people to trust the effort, and if that means having some sort of communication or feedback from the kids in the program, then I'm totally OK with that.
I think the most interesting thing about this is that no one but the kids benefit from this. I take zero payment and everyone involves is volunteering. It's not easy to find an organization that doesn't spend %30 of their budget on ads and overhead.
However, just the fact that she is so educated, regardless of the degree, I think can make a huge impact on her village. Most adults I met there had around a second or third grade education at most. Many never went to school at all. The fact that she can speak English, use a vomputer, and teach could be transformative.
People leaving a village or city for other opportunities is nothing new and something pretty much all humanity (and species) experience.
Just donated $100US
I also did something sort of similar: I had a close friend in Brazil (former roommate when he eas in the US; self deported) who was going through a very difficult time. As an experiment..I gave him $100/month, no strings attached. Blow it on food and games, rent, whatever he wants.
Tl;dr it went very well, his life significantly improved, I did it because he was my friend, I had the money, and wanted to see what would happen.
We Skyped after his shift ended one night and he was very depressed. With a VPN and a credit card I ordered him Dominos to cheer him up. I sent a feast that.. only cost me $10.[1]
Realizing the exchange rate benefit, I got the idea of giving him $100 each month as an experiment; $500 Brazilian Reals.
I wanted to know if the extra money would help and if I could use the exchange rate to help my friend get to a better place in life. Sort of a UBI but not quite.
Now, $100 to me is a bit of money, but 500 BR to him was a crazy amount of money to be given.
Over six months, it allowed him to quit his job at McDonald's, get out of a financially unstable roommate situation, move closer to his family in his own place, and find a better job. He started dating again.
I told him I would commit to a year, but he actually said at the 6.5 month mark that he's doing so well that I don't have to keep giving him money.
Three years later he's still doing great. I have concluded from this that more money in our pocket always helps, but there is a certain responsibility (maybe in general) needed when a gift like that lands in our laps. It can be easy to blow it [2] but just as easy to use it to move life forward.
It has certainly made me more ..aware/appreciative of my privilege and (sometimes fragile) security.
[1]. Two medium four topping pizzas, two 2-litre bottles of soda, breadsticks, and chicken nuggets.
[2]. I was once given a generous stipend from the Student Government of $140 which I did not use for school supplies, rent, or even groceries. Nope. I bought alcohol.