Our Programs

To Return furthers the lives of porters, guides and their children who live in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania through programs which promote access to education and improve working conditions on the mountain.  We address the challenges that porters and guides face with short and long term solutions.

Our scholarship program is our main focus. To Return promotes access to private education in a region where public education is scarce through scholarships granted to individuals who are either porters, guides or most often the children of porters and guides. To Return hopes to foster a love of learning through its scholarships which will carry a student through his or her entire educational career assuming minimum standards are met. To Return provides scholarships for students at all levels (from nursery through college). Read more about our educational program and how it is conducted.

The secondary charitable purpose of To Return is providing new and used clothing and equipment directly to the porters and guides is run based on proven need for the equipment and also dedication to a career on the mountain. Porters and guides must be making their main salary in this capacity and be in good standing with their employer to receive such donations. Our goal is to ensure that porters and guides have access to proper equipment for the mountain environment. 10-20% of our efforts are designated to this program.

In the future we plan to expand our programs to other developing mountain regions with similar needs.