Blog Posts - Sasamani Foundation

Sasamani Welcomes Four Student-Interns for a Virtual Summer Internship

7/13/2020

We are excited and grateful to announce that 4 extremely talented Connecticut College students have joined the Sasamani team for our virtual internship program this summer: Welcome Taeva Cohen, Jordyn Turin, Meera Narayanan-Pandit and Tihut Getabicha!

We would have loved for them to travel to Tanzania to meet our team, the students, the tailors and the Women Leading Change cohorts, and for them to experience life and culture in Bagamoyo. We hope to connect in-person in the future, and in the interim, are thrilled to welcome the interns on board in this capacity.

We have designed the Virtual Internship experience to be as interactive and intercultural as possible, including virtual interviews with Sasamani students, women of the Women Leading Change cohorts, experts in the NGO sector, as well as other organizations active in Tanzania and East Africa. The interns will also work closely with our Sasamani staff, including Tialda (Sasamani's Executive Director), Gladness (Education Director), and Elias (Managing Director). We look forward to their input and contributions to Sasamani!

Introducing Taeva, Jordyn, Meera, and Tihut:

HOW SASAMANI RESPONDS TO COVID-19 IN BAGAMOYO, TANZANIA

5/3/2020

Dear Sasamani Family and Supporters,

COVID-19 continues to present unprecedented, heartbreaking challenges to communities around the globe, and if you are reading this now, wherever you are, we hope you are safe and healthy. As the world faces the devastating impact of this pandemic, it is the Sasamani Foundation’s priority to ensure that our community in Bagamoyo is safe, supported and empowered during this constantly evolving global crisis.

The effects of this pandemic are great for Sasamani students, tailors, and their families, who are increasingly vulnerable to income-loss, food shortage and exposure to the virus. As the Bagamoyo community limits social contact, local businesses are struggling, including our 7 tailors, who rely on income from customer demand to support themselves and their families.

With schools shut down, our 75 sponsored students are staying home with their families, many of whom are similarly losing essential income. In turn, parents and caregivers are limited in their capacity to put food on the table and to maintain good health.

Tialda, Denise, Gladness, and Elias have been working tirelessly to rapidly institute COVID-19 relief projects for our families. Our staff in the U.S. has been working with Gladness and Elias to identify the most urgent needs in Bagamoyo, and in turn, the team has developed strategies to meet those needs effectively and efficiently. We are currently mobilizing to implement four new initiatives to best support our Sasamani community:

Facemask Initiative
Following the guidance of the WHO, we are mobilizing to make and distribute cloth facemasks to the community to slow the spread of the virus, while also generating income for our tailors. The Foundation is employing our 7 tailors to produce cloth masks, which we aim to distribute to 82 Sasamani families, 4 hospitals, and 3 orphanages.
Backyard Garden Initiative
Food scarcity is imminent in Bagamoyo, and we are working to provide our families with seeds and gardening equipment to grow their own sustainable food source in their backyard. Out of our 82 families, 62 have space and capability to start backyard gardens, and we hope to raise enough funds to provide all 62 families with seeds, fertilizers and mosquito nets to produce their own crops.
Books for Home-schooling
With schools closed, it is our priority to support our students' learning. We are working to distribute school books and exercise books so that our 75 Sasamani students can continue their education from home, including preparation for their exams in October.
Food and Soap Distribution
With the help of Sasamani's supporters, we are working to fundraise to distribute dry goods and soap to ensure that our 82 families have access to food and sanitation supplies. It is through the generosity of our Sasamani family and supporters that these efforts are made possible, and we have started a Go Fund Me campaign to fundraise for our four relief initiatives.

Your support allows us to move forward in implementing these programs, so we can reach as many members of our Sasamani community and broader Bagamoyo community as possible.

As we speak, we are pivoting to support our community in any way we can, while also prioritizing the health and safety of our staff. In the weeks and months to come, the Sasamani Foundation will continue to act on the pressing mission to empower our families and staff, tapping into our resiliency and love for our Bagamoyo community in combatting the impacts of the pandemic.

THE SASAMANI FOUNDATION WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TIALDA FRÖLICH-RIENSTRA

3/3/2020

The Sasamani Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Tialda Frlich-Rienstra as its Executive Director, effective March 1, 2020. Frolich-Rienstra succeeds former Executive Director Megan Miller. Frolich-Rienstra will lead The Sasamani Foundation and manage the teams in Tanzania and the US, oversee the Foundation’s programs, develop strategic and fundraising plans, and direct the Foundation's financial performance.

Frolich-Rienstra has more than twelve years of experience in strategic brand consulting, marketing and project management globally, including in Africa and the Middle East. She has worked with a variety of organizations, from large multinationals to start-ups, in both the public and private sectors. Frolich-Rienstra brings a broad experience of growing brands in developing and developed countries. As an active member of Amnesty International for over twenty years, Frlich-Rienstra has been involved and responsible for several fundraising campaigns. Most recently, she worked as a consultant for the Women’s Opportunities Resource Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“We are so thrilled to have Tialda join Team Sasamani," said Erica Mohr, Board Vice Chair. "Her wealth of expertise in marketing, cultural savvy, and leadership presence will help us better communicate our purpose and impact so that we may ultimately serve more women and girls. At our heart, Sasamani is about breaking the cycle of poverty. The Board is confident that Tialda will effectively collaborate with our talented Tanzania and US teams to do just that."

I am honored to be given the opportunity to contribute to The Sasamani Foundation’s inspiring mission in my role as Executive Director, I look forward to working with the esteemed and passionate Foundation’s Board of Directors and teams to achieve our mission of empowering students and women, and their families in Tanzania and to create better options for their future.

Frlich-Rienstra received a BSc in International Business and Management from the NHL Stenden University (Netherlands) and a MA in Marketing Communication from Middlesex University Dubai (United Arab Emirates). She is a Dutch national who has worked and lived in Dubai from 2011 to 2018 and currently lives in Pennsylvania (USA) since November 2018.

About The Sasamani Foundation

The Sasamani Foundation builds education and employment programs to stop the cycle of poverty in East African communities. All Sasamani Foundation activities have a focus on building capacity and addressing attitudes toward women's equality, so that women and girls have better choices and outcomes for their future. The Sasamani Foundation achieves its mission through four key initiatives:

Employment program;
The University of Dar es Salaam Women Leading Change Program;
Education Scholarships and holistic student support; and.
Internship program in Tanzania in partnership with The Connecticut College in New London.

The majority of our programs are implemented in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. To read more about The Sasamani Foundation, our impact, and learn how you can contribute to the foundation’s mission, click here.

MATIMBWA SECONDARY SCHOOL PRESENTS SASAMANI WITH A CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION

1/28/2020

On January 27th, 2020, the Matimbwa Secondary School second master presented Sasamani with an appreciation certificate for supporting students in the year 2019.

USAID X THE SASAMANI FOUNDATION

1/15/2020

Aaron, Gladness, Elias and Andy met on Dec. 2019 and discussed The Sasamani Foundation Initiatives among other important things.

Last month, our Sasamani team met with Aaron Miles, Deputy Director of the Office of Education at the U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Our education director, manufacturing director and the founder of The Sasamani Foundation were in attendance.

The group discussed education programs, resources, funding opportunities, and organizations with existing education initiatives in the country. The meeting was fruitful and our Sasamani team was able to share with Aaron our amazing programs and positive impact on the lives of students in the community of Bagamoyo.

Aaron shared many resources and funding opportunities for Sasamani in an effort to continue enhancing our award-winning Education program and ensure sustainability.

THANK YOU LETTER FROM KINGANI GRADUATES

11/18/2019

UNIFORM PROJECT: HEAR FROM OUR DIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING

9/26/2019

EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE

The Employment initiative is one of many programs implemented by the Sasamani Foundation. Since 2013, it was known as Manufacturing Department but later on, it was changed to "Employment Initiative" as it offers employment to women in the society of the small and historic town of Bagamoyo located in the Coast Region of Tanzania.

Mwanahamis working on a uniform in the comfort of her home.

The department has ten (10) tailors who were recruited by the Sasamani Foundation. These tailors have locally established their working places on a small scale. They have operated their work from home, and did not have as much sales contrary to other successful tailors individual or groups who were having much to do in their shops.

The Uniform Project started in 2017 and was a result of the sales of bags sewed by these tailors and marketed in the United States through the Sasamani Marketing Department. The collection of hand-made bags are known as "The Amani Collection".

Sasamani tailors and staff distributing school uniforms to schools.

The Amani Collection features a series of bags that are sold for the price of $40. This amount covers the bag as it is and it includes a uniform price that enables a student in Bagamoyo to benefit from a school uniform who could not otherwise afford it.

Odetha working on a school uniform shirt in her home shop.

At first in 2018, we were able to sell 100 bags with uniforms, therefore, we automatically had to make 100 uniforms. This sale not only benefited 100 students from poor families but also the tailors in the Sasamani Foundation directly as they were paid for sewing the uniforms.

HOW WE RECRUITED UNIFORM BENEFICIARIES

The Sasamani Foundation can easily reach the registered students (56) but for the non-registered students, we need to request permission from the government to reach these students who come from vulnerable families and are in need of school uniforms.

Sasamani interns and staff distributing new school uniforms to primary schools in Bagamoyo.

We were able to locate these students in 3 secondary schools and 3 primary/grade schools.

65 Primary School Students benefited were from;

1. Pande Primary School

2. Miembesaba Primary School

3. Kidongochekundu Primary School

35 Secondary School Students benefited were from;

1. Kingani Secondary School

2. Kiromo Secondary School

3. Matimbwa Secondary School

Again this year 2019 we also had 100 bags sold therefore we had a second uniform project.

In this round, all the student beneficiaries were from Primary/grade schools.
We divided the uniforms into 4 Schools in Bagamoyo District for 25 students in each school.
Schools reached were;

1. Kerege Primary School

2. Mtambani Primary School

3. Kimele Primary School

4. Kiharaka Primary School

The School Administration in each school we reached was so happy and grateful for the provision of the uniforms to these students as they have quite a number of needy students.

In one of the schools we went, though they were grateful to what we have done to those students they also gave out their opinion if we can afford to provide shoes alongside the uniforms because the students were looking smart in their new uniforms but some of them were not wearing shoes.

Ernest, one of our tailors, showing a finished trouser.

The students were so happy to have new school uniforms as it was not something they expected to receive that particular time.

This project was a success to both students and the tailors as it put smiles on their faces each one in their own ways. With an achievement like this, we see the department going forward to higher levels.

OUR ED VISITS BAGAMOYO: HEAR FROM MEGAN MILLER

8/31/2019

Asma, one of our tailors, and Megan (our Executive Director) meeting for the first time.

I became Executive Director of the Sasamani Foundation back in February, but it was just last week in early August that I had the privilege to visit our operation in Tanzania and see the work first hand. What an incredible experience it was!

We started the week meeting our in-country staff, Gladness and Elias, in person along with their beautiful families. Gladness graciously invited us to stay that evening in her home, a warm and inviting place in the outskirts of Bagamoyo.

Gladness is our Education Director and organized visits to each of the three secondary schools that we currently support. She guided us across dusty and bumpy dirt roads to each remote location where we met with teachers, staff, and our incredible students. While there, we distributed sports uniforms that our intern Wesley Morris had ordered for the students. The students tried on the uniforms and posed for pictures, clearly ecstatic about their new digs.

We had to say goodbye much to soon as most of the students were sitting for practice exams that week. The consolation was that we would see them again at the end of the week for an inter-school competition that Gladness and Wes had organized and that Sasamani was funding.

Students wearing their sports uniforms.

Elias (far-left), Megan (next to Elias), Erica (next to Megan), Gladness (next to Erica) and sasamani board members to the far right (Columbus and Didase)

Back at the office we organized additional donated gifts, including books that had been donated by one of our generous supporters. We were able to tour some of the local sites in Bagamoyo, including the beautiful beach, the colorful and bustling fish market, and the Kaole ruins. For dinner one evening we met with our Tanzanian board members and discussed the possibility of increasing our fundraising in-country and developing an "Africa for Africa" mindset. We stressed the importance of Sasamani becoming a self-sustaining organization, with more and more fundraising and management being done locally instead of overseas.

Towards the end of the week, we engaged a photographer to take still shots and videos of members of our employment program. Sasamani employs nine local tailors to make unique bags that are sold overseas, and the entire program is managed by Elias, our Managing Director.

Watching these talented people at their craft was captivating, and seeing the crisp, finished works was very impressive. Each time a Sasamani bag is purchased, proceeds are set aside to make a uniform for a student. This arrangement not only provides clothing for the children but also provides our tailors with additional fair-wage work. Last month in July, Elias spent several days distributing uniforms that our tailors had made to over 100 students.

The culminating event of the week was the inter-school competition, into which so many people had put their effort and hard work. It was impressive mix of debates, spelling bees, sports, food and fun! Everyone was a winner as the students were challenged both academically and physically while they tried their "level best."

Megan with one of our tailors, Mwanahamis.

Megan visiting schools and meeting Sasamani students for the first time.

The week was extremely fulfilling and has really invigorated me to try my own level best to raise more and more funds to support the amazing work we are doing. I invite you to see what we are doing with your own eyes and encourage you to join hands with us as we support our friends in Bagamoyo.

Megan and students playing a game during the Sasamani Inter-School event 2019.

WESLEY DEPARTS TANZANIA- INTERN REFLECTION

8/16/2019

With my time in Tanzania having come to an end a few days ago now, I've had the chance to really reflect and process the experience, and am now able to truly appreciate how rewarding it was.

Looking back on it, I'm so grateful to everyone on the team for entrusting me with the level of responsibility I had. I felt like more than just an intern, but rather, I felt like an integral part of the team. With Sasamani being such a young and dynamic organization with so many exciting projects constantly in the works, there was so much work to be done across all fronts, and I think it's truly special that I was able to contribute to so many different areas. Being involved with everything from event planning to social media marketing to fundraising kept me on my toes and kept my days exciting. No two days across the 8 weeks were alike.

Because my experience was so diverse, I know that having something like my time at Sasamani under my belt will be useful to have going forward in my professional career regardless of what my next steps are. Some of the things I was involved in were tasks that aren’t specific to the operations of an NGO. For instance, I played a big role in helping the team transition from physical documents and locally stored files to a cloud storage system via Google Drive.

Going forward, it'll be useful for the team to all be accessing the same live versions of files so everyone can quite literally be on the same page. I created a sponsor and student information database that will be stored on the Team Drive and worked with Gladness and Elias to familiarize them with Google Drive and Google Suite.

In addition to the contributions I made, being with Sasamani did a lot for my understanding of the issues of poverty and economic development. The burning questions that have floated around the back of my mind most of my academic career revolve around how we can empower people to improve their economic situations. But I think that one thing my experience this summer has shown me is that, until now, I had a somewhat myopic view of how this can be achieved. I've learned that it's not as black and white as I once thought it to be. There are a million and one factors that combine to create the issue we know to be global poverty. Working with Gladness on the education initiatives cemented this idea in my mind. Understanding the realities that our sponsored students live every day has been so eye-opening.

What's more, breaking out of my comfort zone a bit as I contributed to these different projects, going as far as teaching classes (something I never thought I'd do in a million years), has been quite rewarding. So not only did I expand my thinking, but I also got to try some new things, and I really can say I enjoyed it.

A huge Thank You to Andy and everyone on Team Sasamani for having me and making my summer so enriching. I look forward to seeing all of the great work you all do going forward and I wish you nothing but the best!

TIHUT DEPARTS TANZANIA- INTERN REFLECTION

8/15/2019

Sanje Waterfall 2019

I look out through the window to take a quick last glance of the beautiful Dar Es Saleem as the plane takes off from the Julies Nyerere Airport. The past few weeks in Tanzania flew by! I completely can’t fathom the fact that my time in TZ has come to an end. In my previous blog, I shared some of the things I have been working on at Sasamani. I took a look at my previous blog and I realized I haven't shared much about the fun weekends I spent in different parts of Tanzania. Like the beautiful trip Wes and I took to Zanzibar. I loved how kind and welcoming the people in Zanzibar were. Sun-set trips, delicious Tanzanian dishes, Bongo flavor music, beautiful view; Zanzibar had it all. For my last weekend in TZ, we took a 12 hours trip to Ifakara, a rural town in the south-central part of Tanzania, to visit the Udzungwa National Park. I complained for a bit when I realized tourists pay twenty times the price Tanzanian's pay, but I guess that's how the business world of tourism functions. Hiking 3kms to the base of the Udzungwa waterfall was tiresome, to say the least. The park consists of the peculiar waterfall, Sanje waterfall. The waterfall displays the map of Africa showing clear demarcation of boundaries as it appears on a piece of paper. It was mind blowing! The hike was totally worth it. On my last week, I went around to our three partner schools to have a session on Menstrual Hygiene Management. Although I had previous experience with training for Sanitation and Hygiene Management, I worked with Gladness to frame the session for the students in Bagamoyo. I prepared handouts, a few materials for demonstration and ice-breaker games because the students were a tad uncomfortable to get straight to the topic. After my first session 63 female students at the Kingani Secondary School, I decided it would be best to have a translator in the room because most students were more comfortable asking questions in Kiswahili. At Kingani, I stayed a bit late because it was my last day at the school. We sat down and talked with the students. They were kind enough to show me around their hostels and study rooms. The situation in public schools in Ethiopia is not that different from the public schools I have been to in Tanzania. We sat in circles and they were asking me about how I ended up studying in the States. We started talking about college applications and ended up talking about life in East Africa. Before I knew it, it was already 7 p.m, so I had to head home. Saying my goodbye to the students was quite emotional. "Madam Tihut, you are my role model," says Ester who is one of our Sasamani students. I held it in when I saw her tears as she hugs me. Once I got to the car to get back home, I just let it all out. As much as I loved our attachment, it made the goodbyes pretty hard for all of us.

Tihut posing with students after the Menstruation Sanitation workshop.

I also conducted a session on Menstrual Sanitation at Matimbwa and Kiromo Secondary Schools. The training was the most satisfying work I did at Sasamani. I have dreamt of providing sessions on Menstrual Sanitation for students in the rural regions of Southern Ethiopia. However, I was denied the opportunity because my parents were against the idea of me traveling to the rural regions to give out the training. In Bagamoyo, it felt fulfilling to stand in front of 63 students in each of the three schools discussing and taking questions during the training. It’s surprising how menstrual hygiene management is such a basic topic yet most of these students were not aware of it.

I would be in a classroom for three to four hours with a translator taking questions from the students.

During my last week, I also conducted one-to-one interviews with 36 Sasamani Sponsored students from Kiromo, Matimbwa, and Kingani Secondary Schools. The purpose of the interview was to check-in with the students and get a general sense of their well-being and academic progress. One of my responsibilities as an intern was to digitalize the files we have at the office. Therefore, after conducting the interviews I updated the responses online so that our Board of Directors can have a general sense of the statistics we have on our Sasamani Sponsored Students. When I started interviewing the students, I thought they would be uncomfortable sharing some personal details with me. However, I think I already had established a rapport with most of them during my time at the schools. In fact, I recall the time when I went to the shop to grab a few things and I was having a hard time describing the items in Kiswahili. Fortunately, I run into one of the students from Kingani and she translated for me. She was kind enough to walk me all the way to the house to make sure I didn't have trouble on my way. The students were not only cooperative in class but outside too!

Tihut hugging a Sasamani scholar.

I headed to Dar to spend some time with Dr. Mori and her family for my last two days in Tanzania. One of the best parts about interning for Sasamani is that once we stepped out of the office, we got to have some family time. Every night after dinner, we sat around the table and prayed together. We also did a bit of singing. After dinner, we would sit in the living room watching the African Cup. Magnus, Dr. Mori’s youngest son, and I lost our interest in the games once Benin lost the match. I didn't even bother to watch after Nigeria lost too! In Dar, I was also able to see some of my families who are expats in Tanzania.

Tanzania really did feel like home in ways I didn’t expect, except the fact that I never rode the motorcycle at home. But, it was actually the to-go ride when I went to most of the schools in Bagamoyo. Although I was scared of being at the back of a motorcycle at first, it was one of the highlights of my stay in Bagamoyo.

For my last day in Dar, Dr. Mori took me to the University of Dar Es Salaam for the last time and I met with a couple of international students from Sweden, the States and China. I was curious about applications to study abroad at UDSM, so I went to the Office of Internationalization and Advancement to learn more about the process. Who knows, I might study abroad at UDSM! That actually sounds like a plan, if it's feasible. I have been on the Study Away Committee at Conn College, and I hope I could share a bit about how Study Abroad works at UDSM. Maybe Conn students (including myself) can study abroad at UDSM in our junior year.

This is probably my last blog, but I have a lot more to share about my time in Tanzania. For now, I would like to restate how grateful I am to have been a part of the Sasamani team. I look forward to contributing in all sorts of ways that I could possibly help with the amazing work of the team. It wasn't just working at the office, and filing paper works but I also spent family time with everyone I stayed with. I strongly hope I will visit sometime again. I have learned lessons and experienced the beautiful culture of Tanzania. Thank you for all the good lessons that will stay with me for a lifetime!

Asante Sana,

Tihut Getabicha

Tihut facing the Sanje waterfall.

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