To introduce the delightful chaps who are callin the shots over here at Tears of Africa, we thought we’d first read to you a poem – because it pretty much depicts the collective thoughts of our staff day to day (between the papers, exams, shots of caffeine, and smoothies). Then feel free, should you still be interested, to take a look at where we’re coming from. Enjoy. 
Drop us a line. Say hello. Hamjambo. Habari za mchana?
Questions, comments, color-schemes:
Email us at tidal_cross@earthlink.net.
Our address:
Tears of Africa, PO 28839, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Hwy, Greenville, SC 29613
p.s. Any big ideas of your own? We wanna hear about it. Send us an email, video, letter, or a haiku.
We want to hear from you, and we would love to involve you with anything. We are all in this together. It is only with your help that our vision can be accomplished. So jump in. Lets save the world.
Tears of Africa is all about networking. In certain places in Africa, you can often walk down the street and see twenty different signs for nonprofits, charities, etc, and many of them are doing the exact same thing. So why don’t we work together?
Help us carry the flag for change. Here are some who already are:
The Seekers
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If you’re at this intersection looking for more great places to go, try these :
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Blood Water Mission |
| Invisible Children |  |
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African Leadership |
| African Path |  |
If you would like to join with Tears of Africa, email us at info@tearsofafrica.org.
Coming soon!!!
Till it does, contact us!
[video]
The people living in Kibera, Kenya, are fast approaching 1 million in number and are still confined wihtin one square mile. If you’d like to know why, click here to read a brief history on one of Africa’s most dense and filthy slums.
What is our goal?
This is a project aimed at providing community services, jobs, and relocating those jobs – out of the slum! And what else do we get? A stylish conversation piece.
The boys living in Kibera who are involved with this project are local residents who are trying to make a living as well as getting youth out of crime and into something beneficial both to themselves and to the community. They take bones from the slaughter houses [local meat industry] and, rather than letting them go to waste, use their talents to recycle the bones and create beautiful pieces of jewelry and household products.
By purchasing one of these necklaces, you are giving these artisans a means to provide for their families as well as to bring more youth and local residents into the project. Plus, with all of the extra profit gained from each purchase, Tears of Africa will take it in the form of HIV medication, water sanitation projects, and other forms of community development back into Kibera.
So, you fashionable cool cats, clich right here to get your stylish African necklace and help us to mount a full-scale assault on the poverty that exists in Sub-Saharan Africa’s 2nd largest slum.
The purpose of ToA Chapters at other colleges and universities is to provide tools for organizing gifts and voices. Gather those who are passionate about life and about being the change that they want to see, and reach out to your college or university so that they may understand the troubles that so many of this world face. Our mission is to stop the tears of Africa through the power of awareness, love, activism, and faith.
[‘chapter directory’ coming soon, we hope!]
These wonderful institutions have expressed interest in the past- (so the field may already be plowed for you!)
-Clemson University
-College of Charleston
-Georgia State University
-Georgia Tech
-Texas Christian University
Interested in starting a chapter at your school? Click here.
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Or send an email to carolann@tearsofafrica.org for more information. |
The information on this site is out-dated, and some of it is no longer relevant to the current TOA... Ergo, this may well be edited soon. However, until that time, feel free to read last years information below.
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Tears of Africa Inc. was formed in May of 2006 to pursue a calling: to reach the struggling, heal the hurt, unite voices for aid and peace, and to begin mounting a full-scale war against the ignorance that exists in the developed world today. We believe that men and women throughout this earth are undoubtedly members � by their every quality as human beings � of one world. Not one nation… not one ethnicity, race, religion, tribe, or tongue� We are called to help one another, and those who have must give. Of course, that does not translate directly to �money.� Nor does it require clothes, canned goods, etc, etc. What it means is that we are all born equipped with unique gifts and talents. Some of us use them, some of us choose not to, and some of us don�t have the means to. Whether your gifts lie in painting, computers, sports, or bubble gum wrapper origami � you can use them for a higher calling. We all have something to share with the world, and there will always be needs for us to fulfill. It�s making the decision to set that gift free, and to let it use you, that will leave the world and its citizens changed forever.
So, now you�re thinking, �Okay, that sounds great. But where do we start?� Good question� and here�s what we�re doing.
Plan of Action #1:
When Tears of Africa begins to problem-solve, we first go in and get the lay of the land. We pick a country in Africa, drop a team there for several months, and both film and learn in the environment around us. We find out about the people�s culture, their traditions, their loves and joys, and then we learn about their greatest needs. After we�ve finished with the cameras, we bring back the footage and begin to put together a documentary focusing on the biggest of the problems that we found in that country. The film is candid and unorthodox � meaning we don�t just show you �starving people.� The fact is: they are people just like us. That�s what the film is meant to convey. However, it is also a catalyst to action. The film is a tool for promoting involvement. Thus a people exposed to the problems in the world must be moved to act.
Plan of Action #2:
Avenue for Change. Our immediate task coinciding with the film production is the establishment of programs that are aimed at fixing the evident problems from every angle. We don�t simply supply medication and food. We enact programs to stimulate motivation, educate and prepare children for jobs, develop markets and job opportunities, and community development as well. The reason why is this: you can�t simply help those dying of a disease and not try to stop the disease itself. And on the other hand, don�t try to stop the disease and forget those who already have it. Both tasks are necessary. Both duties illustrate compassion. Both change the future � with fulfillment and hope. Attack the problems which exist at the bottom as well as at the top and all therein.
So�Who�s changing the world?
You. And everyone who will join you. If you can plug into any of the programs we offer, awesome. If they don�t suit you, be creative � and please tell us what you think will make a difference in the lives of people in Africa. We are about involvement � and that is a two-way relationship. We can�t go on without you, and we want you to keep going with us. So join hands with Tears of Africa, promote other non-profits [as we do also], or start a movement on your own. But in the end, make sure that everyone knows what you are doing. It is the only way that we will be able to effectively promote change: together.
Back
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I swore never to be silent wherever whenever human beings endure suffering. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. -Elie Wiesel
TOA is a student organization based out of Furman University, in Greenville, SC…
A few words to say what we’re about. If you’d like to know more, click on the last one of these links sittin right down there.
Visit some of the other organizations we support and see what they’re about.
Drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you.