Kayla's Mitzvah Project

My name is Kayla Smith and my bat mitzvah is coming up on June 22nd. Two days later my family and I will be traveling to Tanzania and the first place we are going to is an amazing place called Jifundishe (which means "teach yourself" in Kiswahili) where we will volunteer our time for the day. Jifunishe was founded in 2005 by Debra Kelly, an American, who wanted make a difference in the lives of the local villagers and it became the first free library in the country. I have always loved to read and when I learned about Jifundishe, I wanted to help the kids who don't have access to books and resources that we have here. Jifundishe offers anyone books, local newspapers, school textbooks and access to computers and the internet as well as programs that teach the community how to use these resources to their best advantage. It started off with just 1,000 books and slowly progressed to a fully-staffed, safe place where people can learn so that they can continue their education or start a business. In addition, Jifundishe has established micro-lending programs for women, adult English classes and many more programs. I'm so lucky to be able to help this community, especially the school children who can't afford books to learn. I take it for granted that whatever books I need will be available but these kids don't have that advantage and can get discouraged and drop out of school. I'm so excited visit Jifunishe and hope to be able to bring them a donation that will help support their great projects. Please help if you can (every little bit makes a difference)! To learn more about Jifundishe go to https://jifundishe.org/. Thank you!