Kilimanjaro Education Outreach

We began meeting in January 2009 to discuss forming a non-profit organization to improve the quality of life for communities in Tanzania. We are a small group of people with ties to the country, some more directly than others. Walter Miya hails from Arusha, Tanzania, and moved to Indiana after meeting his now wife, Shawn Miya, who spent several months conducting HIV/AIDS prevention classes at secondary schools in the area as a volunteer. With their friends – Tanzanians at IU, Hoosier natives and others, Walter and Shawn are moving forward with plans to fulfill their dream of improving educational opportunities for Tanzanian children and adults.Coming together to share our time and ideas has borne a name, a mission statement, and an application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization status. Kilimanjaro Education Outreach – “KILEO” for short – will partner with local stakeholders in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania to improve quality of life by enhancing community-owned educational infrastructure, providing HIV prevention classes, and promoting volunteerism. We decided on this mission after discussing issues such as the lack of access to books, the cost to families of providing school uniforms and supplies to their children, and the unavailability of space for children and adults to study, learn how to use computers, or come together for learning opportunities. We want to send shipments of books, build libraries and community centers, offer HIV/AIDS education, and help young adults learn skills they can apply in the workforce.We plan to build a network of Tanzanian and American individuals and organizations with a common goal of providing or enhancing educational resources and infrastructure, and support members of this network while searching for opportunities to initiate our own projects.