Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone!! Welcome to my blog! I have set this up as a contact link and an informative discussion on Tanzania pertaining to what I will be doing in Tanga and the surrounding regions in the year that I will be there! Please read and email me back with any thoughts you have or any questions- I would love to hear from you. I will be posting pictures and journal writings of my daily actions as often as I can.

First and foremost, I would like to give you a time line of how this opportunity came into fruition for me as well as an explanation of what I will be working on during my stay in Tanzania.
I was introduced to John Henry Fullen by Jody Russ. Jody knows my passion for non-profits and of my goals to start my own and she knew that John Henry had much experience in this area as well as with Sister Cities and international travel. We then set up a meeting and John Henry told me of the possibility to go to Tanga to work on economic sustainable development. I have two B.S. degrees from the University of Toledo in Political Science and Global Studies (International Relations with focus on the Middle East) and it has always been my desire to work on cultural relations enhancement programs and economic sustainable development strategies around the world. My original avenue of approach to reach these goals was joining the U.S. Army but I was medically discharged in August of 2008 due to a deep vein thrombosis in my lower left leg after sustaining an injury during training. Since then, I have explored other options so as to pursue my dreams of helping others through sustainable development initiatives, particularly through Non-governmental organizations and Non-profit organizations. Hence, meeting John Henry and being introduced to this opportunity was like being handed the key to open the door to my dreams.
Toledo, Ohio, has a sister city with Tanga, Tanzania, and John Henry along with the Toledo-Tanga Committee has worked extensively on forming this relationship and nurturing it in order to help both communities grow. Recently, Louis Brownstone, John Henry's brother, traveled to Tanga to volunteer and lay out a framework for sustainable development based on cultural tourism revenue. Louis has done an immense amount of work developing the tourism sector in Tanga, making valuable contacts, forming relationships and finding different sources for funding. Louis came to Toledo just last week to give his power point presentation and fill us in on exactly what needs to be done so we can successfully pick up where he left off. Dan Evans, a close friend of mine who is majoring in urban development at the University of Toledo, is also coming to Tanzania to work on this project and attend the Summer Youth Summit. Together, we will be setting up tourism events and attractions, cultural enhancement programs, documenting the local culture and atmosphere to compile into tourism brochures, setting up tourist information centers, marketing the tourism and professional volunteerism, and then going to each of the surrounding regions to set up tourism infrastructures around Tanga. We are not doing this alone though! We have much help and support from David, the President of TAYODEA (Tanga Youth Development Education Association- a non-profit that does social works programs), the local Rotary, and the City Council. There are also other non-profit organizations working in the area that we will be collaborating with. In addition to the cultural tourism project, I will also be volunteering at an HIV/AIDS orphanage and the Toledo Secondary School. I will also be working on finding resources for the Toledo International Youth Orchestra and a team of Dr.'s coming over in 2009.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me thus far! Thank you Empire Drift and DJ Ben Cohen for playing at the fund raiser "Tanzamonium." Thank You to Mike Roberts for hosting our fund raiser at Wesley's. Thank you to everyone who came to the fund raiser and helped support our efforts in Tanzania! Thank you to the Toledo-Tanga Committee Members for all of your support. Thank You to John Henry Fullen and Louis Brownstone for introducing me to this opportunity and working so hard to ensure that we are successful in our efforts in Tanga! Thank You to Ryan Bunch and the Toledo City Paper for running a piece on our fund raiser!

To my friends- you have no idea how deeply I appreciate all of your support and confidence in me- the ways in which you have helped me are too numerous to mention and upon trying, words could not express my gratitude...

To my family- without your support, guidance, understanding and acceptance, I could not go in full confidence. Thank you for realizing that this is my dream and that working towards sustainable development will be my life-long passion. Your words of encouragement and advice will be my most precious commodities carried with me on this journey.