The Gift: Helping launch Tanzania Education and Micro-Business Opportunity
The Reason: To fund educational and employment programs in Tanzania
A few years ago, Arlene McKenchnie got involved with an Ottawa-based charity called Tanzania Education and Micro-Business Opportunity, (TEMBO) which was just getting started.
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The organization had been founded in 2003 by two women, Jo Marchant and Marian Roks, who had been sponsoring a girl in northern Tanzania and decided to try to do more to help her village.
Ms. McKechnie, a retired lawyer, was drawn to the cause and joined the board. The co-founders soon had to step aside and Ms. McKechnie helped take over.
Today TEMBO provides funding for 84 girls to attend school and provides business skills training to more than 100 women.
The charity also runs libraries in a school and a local community. It is also building a learning centre.
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Ms. McKechnie, who travels to Tanzania annually, said TEMBO consults the community before launching a project and it has five staff in the region including a librarian and a program co-ordinator.
"It is wonderful to see the difference we are making in the community," she said from her home in Ottawa. The charity's annual budget is around $100,000, which is raised by Ms. McKechnie, 69, and a group of volunteers.
"You know what keeps you going?" she asked? "Something like this."
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