After she first visited Tanzania in 2005 as part of a photo safari, Kellie Lala ’89—a senior account manager for several Cedar Rapids radio stations—fell in love with the people she met. During the tour, her guide, Modest Bayo, shared that he had started a school in his home village—and Lala begged to see it. “It wasn’t on the itinerary, but he agreed to take me if I could find a few people to go,” she says.

Recruiting four others to tag along, Lala got to spend time at the school one afternoon, meeting students, teachers, and Bayo’s wife, Lightness. “Those two hours changed my heart,” she says. “I’ve been all over the world, but Tanzania gripped my heart like no other place. As a salesperson, I knew I could help by coming back and asking people to donate to help this school.”

Since 2006, Lala has raised more than $80,000 for the Tumaini Pre-Primary School and Tumaini Junior School through church fundraisers, selling coupon books, and an annual event in April called Arts for Africa. The donations are used for things like building renovation and expansion, solar water heaters for showers, and new desks and chairs.

“President Laurie Hamen and I were having lunch in late 2016,” says Lala, “and I was talking about my latest fundraising efforts. After listening, she said, ‘Kellie, I’d like our students to go to this school in 2018.’ ” So Hamen sent a few emails to gauge interest. Almost immediately, Anne Hartman, assistant professor of nursing, enthusiastically replied. From there, planning began with less than a year to make it happen.

A group of 23—17 nursing students, two nursing faculty (Hartman and Jodee Reed, nursing lecturer), Hamen, Lala and a friend (Marge Cepowski), and Sandy Worley, wife of Mount Mercy Board of Trustees Chair Brandt Worley­—headed to Tanzania for 16 days to help the local schools, as well as a new health center in the area called Lake Eyasi Clinic.

“Our goal was to allow the students to immerse themselves in the culture and see what it’s like to live in a place so obviously different from here,” says Reed. “We also wanted to raise awareness about the schools and Lake Eyasi Clinic.”

By splitting into groups, the team was able to help at the health center and both schools. At the pre-primary school, Mount Mercy students played games with children, taught them songs, and led other age-appropriate activities. At the junior school, a group of team members remodeled the library. “We removed every book from the shelves, sorted through them, and got rid of books in poor condition. We also reorganized the library and donated several new books we brought with us,” says Reed.

Over at the clinic, word had spread quickly that a U.S. health care team was onsite. When the Mount Mercy group arrived in Tanzania, the clinic had been open for one month, seeing approximately 30 patients. The first day MMU was there, however, nursing students saw 175 patients—many of whom had never seen a physician before.