Hello!
It’s time for our Annual BLOG REVIEW! 2013 was quite a year for TFFT. We grew and accomplished a lot, and I keep coming back to the word “momentum” as the best way to characterize the year. So much of what we built in 2013 set the stage for an even bigger and better 2014. The first couple weeks of the New Year have proven that to be true, but let’s look back and reflect on everything that brought us to this point.
Remember this…?
We (well Meghann and everyone else vicariously through Meghann) started out the year in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. Meghann shared how she earned this incredibly rare opportunity here and here.
She took us with her as she embarked on her journey; she brought us along the idyllic train ride through the countryside from Zurich to Davos; she saw Davos as a laboratory for new ideas; and she heard loud and clear that education is critical for everything from better health systems to stronger corporations because education harnesses potential, leads to growth, and stimulates change.
Meanwhile, after spending the holidays in the US, Chloe arrived back to Tanzania ready to hit the ground running with Full Circle in 2013, and the entire team worked together to help the scholars start a new school year.
In February many of you SHARED the LOVE by supporting our SHARE the LOVE Challenge team leaders and sending our scholars love in the form of homemade valentines.
We also hosted our first-ever fundraiser in Tanzania. With 120 people in attendance, we raised $15,000 and showed our neighbors the impact focusing on quality education can have!
TFFT scholar Vialeth shared about her internship.
We equated the Annual Fund to a drive to the beach, and we surpassed our $40,000 goal by 30%… meaning your support for this year’s Annual Fund exceeded $50,000! Your gifts of all sizes made this a reality.
Myer’s Park High School in Charlotte collected SO MANY jerseys for our scholars.
TFFT strives to meet our scholars’ emotional needs in addition to their academic needs, and in 2013 we explored ways to offer more comprehensive psychosocial support through Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT). Melissa, Chloe, Erasto, and Hedwiga also took a course on basic counseling skills.
The team packed up and went to Lake Chala for a team building retreat in March.
Meghann and I took California by storm in April. We started in San Francisco (and had meetings in Sausalito, Berkeley, and Palo Alto). We then took the scenic route all the way to L.A. stopping for a dinner meeting in Thousand Oaks and ending the night in Pasadena. We carried on to Santa Monica and Venice Beach and finally rounded out the trip in San Diego. It was a treat to see so many TFFT supporters in such beautiful places! 
Melissa reminded us all of the precious gift of reading and urged us to help her create literacy centers for the government schools.
We partnered with RENEW (Recycle, Educate, Nurture, Empower, Wear) on a number of occasions. In March, Full Circle and RENEW collaborated to host a RENEW workshop for TFFT Secondary Students. The week together was such a success that we formed a RENEW Club at Usa River Academy! Finally, in November we spread RENEW’s goodness to MWEDO (Maasai Women’s Development Organization) Girls Secondary School.
Our SOS Gala won Charlotte Magazine’s BOB Award for Best of the Best Fundraising Event.
Maggie joined us in the Charlotte office and blew us away with all that she was able to accomplish. She gave us an inside look at the life of a TFFT intern.
We also hosted two very special interns in Tanzania, Zoe and Mary Hill. Zoe spent much of her time offering our scholars extra tutoring, teaching Class 3 English, and assisting at Matonyok. She also celebrated her first 4th of July in Tanzania. When the time came, Zoe said “Goodbye for now” instead of “Goodbye.”
Under Melissa’s leadership TFFT hosted a capacity-building training for school leadership (heads of school and school managers). This training focused on teacher supervision, which is an enduring challenge of the Teacher Training Program. Later, an unexpected surprise rewarded Melissa’s hard work with TFFT’s Teacher Training program.
On the anniversary of our website re-design, Kat shared why she chose to donate so much of her time and energy to TFFT’s web development overhaul.
Longtime TFFT supporter John Corse hosted Sports Day for our scholars at his home.
TFFT Scholar Agness graduated pastry school!
TFFT volunteer Miller Bianucci lead the Non-Violence Project’s ‘Schools for Peace’ program for our scholars.
In celebration of International Youth Day, TFFT partnered with a local youth organization known as Vision For Youth and participated in two events under the sponsorship of the East African Community.
Four of our primary scholars graduated Class 7, and seven of our Form 4 scholars graduated from O-Levels. (As a refresher on how the school years correlate to the US and UK read back here.)
To stretch Full Circle’s reach, Chloe tried her hand at Teacher Training.
TFFT scholar Dickson made it to the third round of the application process for the prestigious MYP scholarship to the International School of Moshi and four TFFT secondary scholars applied to African Leadership Academy in South Africa. We also considered ways to improve the mentorship and career services that we provide our scholars and will roll out this program in 2014.
Your generosity blew us away at the SOS Gala, where you collectively raised over $125,000
Finally, we welcomed Kennedy Oulu as our new Country Director and Kelly Albertson as our Director of Operations.
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We will wrap up this review with the thank you note that we received from TFFT Scholar Richard Augustino:
I have written simply to give my thanks to you for helping me in crossing the bridge between me and my success. You have constructed a bridge which has made me be able to be near my success…I promise not to let you down…God bless you all
Love, Richard
As you can see, our scholars join us in our gratitude to you. Thank you for all that you do to build bridges for our scholars’ success. Here’s to a triumphant 2014!