Arusha is a city (pop. est. 500,000 in 2010) in the east African nation of Tanzania. Arusha sits at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the country’s northern region. Tanzania is the land of both Ernest Hemingway’s adventures and Jane Goodall’s environmental advocacy!

The culture includes a mosaic of Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and tribal beliefs; languages include KiSwahili, English, and tribal dialects.

With invaluable assistance from Duke organizations and The Links and HALO (local civic groups), our projects include helping children: providing school uniforms for AIDS orphans every year, helping with town sanitation system projects, and food donations.

The Orphan Program

Please sponsor an orphan this year!

Since 2006, we have have outfitted 20 orphans for uniforms, sweaters, socks and shoes and school supplies with the sponsorship money of 20 families here in Durham. Each sponsor contributes $80 per year for a child. You may contribute at any time to this heartwarming project!

The children must wear uniforms in order to attend public school in Tanzania.  We collaborate with Christ Church Anglican Diocesan headquarters and Mrs. Martha Makundi (wife of Bishop Simon Makundi of the Kilimanjaro Dioceses).

Duke students regularly visit Arusha!
In 2004, Sister Cities of Durham's Arusha Committee brought 2 educators (a school principal and an art teacher) from Arusha to Durham to participate in a Literacy Through Photography (LTP) (Duke Center for Documentary Studies) workshop under Ms. Wendy Ewald for 1 week. The workshop was so successful that 2 years later, LTP Director Ms. Katie Hyde and Ms. Ewald (LTP founder) traveled to Arusha to conduct a 10 day workshop with 60 Arusha teachers! That visit was funded by the Sister Cities of Durham and Duke University. You can see their thriving activities at:

http://literacythroughphotography.wordpress.com/  and http://cds.aas.duke.edu/exhibits/nowonview.html

In 2008,  Duke Engage (undergrad study abroad program) funded LTP to return to Arusha for a 2 month program with 8 Duke students to work with the whole school system, teachers and students.  In 2009, Duke Exchange further expanded the program  with 8 more Duke students. Duke and LTP now maintain this program.

See http://dukeengage.duke.edu/immersion-programs/international-programs/tanzania-arusha

Arusha's young people come to Durham for higher education!
In the late 1990s, we collaborated with Friends of Arusha to bring 2 students each summer to work as part of the summer staff at Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center.  We made arrangements with Ridgecrest by helping to secure visas, planned travel and short stays in Durham while Friends of Arusha chose the students, secured airline tickets, and saw to arrangements there.  We did this for 4 years.  The student’s work paid for most of their airfare.  It was a win –win program.

At the same time, and also for 4 years, we partnered with The N.C. Outward Bound School to take students from each of our four Sister Cities for a 10 day expedition.  Three out of five of our Arusha students were chosen to take advantage of the opportunity.  (This was made possible by Ridgecrest who let them go from their program for 10 days to attend the Outward Bound School.)

Of the five students who came to Durham and Ridgecrest, we arranged for 4 students to attend college at Durham Technical Community College by sponsoring them at Ridgecrest for a second year and by working with the school’s  recommendations for college entrance.

The Arusha Committee of SCD and the Tanzanian community paid for all four of these students at attend DTCC for a year.  If they wanted to continue their education, they would have to get a job to support themselves after the first year.  They did.  Three of them have completed their degrees and two are pursuing post graduate degrees!

They all have plans to return to Arusha.  They are a wonderfully smart and determined group of young people!

Official civic visits
Over the years the Arusha Committee has engaged in many exchanges and official visits.  The former President of Tanzania, Mr. Benjamine Mkapa, and his wife visited Durham in 2005.   Mayor Bill Bell visited Arusha in 2008.

Food for Africa
The Arusha Committee’s HALO PROJECT sent 280,000 meals to Arusha, Tanzania in March 2008.  In partnership with STOP HUNGER NOW, the Triangle Park Chapter of The Links, Inc., and various other charities, the FDA approved dehydrated food provided a daily meal to over a quarter of a million orphans, AIDS victims, school children and women.  The 46,000 pounds of food was distributed throughout the 17 districts in Arusha. From this colossal initiative many families will have sufficient food for over a year.  The Arusha Committee will continue to support the need for food in Africa.

Tailoring Industry Start-up
The Arusha Committee in partnership with the Triangle Park Chapter of The Links, Inc. are assisting mothers in Arusha to establish a cottage industry to sew school uniforms.  This small group of mothers will use the sewing machines and fabric, provided by LINKS, to make and sell affordable school uniforms.

Currently the uniforms are made in India at higher prices, so this project will enable more students to attend school.  This was an idea which came from a few people from The Friends of Arusha (our counterpart organization in Arusha ) and a few members of our Arusha Committee at a meeting in Arusha. If we raise the money here, the Friends of Arusha there will carry out the plan.  This is quite a commitment on their part as well.

Trees for Arusha
This is a collaborative long-range project with the Friends of Arusha (FOA), a not-for-profit organization in Arusha. The FOA established a nursery providing fruit tree seedlings and assistance with proper planting and maintenance techniques.

The FOA chose school children as the primary recipients of the seedlings; thus, tomorrow's leaders are learning the benefits of restoring and maintaining beautiful, green environments.

The Arusha Committee will continue to work with our Friends of Arusha to develop sustainable service projects that benefit the well-being  of our Arusha neighbors.

Additonal Links of Interest
National Geographic Photos  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/tanzania-photos/#african-elephant-tanzania_3648_600x450.jpg

Duke Global Health   http://globalhealth.duke.edu/

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation  http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.asp

Food Drive by Local Organizations to Arusha   http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2010/08/29/203272/they-call-it-obama-rice.html

STOP Hunger Now   http://www.stophungernow.org/site/PageServer?pagename=who_we_are

The LINKS    http://www.triangleparklinks.org/index.php