Last May, Annabel Kronfeld was tasked with completing a community service project before her Bat Mitzvah. “When you are about to be Bat Mitzvahd, you have to choose a service project,” Annabel explained, “I looked at so many different things but nothing seemed good enough; I kept thinking to myself, what is this really going to do?”

The Fox Lane middle seventh-grader was still searching for a service project that would allow her to make a lasting change when a family friend suggested she talk to Kathleen Crohn, a third-grade teacher from Bedford Hills Elementary School. 

So they met. And their friendship resulted in Kronfeld raising enough money to send a young Tanzanian woman to private school for seven years.

Since 2007, Crohn has sought funding for young Tanzanian students to continue their education. After visiting her son Nolan, who was in Tanzania on a study abroad program, she stayed to teach in an elementary school there. On the day before Kathleen and Nolan were leaving Tanzania, Nolan told his mom that he would like to sponsor two of his Tanzanian friends—Abby, a young man who dreamed of being and African safari driver, and Maggie, who wanted to study hospitality services in college—so they could continue their schooling. 

“He said to me: ‘I really would love to send Abby and Maggie to school because that is their dream.’” Crohn told Patch. “Nolan wanted to make it happen.”

Inspired by their young friends, Crohn and her son made an impulse decision to stop by the local marketplace and buy bracelets handmade by the local Maasai women. They planned to bring the bracelets home to sell, and apply the profits toward Abby’s and Maggie’s education.

“We thought this would be a great thing to sell because it both provided income to the women who made the bracelets and it raised money for the cost of school,” Crohn said. 

Then along came Annabel.

Annabel immediately joined forces with Kathleen and decided to adopt the project for her Bat Mitvah. Any funds she raised would sponsor education costs for six-year old Mariam. In Tanzania, the government provides public schools, but the families must first pay a fee to cover the cost of their uniforms and text books.

“I got the bracelets and I wore them to school and my friends saw and wanted to buy them.  I went to a family party with my bracelets, and they were just gone. By the third week into selling, they were all gone and I thought, OK, let’s get some more,” said Kronfeld.

She had her Bat Mitzvah last September, but hasn’t stopped  selling bracelets and raising funds. 

“Once I started I just couldn’t stop—I’ve raised enough to send Mariam to school for more than 7 years— but I keep thinking: now I want her to go to college; now I want her to be able to help her siblings and her future kids to go to college,” said Kronfeld.

Crohn said that the project was so successful that they decided to offer Mariam’s family the option of attending a private school in Tanzania, and they accepted the alternative to government schools.

Sam Kronfeld , Annabel’s mother, said she knew that her daughter is doing something amazing, but is quick to point out that their community has also shown incredible generosity. “I think it’s important to mention the outpouring from the community.  They are so giving on so many levels.  Even in a tough economy people have been so giving,” she said. “I have a neighbor who bought 25 bracelets at once.”

Her daughter’s passion for her cause and her commitment to Mariam seems to be contagious. The entire Kronfeld family now shares Annabel’s dream for Mariam. “We give the bracelets as gifts for people, and Annabel’s younger sisters Charlotte, 9, and Phoebe, 7, bring them to school too.  There is just something about it that feels so good on so many levels, to be able to change a life,” said Kronfeld.

The shared dream of an elementary school teacher and a young philanthropist to provide opportunity in Tanzania has sparked the interest of many—Crohn has been contacted by an interested group of New York City teachers and another teacher from the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, who want to get involved.

To purchase bracelets contact Annabel Kronfeld via e-mail at belriley72@gmail.com.  To get involved in fundraising for the Tanzanian students, contact Kathleen Crohn via e-mail at kkcrohn@gmail.com.