Palmer Trinity teams with a school in Tanzania to help students and their families

After finishing their graduate studies, Palmer Trinity School alumni Robert and Samantha Moore traveled to Tanzania in East Africa and fell in love with the country.

They decided to return, but the second time around was to help those in need.

Robert, a middle school teacher at Palmer Trinity, and his wife lead the non-profit organization Afrikids, which sponsors 49 children at an English curriculum private school from primary through secondary school. Samantha works as an occupational therapist.

Both founded the organization after volunteering at a preschool in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2010.

“It is a really rough improvised area with a high rate of HIV,” Robert said. “The school we taught at is like an orphanage day school. It has like 40 kids from ages 3 to 7 all in one room. We split and worked with them for a month. We got close to them. We came back and because we had that tie, we wanted to stay in touch.”

Afrikids and its donors cover the school fees, supplies, medical costs and financial support to the students and their families. The organization covers the rent for classrooms, fruits and vegetables for the students and funds for specials projects. The first donation to the school was a toilet.

“He and Samantha exemplify the values and traditions of our school,” said Palmer Trinity Head of School Patrick Roberts. “They have also been wonderful examples to our students and the community on the importance of giving and global citizenship. We are proud of both them and our middle-school Afrikids Club for what they have done in the service of others.”

Robert helped create Afrikids Club at Palmer Trinity to get the students involved in the project, and make them aware of the global community. Recently, the club helped collect 70 backpacks, which were delivered to the Tanzanian students.

Seventh grader Caroline Crews is part of the club.

“I think that it is very important to have this club at Palmer Trinity so we can get kids around the same age as the kids in Tanzania to help out, learn about another culture and understand ways that we can help,” she said. “One of our goals is to have a few fundraisers to help pay for their education, because they have no parents to support them.”

While Robert and Samantha haven’t been to Tanzania recently, Samantha’s parents visit often to deliver donations. They count on local safari tour guide Kitoi.

Robert said the main goal of the organization is to maintain contact with the children, and deepen the bond between Palmer Trinity and the Tanzanian children.

“This club will find a way to create communication with those kids,” he said. “The only downfall is that there is an eight-hour time difference.”

How to Help

To donate please visit http://afri-kids.org/donate or contact 305-807-4304.