The Memory Foundation Helps Kilimanjaro Education Foundation Schools Create Lasting Memories

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time in their lives, hundreds of Tanzanian school children living in the country's remote northern region will be going home with photographs of themselves when the South African-based Memory Foundation visits the region next year.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/kef/47545/

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101210/MM10820 )

The Memory Foundation has announced that their 2011 expedition from South Africa to Tanzania will incorporate a four-day visit to the schools helped and supported by Kilimanjaro Education Foundation (KEF) in local communities in and around Arusha, Moshi and Monduli in the north of Tanzania.

KEF is very fortunate to have been selected by The Memory Foundation as its partner," said Todd Grossman, President and Founder of Kilimanjaro Education Foundation.  "The photographs that the Memory Foundation will be taking and giving to these children will become one of their most cherished possessions that will be passed along from generation to generation."

The Memory Foundation is the brainchild of husband and wife team, Carel Verhoef and Miriam Bracht, who live in Cape Town, South Africa. The couple, who are well-respected leaders in the African travel industry, work and travel extensively in Africa.  They first conceived the idea for The Memory Foundation on a long and dusty journey from Tanzania to Cape Town in 2008. While visiting villages along the way the couple soon realized that the majority of villagers had no visual imagery of their families when they were inundated with requests for photographs to be taken of families and were also asked for prints to be sent to them.

"The intensity of that experience really moved us, as people expressed their regret that they had no photographs of family members that had died and consequently had no visual aid to help them recall what their relatives looked like," Verhoef explained. "We in the western world take photographs for granted. We want to give lasting memories to people who have never seen a picture of themselves before."

In the gift of giving a positive photographic memory, The Memory Foundation can restore and celebrate a period of time that a person, group, family and community will remember and therefore help strengthen relationships, family bonds and values. The Foundation believes the power of positive memories can also counter the destructive and disparaging effects of crime, violence, poverty and abuse that plague troubled regions across the globe.

There are a limited number of seats available for those interested in taking part in this unique initiative. Expedition members will not only do Memory Foundation photography work on the expedition, but will also see Africa's best wildlife areas and pristine beaches on the journey from north to south and back again.  The journey will cover the scenic African bush and visit Kruger National Park in South Africa, the Mozambique coastline, Lake Malawi, southern Tanzanian, Zanzibar Island, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, South Luanga, Victoria Falls and the famous Botswana reserves of Chobe, Savute and the Moremi.  The Memory Foundation expedition vehicle will also be fitted with a mobile laptop and printer so that the pictures of the people can be printed and framed on the spot.  For more information on the Memory Foundation and the upcoming expedition please visit www.thememoryfoundation.com.

About The Memory Foundation

The Memory Foundation founded in 2008 is a Non-Profit Organization (NPO) (Registration number 2009/001684/08) and has a burning desire to make a realistic difference in the lives and outlook of the people in impoverished rural communities.  It aims to provide printed and framed photographic memories, to as many families living in impoverished communities in the developing world as possible.  The Foundation believes that pictures will make a positive impact on many lives and positive memories and recollections change one's outlook for the better and contribute to a spirit of optimism.

About Kilimanjaro Education Foundation

Kilimanjaro Education Foundation (KEF), (www.kef4kids.org) founded in 2006, is incorporated in New York State and organized as a 501(c)(3). KEF strives to improve education and to build school facilities for underprivileged children in Tanzania and other countries bordering Kilimanjaro. KEF's volunteers and directors share in and impart not only the Foundation's passion for children and education, but also in KEF's core values of honesty, integrity, creativity and imagination.

SOURCE Kilimanjaro Education Foundation; The Memory Foundation