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The Tawawami Children’s Project is a non-profit organization founded by New Jersey residents Maryjane Gallo and Mary Sheridan. Our sole purpose is to assist underprivileged developing communities.

The Project works in conjunction with the African Project under the direction of Richard Sulumet of Tanzania. The Project’s name, Tawawami, means “Pastoralists and Urban Children” as translated from Swahili.  The Project’s motto stems from an African Maasai phrase “Decide, because it is possible”.

Our first endeavor was to raise funds for a grammar school in the Ilemela District in the developing city of Mwanza,Tanzania where Maryjane Gallo spent five months teaching. The original school was a one room building with a few desks and a dirt floor.  The twenty students who attended the school were unable to receive a steady education due to having been orphaned or affected by the HIV/AIDS virus.  Sadly, we lost one of our students a few years ago to the AIDS virus.

Accomplishments to date are the development of a school/daycare center in 2014 that provides an early education and a nutrition program for young children.  A secondary school was constructed in 2019.  We have also been able to provide health insurance for the children we serve and salaries for teachers and staff.

The Project has grown from serving 20 students in 2013 to 136 students in 2025. The need to sustain and develop the daycare center and school remains great. Building costs, teacher salaries, medical insurance, a nutrition program, school supplies and uniforms as well as agricultural projects (chickens and cows) to help the Project become self-sustaining require funds.

The abundance of opportunity and resources in the United States are some of our country’s greatest gifts. We ask you to help the Tawawami Children’s Project continue to support our community of children.

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