June 22, 2021 Meeting Preview
 

ZOOM ONLY MEETING THIS WEEK---LINK BELOW

In 2005, when Ashley Holmer committed to teaching and coaching soccer for a year in a rural village in Tanzania, she had no idea it would be a life-altering move.  Over the course of the year, she lived and worked among the Maasai people. Living with no running water or electricity, she learned local customs, attended tribal rite of passage celebrations and ceremonies, and became fluent in Swahili.

Her leadership as a teacher and an athlete earned the respect of local leaders as well. By the end of 2005, Ashley was asked to start a school in a nearby community. Coming from a family of educators, she understood the exponential benefits of a good education. She said yes.

The reality of a level playing field for girls in Tanzania and other East African countries was aspirational at best. But Ashley took on the community’s ask, raising funds to build and open Orkeeswa, the first secondary school in Lashaine Village, in 2008.

There’s an entire generation of children being left behind in Tanzania. Providing high school education and support—particularly for girls between the ages of 11 and 17—improves individual lives and entire families. Even more important, it has more impact in changing the next generation for the better than any other cause.

Ashley founded Red Sweater Project in 2011, with the goal of putting as many kids in school as possible. In 2012, Red Sweater Project opened the Mungere School, which welcomes a new class of students each year. The organization is dedicated to developing quality, sustainable, and accessible schools for East African children.