This Is My Story

My personal interactions with the students of Imani inspired me to want to help in any way I could.

My name is Ellie Kleeman and I am a senior at Saint Ursula Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio. When I was in 8th grade, my family and I had the opportunity to visit Arusha, Tanzania. My uncle, Steve Kleeman, is a doctor and travels there several times a year to perform free surgeries for Tanzanian women in need. Because he has traveled there many times, he knew of a boarding school and wanted us to visit it with him. Instead of going to Africa to simply view the wildlife, my uncle thought it was important to get to know the people of the region. The more I learned about this school, the more I was determined to help. The children at the Imani school are from some of the most destitute areas in all of Africa.

Before we left for Tanzania, I thought about what I could do to help these children before I even met them. An obvious solution presented itself a few months before our departure: my brother and sister play club soccer and are required to purchase new uniforms every year. The children at Imani, however, have no extra play clothes, nor any sports gear. My first thought was, what happens to all of the old soccer uniforms and could we possibly collect them for the students of Imani? This is when I knew I could do something to help these kids.

In a couple of months leading up to our trip, my family and I started collecting as many uniforms as possible. we contacted the clubs and asked for their assistance in getting the word out. We also provided donation boxes at our school, sports facilities, and contacted all of our friends etc. The response from the community was more than we could have hoped for, and we ended up collecting and donating over 200 uniforms, socks, cleats, and more.

Though the children’s reactions to the donations were overwhelming, I wanted to do more. After touring the students’ dormitories, where they were cramped into 3 kids per twin bed, I was committed to finding a way to build additional living quarters for them. With your help, my vision can be realized.