Hand to Hand Africa
What is the P&P Tuition Assistance Program and Non-Profit Corporation?
Mission Statement: Out of corruption, out of poverty. Not a hand out but a hand up.
You can get more details in the PDF below
Education Sponsorship Proposal PDF - View or Download
Click here for Profiles of the Young People we are helping
Click here to read more experiences from children who have benefitted from our program!
Click here to read more about what we've been doing
In response to heightened publicity about human trafficking and also severe economic challenges in Africa due to Covid shut-downs, The P&P tuition assistance program has been organized by partnershipping friends in Gambia and Utah. Young girls, whose families are struggling to find funds for their childrens’ educations, often feel that early marriage is preferable to moving into the sex trades so readily available across the globe. These early marriages, performed while the girls are still in their teens to men in their 30s, 40s and even 50s, tend to perpetuate abuse and poverty as untrained children raise untrained children.
Example of one Student We are Helping
Mariana Ceesay - Age 13, in Gambia
Reason for needed sponsorship: She was the victim of attempted rape by her sister's husband. When she told what happened, the sister and her husband stopped sending her to school.
The goal of the P&P Tuition Assistance Program is to provide tuition scholarships to qualified, pre-screened individuals so that daughters can receive education, gain independence, raise quality of life and help provide for the next generation of children. As each young woman completes the program and graduates from college, she will gain employment and in return, sponsor another upcoming student. Thus the program will self-renew as more and more participants repay what they have been received. We are a non-profit corporation. As the program grows, we would love to assist young men in their educational goals as well.
Along with increased education, some other ideals we would like to perpetuate in Africa, Beginning in Gambia with a sister program in Uganda, is to raise awareness of gender equality, work ethics, honor and integrity in order to fight rampant corruption that causes economic challenges and keeps the people under control of the select few.
Begun as individuals collecting donations from friends and neighbors and sending them to Africa, and before focusing on education for girls, the program was instrumental in collecting funds for a young man’s surgery to remove a life threatening growth on his face. He has come through the surgery with flying colors and is currently living a normal life, giving back to the community and caring for his family.
The embryo P&P Program began years ago as a young girl in Utah, Heather Peck, found a desire to raise the quality of education in Africa by travelling there and teaching teachers. Through a series of remarkable coincidences, she was able to spend 5 months in an orphanage, not teaching teachers, but tutoring future Liberian mothers, fathers and citizens.
While there, she met a remarkable young man with a vision to improve the world around him. His name is PAUL. Through this American girl, Paul met her parents, GORDON AND TRUDY PECK. Their desire to serve people throughout the world in any way they can led them to collecting and donating small amounts of money to help the young man mentioned above with his surgery, assisting Paul to land a job with the Liberian government, AIDS prevention and education department, rebuilding after a storm damaged property and providing food for ebola victims. These small donations have led to a greater desire to serve a people striving to bring themselves out of the poverty cycle they are in, hence the P&P Tuition Assistance program.
In addition to collecting donations through email and face-to-face contacts, the P&P Program is publishing a book about Life in Africa which will be marketed and the proceeds put into further African assistance. This book is currently in production stages and a marketing plan is in place.
Because the formal organization of our program is so new the website is currently under construction.
Also because the program is so small, overhead costs are minimal. As much of the donations as possible will be paid directly to the schools. The Pecks and Paul are running the program free of charge, aside from minimal costs for travel to schools and to interview program applicants. (So far, only $20 has been spent on travel! The rest has gone directly to schools for registration and tuition)
We realize that there are many opportunities for fraud in today’s world. One protecton we have in place is that tuition is paid directly to the educational institution and cannot be refunded and used in any other manner than that which it is intended. All donated funds will go directly to tuition at this time. If you have further concerns about the veracity of the P&P Tuition Assistance Program, we are more than willing to visit with you in person at the following contact numbers:
Heather Quass Phone 801-227-9156,
Email: HandtoHandAfricaTP@gmail.com
Venmo Gordon Peck: @handtohand000
Donations can be made directly to Trudy Peck through Facebook GoFundME Covid in Africa
Venmo @handtohand000, cash, personal check, or other method as agreed upon. Funds will be in Africa within 2 days of receipt.
Thank you so much for your interest in helping our young sisters in Africa! Every dollar donated to the P&P Tuition Assistance Program non-profit Corporation will be well invested in improving lives!
Click here to read more experiences from children who have benefitted from our program!
Tuition costs for students in Gambia:
One Grade School Student (k-12)-
$70.00/trimester
$210.00/year
One College Student-
$150/semester
$300/year
One BYUI Pathway student-
$22.50/trimester
$67.50/year
Saturday meal for the needy in conjunction with the ethics class- $20.00/week (can feed 50)
Western Union money transfer fees-
-$9.99/transaction