Tanzania Development Support

06/21/2026

Day 9 on the mountain.

Somewhere on Kilimanjaro's slopes right now, our team is moving steadily upward — Andrea, Scott, John, Veneranda, Mareges, Solonge, Christine, Hanna, Bentley, Eric, and Josh.

They left DeKalb and Tanzania's Mara Region a week ago. Every step they're taking is fueled by the donations that came in over the last month.

We don't have a live photo to share — they're well above where cell service reliably reaches. But they're up there. They're climbing. And the fundraising you helped power is already funding the work waiting for them when they come down.

Thank you for getting them this far.

https://givebutter.com/Kili2026/

06/02/2026

Two people. One mountain. 19,341 feet.

Andrea Trudeau fell in love with Tanzania as a Fulbright Hays scholar in 2022. This June, for her 50th birthday, her husband Scott is going with her — together they're summiting Mount Kilimanjaro and raising funds for Tanzania Development Support, where Andrea serves on our board.

Andrea's focus through TDS: the Reading Circles program in the LCRC library.

Small gifts add up fast. Even $25 brings Scott and Andrea closer to their $4,000 goal — and helps power Reading Circles and the other work TDS does year-round in the Mara Region.

https://givebutter.com/Kili2026/andreatrudeau

05/31/2026

Mareges Thobias Mberege is 17 and a Form Four student at Etaro Secondary School.

His favorite subject is Information and Computer Studies. His career goal: ICT professional specializing in web development. He also likes English because, in his words, "it works hand in hand with ICT."

Mareges is one of the students climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with John Kuboja's team in June — funding the 4H and Career Pathways program that's putting tools in students' hands across the Mara Region.

Small gifts add up fast. Even $25 brings Mareges and the 4HCP team closer to their $6,000 goal — and means more working computers, water tanks, and learning gardens for students across the Mara Region.

https://givebutter.com/Kili2026/johnkubojastudents

By Tanzania Development Support

05/26/2026

John Kuboja is 31. Bachelor of Arts with Education from the University of Dar es Salaam, class of 2017. Project Coordinator for the 4H/Career Pathways program at Tanzania Development Support. Favorite subjects to teach: English Language and ICT.

In June, he's climbing Mount Kilimanjaro alongside his own students — Veneranda Manyama from Nyegina, Mareges Thobias Mberege from Etaro — and the climb is funding the very program he runs.

John's reason: "to inspire students, demonstrate resilience, and help raise funds for 4HCP initiatives."

A teacher walking up a mountain so his students can walk into stronger classrooms.

Please support John and the 4HCP team as they work toward their $6,000 goal. Your generosity creates real impact for students through working computers, water tanks, learning gardens, and stronger classroom opportunities.

Donate here: https://lnkd.in/gRDBE8Fp

05/21/2026

She wants to be a surgeon.

Meet Veneranda Manyama, a 17-year-old Form Four student at Nyegina Secondary School in Tanzania's Mara Region. She joined Nyegina through a Rose and Karl Willmann Scholarship from Tanzania Development Support. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Basic Math — her favorite subjects, in that order. She's also a member of the 4H club, where she's learning practical life skills
alongside the science.

In June, Veneranda is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for the first time. Her words: she's climbing "to raise funds to support improved education for young people from poor backgrounds in the rural areas of Musoma, especially young girls."

A 17-year-old Willmann Scholar is fundraising for the next 17-year-old Willmann Scholar. If you'd like to help her get there — and help the program that put her in school in the first place
— her team page is live: https://givebutter.com/Kili2026/johnkubojastudents

05/21/2026

From DeKalb to the top of Kilimanjaro: the journey continues.

This June 13, a team of volunteers from Tanzania Development Support — including DeKalb residents and Northern Illinois University alumni — heads to Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for girls' education, literacy programs, 4H gardens, and clean water projects in Tanzania's Mara Region.

The climb is the visible part. The real story is the decade-plus of DeKalb residents who keep showing up. From climbers like Denise Weinmann and Frank Turner in 2019, to this year's team, to every Give DeKalb donor and community partner along the way — this work has always been rooted in DeKalb as much as it is in Tanzania.

Over the coming weeks, we'll be introducing each of our 2026 climbers and the students in Tanzania whose education your support funds. One story a week, all the way to summit.

Want to be part of it? Start here: https://givebutter.com/Kili2026/

05/12/2026

100% of our Willmann Scholars at Nyegina Secondary School earned Division I on the Form Four national exams last year. Every girl. Highest tier.

The Nyegina Group GiveButter page is now live.

Goal: $2,000 to keep funding what's already working. $900 covers one girl for a full year — tuition, boarding, books, library access.

Give: https://givebutter.com/Kili2026/johnkubojastudents

05/11/2026

Thank you, DeKalb County.

On Thursday, Give DeKalb County raised $28,549 for Tanzania Development Support across 48 individual gifts. We finished 18th out of 157 participating organizations, and third in our small-org category — which came with a bonus prize on top of the dollars raised.

Forty-eight donors said yes. Twenty-eight thousand five hundred and forty-nine dollars said yes. That becomes tuition for Willmann Scholars in the Mara region. Books for the LCRC library. Water flowing into Etaro Secondary School. Career tools in 4H classrooms.

Every dollar reaches programs. Every program reaches students. Every student carries it forward.

To the donors who gave, the board members who pulled their networks in, and the friends who shared the campaign with someone who might care — thank you. This is what 8,000 miles of community looks like.

The work doesn't stop here. Our 2026 Kilimanjaro Climb fundraiser is live and the team is already on the rope. More on that this week.

www.tdsnfp.org

05/07/2026

Today is Give DeKalb County and that means your donation to TDS goes further! Take advantage of the one day a year when your gift gets a bonus match. Donations must be made through our profile page to qualify. Use the link below to donate today.

https://www.givedekalbcounty.org/organizations/tanzania-development-support

05/06/2026

An update from Etaro Secondary School in Tanzania's Mara Region.

When we shared the pipe delivery photos in January, the project was still in motion. Today, water flows directly into the school compound and the 4H learning garden. Nearly 1,000 students no longer start their school day hauling water from miles away. For the girls especially, who lost the most school time to that walk, that's hours back in the classroom every week.

This was a partnership effort. Strides For Africa, Tanzania Development Support, the Musoma Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority, and 4H Career Pathways coordinator John Kuboja, who managed the build from planning to commissioning. The students and community at Etaro carried the pipes themselves. They dug the trenches alongside the workers. They own this.

Give DeKalb County is this Thursday, May 7. When you give to TDS, this is what your gift becomes. Pipes in the ground. Books on the shelf. Scholarships in girls' hands. A school day that starts in a classroom instead of on a water route.

Save the date and tell a friend.

www.tdsnfp.org/donate