A Tanzanian buddy goes to school

The meeting of the G8 lasted only three days, but the buddies' efforts to change the minds of the leaders of the world's wealthiest countries had been months in the making. From the Live8 concerts to International White Band Day, the buddies walked, talked, lived and breathed one goal: convincing the world's wealthiest countries to fulfill their promise to provide universal primary education. When the summit finally ended, the buddies emerged from Gleneagles exhausted and in a daze.

Lucky for them, they had a long trip to recover. Always the budget travelers, some of the buddies had decided to make the journey from Scotland to the U.S. by boat. A few days into their trip, they sat out on the boat's deck and reflected on their campaign. The coast of Scotland had vanished into the horizon and they were surrounded on all sides by the Atlantic. One buddy was saying how, having spent so much time focusing on changing the minds of the G8 leaders, they'd forgotten about the poor countries that were already making leaps and bounds towards providing education for all children. Just then a buddy chimed in—one of the quieter ones who was known for toting around a book or two in her pants' pocket.

Her name was Fatima and she was from Tanzania. "My village is very small," she told the other buddies, "20 families, that's all." Her family lived off of a small plot of land where they grew corn, cassava and cashews. Until a few years ago, only one of her five siblings—her brother Ysibi—had the chance to go to school. "We didn't have one in our village," she said, "so he had to take a bus to the closest one, which was 10 miles away." It was expensive. Her family spent nearly a quarter of what they earned every year just to pay for his school fees, uniform and transportation.

"Then," she told the other buddies, "the government came to build a school in our village. When it was finished, a teacher arrived—a woman! Most women in my village cannot even read. She came to our house and said school would be free, and invited all of us to come." That was in 2001, said Fatima, and she has been a student ever since.

The school in Fatima's community was one of thousands built by the Tanzanian government in its campaign to provide primary education to all children by 2006. As part of the campaign, the government more than doubled funding for education and eliminated school fees. Now, nearly 90 percent of children are in primary school, up from 59 percent a few years ago. More than 18,000 new teachers have been recruited and trained. Fatima told the other buddies that the school is already changing her village. Girls who have been educated say they don't want to have as many children. And when Fatima's mother went to vote in the last election, she brought her daughter along to help her read the ballot.

"That's why I'm here," Fatima said, "because if it can work in Tanzania, it can work anywhere."

Read the first entry of the BuddyBlog, Buddies Arrive at Netaid, and see where the buddies started their global campaign.