Project Tanzania
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What is Project Tanzania?
Project Tanzania is a legacy started by Kristle Calisto-Tavares and Mike Foderick in 2009 in celebration of their wedding. The funds raised for Project Tanzania go directly to World Vision Canada’s Survive Five Program in Tanzania which supports healthy futures for children in need by offering life-saving measures to help them survive beyond age 5.
Why Tanzania?
In March 2008, Kristle started sponsoring a sweet girl named Miriamu who lives in Singida, Tanzania. With a plan to hold their honeymoon in Tanzania and a desire to do some life-changing good, their hearts were set on Survive Five Tanzania so that they could ensure their sponsored child and other children like her would benefit from their actions.
How did the idea originate?
The idea came to Mike and Kristle when they were approached about a wedding shower to be thrown in their honour. They decided that with the help of their family, friends and community they could transform their wedding celebration into meaningful action to help hundreds of children grow to become healthy and happy adults. Kristle and Mike wanted to model a new concept for engaged couples. Instead of participating in a tradition that focuses on china patterns, fine linens and other luxuries, Kristle and Mike thought first of others – others who struggle to have the basic necessities of life such as good health. They thought they could channel the generosity bestowed upon them by others toward children fighting tough realities such as malaria, malnutrition, preventable disease – amongst other challenges like poverty, persecution, and violence.
So what happened?
In 2009, tag team extraordinaire Kristle and Mike turned their wedding shower into an alternative event with a greater purpose. iNSPiRED PRACTiCE and sister-company Options for Success invited friends, family, colleagues and clients to share in this meaningful action to help hundreds of children become healthy and strong adults.
On August 30, 2009 a pre-wedding event took place – dubbed “an alternative wedding shower” – during which approximately 80 people came together to eat, celebrate and generously support Kristle and Mike’s vision.
With the participation of so many wonderful globally-minded citizens, $2,400 was raised for Survive Five Tanzania! These contributions are supporting a widespread implementation of the Survive Five Program in Tanzania to strengthen health and build a future for all children. For the amount of money that was raised, more than 500 children under the age of 5 will now have the chance to grow into healthy and happy people.
Where can I get more info?
Check out the slideshow up top. There you can find out more about Project Tanzania and Mike and Kristle’s experiences with Miriamu and her community.
How can I contribute?
All donations from here on out can be made directly via this handy dandy link to Project Tanzania/iNSPiRED PRACTiCE’s own page on the World Vision Canada site.
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[...] Plus I have three posts in the works for the iNSPiRED PRACTiCE website. And I finally updated the Project Tanzania page (to better tell the story of what, why and [...]