Education

To Return believes that education is the key to changing the world.  Far too often education is out of reach for porters and guides due financial reasons.  Either the burden of high interest rate loans is too great or a porter does not have sufficient assets to qualify.

Beginning in 2008, To Return began providing university scholarships to porters and guides who sought further education in the tourism sector.  The scholarships are overseen by To Return’s local Tanzanian director Erick Joseph.   Qualified porters and guides apply for the two year scholarship in Moshi, Tanzania.  They study at various universities ranging from Moshi, to Arusha and even Dar es Salaam.

Six months later, To Return decided to change its focus slightly by providing education scholarships to the children of porters and guides. We moved in this direction because we believe that education for children will have an overall more profound impact on the community. Also, we asked the porters and guides what was most important to them. Like so many people, their number one concern was their children and providing them with a better life. Education is the ticket to achieve that goal and To Return is focused on making these dreams a reality.

Our scholarships are available to those who meet the following guidelines:

a. Student is currently employed as a porter or guide on Kilimanjaro or the student’s parent(s) work on the mountain in such a capacity.
b. Past academic performance.
c. Financial need.

If these characteristic are met, then we welcome an individual to apply for our scholarship using our application. The applications are then reviewed by our board of directors. The student suggests the school that he or she would like to attend. To Return will then make pre-grant inquiries about recipient schools to ensure that the financial status of the educational institution is sound, that it is accredited in Tanzania and that they do accomplish the purpose for which the resources are provided. A student will be given the grant again in subsequent years assuming a grade standard is met. It is our aim to provide a scholarship for a student through his or her entire school career including college.

The average annual costs are broken down below. To Return makes every effort to assume all costs of education and thus provides money for tuition, uniforms, transportation, food (lunch), school supplies and for college students a modest stipend.  We also try to match donors or a group of donors with a specific student so that you can monitor his or her progress.