Microfinance Project

In January 2015, I volunteered abroad in Arusha, Tanzania with Projects Abroad. I spent 5 weeks working on the Microfinance project, and had an amazing experience! I’ve always been interested in travel, volunteering and entrepreneurship, so this was the perfect project for me as we got to spend time working with women to build individual and group businesses.

My host family, staff, and other volunteers were very welcoming and friendly which made the experience even better. I’ve actually kept in touch and have visited some of the volunteers I met during my time in Arusha. The project was very interesting, and revolved around us managing microloans for the women we worked with. We would help them keep track of their books and we would spend time working with them on English and Math lessons. We also gave them feedback for their businesses and helped come up with new ideas for group businesses. On the weekends I had plenty of time to explore the country. My two highlights would be going on a safari and getting to visit a Maasai village. Overall this was an amazing experience that I urge everyone to try at least once!