Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Lott.
Christine, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 2007 I traveled to Tanzania as a volunteer for three weeks. While there I made a promise that forever changed my life. In 2007, I was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs. After returning from Tanzania I started a nonprofit and helped a congregation build a church. In 2009, we celebrated the opening of the Catholic Church, with donations from closed Churches in the Boston area, a custom stain glass window and funds raised by my friends and colleagues. After the project was complete, I had another mission after witnessing the dilapidated government schools…I was going to start a school for disadvantaged youth. Only this time I left my job at Goldman Sachs and set my sights on something much bigger. 8 years later and with so much more knowledge than when I began, and so many lessons learned, we have a small school educating 74 children born into poverty. We still continue to build more classrooms to increase the number of children served.
Donations do not come easy and I can be found living in both the Boston area and Tanzania. In Boston working hard selling Tanzanian art to support our work in Tanzania and in Tanzania to insure all funds raise go towards their designated need. The Tanzania School Foundation has groups of volunteers working food concessions at Gillette Stadium during concerts and Patriot games.
The Tanzania School Foundation is a registered 501(c) 3 in the USA and a registered NGO in Tanzania. We founded Fr. Christmas Academy…a place where children celebrate the joy of Christmas all year round.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been smooth at all. So many lessons learned. Working in a foreign country has many challenges. We purchased land with a verbal approval from the Ministry of education and started building only to find out that it was too small for our vision. We had to start all over again in 2015. I have been robbed both by people who worked for us and some unknown. Living in two worlds has its challenges…never fully in one place long enough to finish anything. I live in the moment wherever I am focusing on what is in front of me.
The 7/8 hour time difference also has its challenges. The hardest part is leaving my family in the Boston area to continue what I started.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Tanzania School Foundation, Inc. – what should we know?
For the past 8 years I have been volunteering my time, so that impoverished children in Tanzania can receive a quality education.
The Tanzania School Foundation has a small Board of Directors who work hard when I am in Tanzania to keep things going in the Boston area.
We founded Fr. Christmas Academy in the village of Mlangarini, Arusha Tanzania.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Perseverance. There is nothing I don’t do. To keep going, even when the going gets tough.
Pricing:
- $600 per year sponsors a child
- $100 per year buys a uniform/shoes/backpack for a child
- $100 per month feeds all of our students while in school
- $25 buys notebooks for one classroom of students
Contact Info:
- Address: 2 Canton Street, Ste 222, Stoughton, MA 02072
- Website: www.tanzaniaschoolfoundation.org
- Phone: 7817184307
- Email: chris@tanzaniaschoolfoundation.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/tanzschoolfdn
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/tanzschoolfdn
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/tanzschoolfdn
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