WHS graduate starts nonprofit in Africa

Brendan Callahan with two of the young children he hopes to help After Brendan Callahan graduated from Westlake High School in 2005 he headed to Boston University with one goal in mind: to pursue a career in which he could make money.

"When I first walked through the doors of the B.U. School of Management, I had dollar signs in my eyes," said Callahan, 21. "I wanted to use my business degree to become a corporate lawyer or do something in banking. I was focused on whatever profession could bring in the most money."

Everything changed in the summer of 2007 when Callahan, along with five other students from Boston and six from Rutgers University, traveled to Tanzania in Africa. The group spent two weeks visiting shelters, painting a school, reconstructing a home and interacting with the locals.

"I was really able to see firsthand poverty in its truest form," Callahan said. "Coming from a town like Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks, I started to realize how much I took for granted. I saw children wearing the same clothing every day—my heart just went out to them."

The quality of the schools was also heartbreaking, Callahan said.

"I saw children thirsty for knowledge," Callahan said. "They wanted to soak up education like a sponge, but they were lacking the buildings and the supplies."

Motivated to help, Callahan and fellow Boston senior Alyssa Snow established Achieve in Africa Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to improving educational facilities and providing students with supplies.

"I was a completely different person before this trip," Callahan said. "After I got back, I started thinking, 'Why not use these skills I've been given to help others?' I've never been happier. I'd rather enrich my soul than my bank account."

The organization's first project is to construct two additional classrooms at a 16-room school for nearly 2,000 Tanzanian students.

Callahan and Snow aim to raise the $30,000 needed by June, when Callahan will travel to Tanzania to oversee the beginning of the construction.

"This is not a one-and-done type of project," Callahan said. "This is something we really feel passionately about. We want this to be an organization that really gets off the ground. We want to do this one well to prove what we can do."

The organization received taxexempt status in January and will put all donations toward the schools' remodeling and supplies.

For more information, e-mail info@achieveinafrica.org or visit www.achieveinafrica.org.