After spending nine weeks this summer volunteering at an orphanage in Tanzania, Jennifer Etkin ’10 knows that:
— She wants to pursue a Peace Corps-type experience after graduation, and eventually develop her interest in international law and human rights issues
— A young woman from New York City’s Park Avenue can have a genuine impact in a village where huts are the norm, not skyscrapers.
— Time and commitment are just as important, if not more so, than financial contributions in making a difference in someone’s life
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| Jennifer Etkin ’10 gets some help as she paints a classroom at the orphanage in Bomangombe. To see what the classroom now looks like and for more photos, go |
Etkin, who found out about the privately run orphanage through a company that places volunteers, taught English to about 25 orphans in the village of Bomangombe.
Before traveling to Tanzania, one of the world’s poorest countries, Etkin visited her second-grade teacher at Riverdale (N.Y.) Country School and photocopied instructional materials and received help in developing lesson plans.
“I have been so blessed in my education, it’s insane. But the kids in the orphanage were passing around scraps of cardboard to write on and breaking pencils into three pieces because they had no supplies,” she said.
Etkin moved the children into age-appropriate groups and provided context for what they were learning. It’s important for them to learn English, she said, so they can advance in the Tanzanian education system, which requires English proficiency, and so they can potentially find jobs working with tourists, one of the few career options available to them.
Etkin didn’t just teach the children, many of whom lost their parents to AIDS. She worked hard to transform worn rooms into bright instructional spaces with paint and materials she purchased. She provided pencils, erasers, and other supplies and arranged for volunteers to get instruction in teaching.
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“I opened the doors to the new classrooms and the kids were just crying and screaming because they had never seen anything like it,” she said, adding how amazing it was to see how far $60 could go.
Etkin, who can now speak conversational Swahili, lived at the orphanage for part of the summer and spent mornings teaching and afternoons interacting with the children.
Now, she wants to create an organization to provide funding for Tanzania orphanages to build classrooms, acquire supplies, and to train teachers.
“Everyone is so willing to learn,” she said, “but it’s just so unbelievably poor it’s an unattainable goal without outside help.”