By Karen Braynard

Staff writer

SATELLITE BEACH - Last summer, Stacy Monk and Sanjay Patel took a journey to Tanzania that changed their lives.

In the midst of their trip, they spent time volunteering at a small school in Arusha, Tanzania.

"We were so moved by the children and the school's founder, Mama Lucy Kamptoni," said Ms. Monk. "We learned that the school run by Mama Lucy was going to have to close because the landlord had sold the property."

Ms. Monk said she and Mr. Patel knew their backgrounds in project management and corporate consulting could benefit the children of Sheperds Junior Academy.

As soon as they returned to their Satellite Beach home, they established Epic Change, a lending organization that makes loans to global organizations seeking to improve their communities.

"We really wanted to empower Mama Lucy, the parents and the children to change their community," said Ms. Monk.

After their first trip and initial fundraising campaign, Ms. Monk and Mr. Patel returned to Arusha to learn how their initial $30,000 loan was going to be used.

"We spent almost two months there, learning about the legal ins and outs of the land purchase and the permitting process. We also spent a lot of time with the parents, teachers and children to learn more about them and to help them find ways they could begin to pay back the loan," said Ms. Monk.

The school administrator and community members have been eager to participate in the project.

"Mama Lucy has far exceeded our expectations in getting things going for her new school," said Mr. Patel. "In Tanzania, everything happens 'pole, pole,' Swahili for 'slowly, slowly.' Mama Lucy made things move at 'haraka, haraka,' or 'hurry, hurry' pace," he said.

In just a month and a half, they purchased an acre of land, cleared away the banana trees and began building a classroom.

"Everyone is pitching in and helping. But it goes beyond just the building of the school. They're working on projects to raise money to pay back the loan, which really gives the community a sense of pride," said Mr. Patel.

Olympus donated two digital cameras to the school and the children are taking landscape photos, which will be used on a line of greeting cards Ms. Monk is hoping to have sponsored by a major greeting card company.

This summer, a Tanzanian recording studio is going to work with Lauren Hayworth, another Satellite Beach resident, to record the children singing.

"Lauren is a composer and can take their cultural music and expand on it. They're hoping to create a song that can be sold on I-Tunes for 99 cents," said Ms. Monk.

Mr. Patel said the project has become a community initiative.

"All of their revenue projects involve the people, and that's the theme of Epic Change," he said.

"The children of Arusha live in what Americans would consider poverty, yet we met children who were happy just to have a school to go to, happy just to be healthy."

Statistics from www.epicchange.org show the average annual income of a Tanzanian family is equal to $350, and the life expectancy is only 49 years. Thus, many children live in poverty and many are orphans.

Ms. Monk added that while the children there know the difference between their lives and that of Westerner's, they don't see their lives as lacking.

"It's more like they just realize that there's a lot out there and they know that education is the key to changing their lives," said Ms. Monk.

Epic Change seeks donations to help fund the construction of the school. They have received pro-bono corporate sponsorship from names such as Google, Fine-Line Graphics, Vedder Price West Base and Chuck 3 Productions.

To learn more about Epic Change, visit their blog at www.epicchange.com/blog.

Contact Karen Braynard at (321) 751-5962 or braynard@hometownnewsol.com