Because...
"a pencil and a dream can take you anywhere"
WHY
PENCILS
AND
DREAMS
On our first trip to Tanzania, Africa in 2005, children begged for pencils—not food or money— but pencils. They wanted to go to school.
Four years later, the indelible images of these children remained in our memories of Africa. We decided then that we needed to act; we needed to help these children’s dreams come true. We’ve been doing that ever since.
OUR MISSION
We raise funds to support validated schools that are making an exceptional long-term positive impact on students, families and communities.
Through these donated funds, we give Tanzanian children access to quality educational resources that enable them to preserve their culture and meet the challenges of their changing environments.
By providing financial support, we partner with highly select schools that:
* operate from a long-term vision of sustainability and student empowerment
* value and enrich, rather than direct, indigenous cultures
* provide rich academic and extra-curricular resources
* work diligently to guarantee students graduate from high school and enter university
* regularly communicate the specific benefit of our donated funds to programs and students
* enable students to make lasting, positive changes in their communities
We believe that by supporting the educational dreams of these children, the future of Tanzania and, in turn, our world, will be better.
Please join us in making dreams come true.
“It is enough to stop briefly in a village, a town, or simply in a field--a group of children will instantly materialize. All of them indescribably tattered . . .
Hunger for these children is something permanent, a way of life, second nature. And yet they do not ask for bread or fruit, or even money. They ask for a pencil. . .
They would all like to go to school, they would like to learn.
Ryszard Kapuscinski, Polish Journalist, Author, The Shadow of the Sun
Once you see it [Africa] you will never be able to unsee it, and once you see it, you will be responsible . . .
You don’t come back from Africa. Africa comes back in you.
Shauna Niequist, Author, Cold Tangerines
"The most meaningful project we have ever participated in and given donations to is Pencils and Dreams.”
Supporters since 2009
“The best long-term investment the American government could make
. . . would be to help fund and strengthen schools . . . throughout
. . . Africa.”
Thomas Friedman, New York Columnist
"Perhaps the greatest gift our generation could give the future . . .—for every child in every country of the world—is the chance to go to school.”
Gordon Brown,
Former UK Prime Minister
