The idea for a scholarship programme in Dar es Salaam

Alphonce Leonard, a scholarship holder of our foundation "Promoting Youth – Crossing Boundaries" has founded a branch of the foundation in his home city Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Many young people in Tanzania want to become engineers, teachers, doctors or nurses to develop the country and help the people. In most cases, these motivated children and young people cannot realise these goals because they lack the necessary money for further education after secondary school. Both government and private scholarship programmes are not enough to give the many young people a chance at education.

The foundation "Promoting Youth – Crossing Boundaries " wants to contribute a small drop to the big ocean of opportunities. Three basic ideas shall guide us:

• The scholarship received from the foundation shall help to provide an education that enables the young person to develop and stand on his or her own two feet. It is not a handout for poor people, but an opportunity for education. Every young person has this right.
• This scholarship is meant to be an impetus and get a ball rolling. The idea is that the former scholarship holders pay a small monthly contribution (for example 5 dollars) into the foundation's fund as a thank you and as their own contribution to a fairer world. In this way, the scholarship holders are not only recipients of support, but can later themselves provide an impulse for the support of other young people and also for the further development of Tanzania. Our vision is to help people to help themselves.
• In a further step, the scholarship holders will try to find further sponsors for the scholarship programme. In addition, the foundation would like to initiate and support the formation of an alumni network.

The difficult thing about the foundation of the scholarship programme is the social environment. Everything is very hierarchical. But we wanted to promote an initiative that is supported by the participants themselves. By their experiences, their own thoughts. An initiative that leads individuals to freedom and not back into a system of dependency.

The scholarship programme should help children and young people without limitations of religions to get their right to education. They should not have the feeling that they are receiving alms. They should not feel dependent on the donors for the rest of their lives. Conversely, they should return part of what they have received to the pot - after they have successfully completed their education - so that others can receive the same.

The model for this is the German education law, BAFÖG. We have adopted its criteria. Father Martin Rupprecht himself received a scholarship under the BAFÖG for a large part of his school years and throughout his studies.

How does the branch work? A commission of two women and two men was put together by Alphonce. A bank account was opened. At the first meeting, the criteria for the aid were set. First of all, the orphans and poorest families are visited. The foundation then pays 40, 60 or 80 percent of the school fees, depending on the situation. The children are visited regularly and the next steps are considered in coordination with the schools. Furthermore, we accompany them after we gave our scholarship in order to help them to decide their future careers.

We look forward to your support!

Foundation "Promoting Youth ‐ Crossing Borders"

LIGA Bank Regensburg
IBAN: DE43750903000001342800
BIC: GENODEF1M05

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