The most basic human needs are food, clothes, and access to an education.  These are all simple requests from the many orphan and at-risk children in Tanzania, Africa… children who have had no voice, and until now, who had no advocates.

Now there is hope to a new beginning and a brighter future for these children, thanks to Hearts in Unity, an organization that has been connecting people around the world and reaching out to the children of Tanzania since 2006. Learn more about how the organiation is changing the lives of at-risk Tanzanian children from  philanthropist, educator, and Director of Hearts In Unity, Sue Merner.

What is Hearts in Unity?? What is unique about your organization?

Hearts in Unity is a USA based non-profit organization dedicated to a mission to feed, clothe and educate the orphan and at risk children in two Tanzanian villages – in the village of Seela located on Mt. Meru, and in the village of Mwika, located on Mt. Kilimanjaro.

We are a volunteer-run, grass-roots organization addressing the immediate needs for food and clothing of the children in our villages. We also nurture a long term mission to support the education of the children through on-site sustainable projects which are ultimately managed by the people of the Tanzanian village.

How and when was it inspired and created?

I first traveled to Tanzania in 2006 to begin a partnership with my church in the USA, and a church located in the village of Seela, high on Mt. Meru in northern Tanzania. It was nearly dark when I was dropped off at the house of my host family in this remote African village. The only Swahili I knew was the little bit I was able to teach to myself in the months before my travel to Tanzania. Match this to the limited English that my host family knew, and I really began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. But Tanzanian people in this village — “my family” — were more hospitable and welcoming than I could have imagined. From the very beginning, I felt like my arrival was a return “home”.

After spending a few weeks with the village, living with the people, and learning about their lives, I knew this was where I was supposed to be. I felt especially connected with the orphans, as an orphan myself.

I knew before my visit was over that I was destined to return to Tanzania. However, looking at the 100 or so children at our new partner church, and then looking at the village elementary school just down the dirt road where there are more than 1,000 students and just 17 teachers, I asked myself, “How can I work to help just these 100 children at the church, when there are 1,000 children just down the road who need just as much help?”

With that thought, the mission of Hearts in Unity was born – to bring support to the orphans and at-risk in the greater village of Seela beyond the church to church partnership that has been established.

What was the inspiration/ meaning behind the name: ‘Hearts in Unity’?

Shortly after returning to the states, I began an intensive self-study of the language of Swahili again, and became involved as a collaborator with the Kamusi Project which was then part of the African Studies Program at Yale University. Through this collaboration, I met Roland Maanga, a Tanzanian who offered to help me with my Swahili studies. As we communicated online, it quickly became clear that we were traveling down parallel paths to give voice to the needs of the most at-risk children of Tanzania who had no advocate. He was doing his best, without any real support or resources, to try to help care for and feed orphans living in Mwika, his Tanzanian village.

It was clear that he was already living the mission on which I was ready to embark. It was only natural for the two of us to join together, with our “Hearts in Unity” to help the children in both Tanzanian villages. And it is with “Hearts in Unity” that our supporters have joined us in this mission. It is also with a message of “Hearts in Unity” that we reach out to others to open their heart to our precious Tanzanian children.

What is the overall goal of Hearts In Unity?

The overall goal of Hearts in Unity is to feed, clothe and educate the children In Seela and Mwika. Material gifts of food and clothing are certainly an important part of our mission. But we also recognize that aid solely in the form of material gifts such as these will not bring about the foundational change needed to help these children rise out of the poverty of countless generations before them.

Yes, a child who is fed a school lunch will do better in school. And a child who has a proper school uniform and shoes will not be denied access to the Tanzanian educational system. So while it is important meet immediate needs to nourish and clothe these children, it is even more important to establish and maintain sustainable projects and programs that both directly and indirectly support our longer term goals of the education of the children in our villages.

For example, the gift of a cow, goat or chicken will give a family not only a supplemental food source for their children (protein rich milk and eggs), but with breeding, the additional livestock can be sold as an income source for a family to help pay a child’s school tuition and fees. The building of livestock barns in the villages ensures that the livestock will be protected from disease and theft, and these structures reinforce the long term focus of and commitment of Hearts in Unity and the villagers to our livestock project.

The sewing and knitting coops we have established in Tanzania will not only help us to provide school uniforms to the orphans in our villages, but wages earned by women who sew and knit is an income they can use in supporting the educational expenses of their own children. In addition, the women in the sewing coop teach tailoring and knitting to young people – teaching the students a trade to aid them in the child’s future self-sufficiency when other educational opportunities are not available.

We provide much needed textbooks, school supplies and teaching materials to the schools as an investment into the children’s future. Complimenting these material gifts, our school “store” at Seela Primary school is another example of a sustainable project. This store is run by the students, and draws customers and students from neighboring villages looking to purchase school supplies and other items close by instead of walking 2 hours to the nearest market. The income from our school “store” can be used both purchase additional items sell at the store, in addition to purchasing additional books and teaching materials for the school.

How do you quantify the impact your organization has?

For the material gifts/donations, we quantify impact by the number of individual children that we are able to help:

o The number of fabric school bags sewn by our volunteers and given to Tanzanian students (2,000 + to date)
o The number of knit hats made by our volunteers (1,100+ to date)
o The number of pounds of books, school supplies, and clothing items donated and shipped to Tanzania (over 2 tons to date)
o The number of Swahili/English phrasebooks made by our volunteers and given to Tanzanian students. (1,100+ to date)
o The number of postcards/letters of encouragement written by our volunteers, and shared with the Tanzanian children is an indirect measure of the number of people with a heart for our mission (over 4,300 to date).

What has been your organization’s biggest accomplishment to date?

The establishment of our sewing/knitting coop in the village of Mwika is probably our biggest accomplishment to date. We initially started with 4 sewing machines and 4 women in the coop in 2008 with an initial focus on sewing school uniforms and other clothing items for people in the village. The women have since expanded the coop to a second location, they are also now knitting school uniform sweaters and other knitted clothing items with new knitting machines. At last check, there were 16 women involved in the sewing/knitting coop, plus 14 students at various stages of tailoring/knitting education.

How much of your success do you accredit to volunteer work?

Our entire organization is based on the work of volunteers. We give our humble credited to volunteers who spend hours to knit hats for us, sew school bags, make Swahili/English textbooks, write letters and draw pictures. All positions within our organization are volunteer, and all travel costs to/from Tanzania are on the traveler’s individual, personal budgets. Volunteers who help find and make arrangements for presentation opportunities are invaluable, as is their role in coordinating and related fundraisers.

Lend your Support to Children around the world by contributing to Hearts in Unity.

What has been your biggest challenge in developing and growing a new non profit organization?

The biggest initial challenge was connecting with the right people who were willing to selflessly put the best interests o f the children and the best interest of the mission first and foremost – ahead of their own self-promotion and self-interests.

Who are your partners or sponsors? Do you work with any other volunteer groups or non-profit organizations?

Additionally, I visit local schools regularly as a “guest teacher” teaching about “Life in Tanzania” for social studies and world culture classes. Also, many people from different communities and church/sewing/quilting groups/clubs across the USA have made fabric school bags for our Tanzanian students and have knit hats for the children. And lastly, we partner with many women’s groups in Tanzania, supporting them through the purchase of their handicrafts (jewelry, baskets, purses, wooden and beaded items, etc.) and selling these items in the USA.

What is the most effective fundraiser, event, or Hearts in Unity has ever been a part of?

We are most effective in raising awareness of our mission and in raising funds when doing in-person presentations with stories, photos and video of life in Tanzania at local schools, churches and for local community groups.

Sharing through first-hand experience is a powerful motivator. As examples:

o After teaching 6th grade World Cultures classes about Tanzania at a local school, the students had a fundraiser which helped Hearts in Unity purchase hundreds of textbooks for our Tanzanian schools.
o The student from five middle school cooking classes raised enough money through a coin collection last year to purchase a cow.
o The kindergarten students from another local school also raised enough money to purchase a cow through a bake sale and a used book sale at their school following my presentation about “Life in Tanzania”.

We have found that the most successful events and fundraisers happen when children and youth are involved.

And truly, it is the real-life stories and the photos that are most effective in raising funds for this mission.

What external resources do you use in your marketing, fundraising and outreach efforts ?

Our website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs, and  Youtube, as well as referencing articles and information in church newsletter and other communications, Reporter written newspaper articles about events, s elf-published newspaper articles in online newspapers, Craigslist to seek volunteers to knit hats, sew school supplies and make the Swahili/English phrasebooks, and Referrals/invitations to do presentations in schools and churches, and for community groups.