Tanzania school has Kalispell benefactor

Larry Passmore, 85, is hoping for good health to make his eighth visit to the MaaSAE Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Tanzania this winter.

For the past 20 years, the Kalispell resident has made donations and sponsored students through the Minneapolis-based nonprofit, Operation Bootstrap Africa.

“Most become teachers, nurses, there’s an airplane pilot, there’s politicians and there’s all kinds of things these girls are doing. They’re making a place for themselves,” Passmore said.

To Passmore, the story isn’t about him, but the teachers and the roughly 500 to 600 girls who have graduated since the residential school opened in 1995.

“So many lives [have been] involved in creating the tapestry of a life-changing MGLSS school, each one blessed to be a blessing,” Passmore said.

Located in Monduli, Tanzania, MaaSAE Girls Lutheran Secondary School offers one of the few secondary education options for girls.

“It started with 34 scared little girls,” Passmore said about the school’s first year of enrollment. 

Passmore said the girls’ lives are in the hands of their fathers who promise marriage in exchange for a dowry, which often includes livestock. For a daughter to continue her education past the primary years in rural areas is often viewed as a monetary loss by her family.

“They are in a multiple-marriage society and they are traded for cows — sometimes the day they are born — by their fathers,” Passmore said.

Passmore learned about the girls’ plight during a trip through Concordia College with his late wife, Ruth, who was equally passionate about educating the Tanzanian girls. 

“I have girls of my own. To see girls that don’t have a chance, well, it hurts to see people suffer and have no chance and be treated as livestock, because I have livestock and I treat my livestock kinder than some of them get treated,” Passmore said.

In his home Tuesday, Passmore brought out a stack of photos from past visits of students sitting in the dining hall, in chapel and at graduation. One photo was a snapshot of Passmore and a student he sponsored.

“She’s a teacher over there now,” Passmore said with the proud smile of a parent. 

To give the gift of education and independence has been a wondrous endeavor, Passmore said. 

“The best way to raise a standard of living and value of human life is to have girls educated,” Passmore said.

Located on an abandoned coffee farm, the school raises a variety of crops including coffee, beans and corn. Passmore, whose livelihood has been farming, has had the opportunity to work on the farm during past trips. Passmore has supported the agricultural aspect of the school in hopes that it will eventually generate revenue to provide scholarships for girls to attend the school.

Passmore still keeps about 150 acres to raise mint, canola and wheat and said he’ll continue to donate to the school as long as he’s able.

“You can’t help but fall in love with those girls. Once you get to know them — get to know the changes you make in their life — you can’t help do what you can,” Passmore said. “And somehow, the ‘guy upstairs’ is taking care of me much better than I could expect to happen.”

For more information about Operation Bootstrap Africa, or to make donations visit www.bootstrapafrica.org.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.