Woman helps orphans; Notre-Dame alumnus works to ease effects of poverty in Tanzania

from The Sudbury Star

Posted By Rachel Punch

A 10-year-old Tanzanian named Michael has inspired Sudburian Ashley Pawlowicz to raise funds to bring education to children in the African country.

Pawlowicz, 24, met Michael while she was volunteering at an orphanage in Mwanza, Tanzania last year. The boy scored 295 out of 300 on a test determining if he could get into private school. In private school, he would have classes with about 30 students as opposed to the 150 in the public school he was attending.

Despite his high marks, he did not have the $360 needed to pay the annual tuition. Pawlowicz and other volunteers pooled their money so Michael could go to school.

"We all pitched in. It was such a waste for him to be at the other school," Pawlowicz said.

Now, the College Notre-Dame graduate is raising money on her own to help sponsor other children to attend school.

The $360 entitles a child to uniforms, stationary, breakfast and lunch, as well as a spot in a classroom with a maximum of 30 students.

Pawlowicz was in Tanzania from April to December and plans to return in late February. So far, she has enough support to send 10 children to school.

While she was in Tanzania with Volunteer Africa and Kids Aid Tanzania, she helped teach nursery-school-aged children from two orphanages.

With such big classes, children need the help of volunteer teachers or else their grades slip.

"We were there to help try to get them ahead of the class, because if you don't have high enough grades you can't continue to secondary school," she said.

One of the orphanages had 48 children when she arrived. Now, they have 87.

"They are constantly packing kids in, sleeping four in a bed," she said.

Many of the children lost their parents to AIDS.

"In the town that I was living in, one out of three people had AIDS," she said.

When she goes back, Pawlowicz hopes to find a job and continue volunteering at the orphanages indefinitely.

In Tanzania, Pawlowicz lives in a cement house with mice, cockroaches and the occasional visit from a scorpion. She eats mostly rice, beans and vegetables, which is prepared on a kerosene stove.

The poverty is evident as you walk down the street, she said.

"Children run up to you asking you for money wearing torn clothing. They are five years old living on he street," she said.

Pawlowicz said she does it to see the smile on the children's faces. "It gives them hope that somebody else is thinking about them. It lets them know they are not alone," she said.

Her trip to Tanzania wasn't Pawlowicz's first time volunteering in another country.

She made two trips to Haiti while she was in high school to volunteer at Mother Theresa's Nutrition Centre and an AIDS hospital. "I wanted to help kids that were less fortunate," she said.

Her first trip to Haiti was a bit shocking.

"It was a culture shock. It was unbelievable the poverty they lived in, but they were still such happy people," Pawlowicz said.

Pawlowicz knew she wanted to go somewhere else after earning her psychology degree at Laurentian University.

"When I finished university I needed to try something new. I needed to go back and help some more," she said. "I always said I wanted to go to Africa.

"I had no idea why."

The organization she travelled to Africa with has since pulled out of the orphanages, so Pawlowicz is going back on her own.

She has several friends in Tanzania and wants to keep helping the children.

To learn more about Pawlowicz or to donate, e-mail her at ashleypawlowicz@hotmail.com.