Parkland Grad Finds 100 Friends in Africa

graduate and Breinigsville native Jill Kellogg has two months of her African adventure left.

She describes her role with the Tanzania Children's Fund as athletics director at the primary school, as well as "volunteer/tutor/friend to over 100 kids from age 4 months to 17 years old."

The fund supports the Rift Valley Children’s Village, an orphanage in the Karatu region of Tanzania, and other community-based programs that improve the lives of marginalized children in Tanzania.

Kellogg studied and volunteered in Cape Town, South Africa while she was a student at the University of Vermont.

"After that, I knew I wanted to come back and teach in Africa," Kellogg told Patch.

She graduated from college in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in secondary education/mathematics and went to Tanzania in November of 2011 thanks to her connection with India Howell, founder of the Tanzanian Children's Fund and a fellow graduate of the University of Vermont.

Kellogg is blogging about her experience. Here are a few highlights:

• Her favorite vegeterian dish in Tanzania is called chipsy mayai - an omelet with french fries in it. "How did Americans not think of this?" she asks.
• The African bush is full of stories of rogue animals including a lizard that appeared among Kellogg's bed pillows and a mouse that ran across clothes hangers in her closet, then launched itself at the wall and slid down to the floor.
• Rat traps in the village where Kellogg is staying are baited with banana bits rather than cheese.

Kellogg says the Tanzania Children's Fund is "a wonderful organization" and she asks that if anyone wants to support its work with a donation to e-mail her at jill.kellogg@gmail.com or visit their website. 

Kellogg is a member of in Trexlertown, which features a link to her Tanzania blog on its website.