As of recently, social media is reaching more of our students. When I started working in Tanzania in 2008, no one I knew in the villages had a cell phone. A few folks in town had old-school Nokia phones. Now, almost everyone has a basic phone, and more and more people have smart phones. If you can afford to buy credit, you have 3G access – even in remote villages. Not surprisingly, it’s really changing communication and human interaction in huge ways.
For me, it’s a bonus because I have closer contact with some of our students – even from across the world. Diana, Tumsifu, Dibeit, and Hindu use Facebook. Khadija and Hindu love What’s App! Through social media platforms, I’m able to get stories from them, share ideas and pictures from home, and just keep the relationships alive. They also stay connected to others that they’ve met over the years – friends from the US who have traveled with me or visited as interns: Hadley, Tamrika, Katy, Krista, Carter, John, Dagny, Marte, Laetitia, Amy, and others. It’s these connections – as much as the education and the financial support – that contributes to the work we do. For us, these young people are friends and our support of them is personal.
Thank you for all of your support and for believing that we can make a difference, even if our reach seems small (i.e., we’re not the United Way or CARE) – it’s a reach in the right direction and it does matter!
Sincerely and with gratitude,
Rai Farrelly & Lucas Lameck
Co-founders, Project Wezesha