Twenty-six-year-old Maeve Turner founded a charity to change lives in Tanzania. Photos: Inuka.
An Illawarra charity founder who has helped build schools and sustainable support systems in Tanzania has returned to her former stomping ground to inspire the next generation of students.
Maeve Turner was a quiet and shy student when she was at Bulli High, but her aspirations to be part of something bigger than herself continued to drive her through school and guide her plans when she graduated in 2018.
“Having just finished school I had really big dreams to change the world, as I think a lot of young people do,” Maeve said.
“I wanted to work for the United Nations, so I’d gotten into law and arts at Macquarie University and then went on my gap year.”
But when her European gap year plans took a turn, Maeve found herself on a path which would shape her perspective on the impact she wanted to make.
“I was working at a fruit shop in Helensburgh and my colleague had just come back from Tanzania and suggested that I go there because they had a great time,” Maeve said.
“I was very young, 17, and was thinking there’s no way that I’ll be able to go to Africa at that age, but I did some research and ended up booking the flights.
“In Tanzania I was very lucky to be placed with a volunteer team called CHETI NGO and I raised enough money on my first trip there to help them finish building their seventh school.”
A year later she returned to see the project progressing well and became determined to find a more sustainable way to continue supporting the cause beyond running GoFundMe campaigns.
Inuka has helped not only build schools but empower people to explore education.
“My perspective completely changed about how you could have impact in the world having visited Tanzania and seen the work that CHETI were already doing – they just couldn’t progress any further because unfortunately in Tanzania getting opportunity or funding is really hard, especially for a grassroots organisation,” Maeve said.
“I changed from thinking about wanting to change the world to if I could just change one child’s world, the butterfly effect of that would be enormous and last for generations to come.
“A couple of days later I called my mum and asked her if it was a crazy idea to start my own charity and she said it was crazy but if anyone could do it, I could do it.”
She founded Inuka in 2019, which grew from a small initiative to a registered not-for-profit which has built two schools and supported another eight schools in partnership with CHETI NGO.
“When I first started Inuka, obviously being very young, I was very happy with it being a kind of passion project I was doing on the side while I was doing my studies,” Maeve said.
“Then I actually had an old schoolmate who I went to primary school with reach out to me a few years ago. We hadn’t spoken in probably 15 years, and he said, ‘I really like what you’re doing, I’d love to learn more about it.’
“That conversation sparked a little bit in me that maybe other people care about what we’re doing.
“Ever since, we’ve been pushing really hard.”
Maeve returned to Bulli High with visitors from Tanzania to share her story and inspire others.
The charity is built on collaboration and relationships rather than being 100 per cent funded and operated by Inuka, to ensure the projects are sustainable.
And as Maeve has learned more about the community’s needs, Inuka’s approach to improving educational opportunities has continued to develop.
“We also run a microfinance loan program for widows in the community,” Maeve said.
“Culturally being widowed is very difficult in Tanzania – there’s lots of land theft, issues in terms of kids remaining in school; usually they have to leave to help their mum financially if possible.
“We have stories where these women and their families have lived in mud huts but now they have built themselves a proper house and they’ve been able to send their kids to university or get the urgent medical care that they’ve needed for many, many years.
“On top of that, we recognised there was a gap in terms of kids leaving school or due to various reasons having to drop out, so we started a vocational centre as well.”
Maeve hopes her story will inspire others to have confidence and dream big.
She hopes that one day the charity will be able to use the models it’s created to grow its impact even further.
“Essentially our ethos is for the community, by the community – so everything we do is in the conjunction of people that we work with, currently in Tanzania, but big dreams for me would be able to expand to other communities around the world who face maybe similar issues but in very different contexts,” she said.
“We’re really, really focused on creating ecosystems that allow opportunity for education in various different ways that it can be delivered.”
Although much of her work is focused internationally, Maeve’s experience, and Inuka, has remained ingrained in the Illawarra community, with Helensburgh, Oak Flats and Austinmer-Thirroul Lions clubs among those that have supported the initiatives for years.
Maeve’s return to Bulli High saw her joined by visitors from Tanzania to broaden the knowledge of Illawarra students across year groups and motivate them to have confidence to aspire to great things.
“Hopefully to inspire others to be part of something bigger than themselves – it doesn’t have to be through charity work, but just to step out of their little world and get into someone else’s, even if it’s just for an hour or two hours and see how your perspective can change and shift and hopefully inspire them to pursue something really cool.
“If the students here can dream big enough, they definitely have a beautiful ground to propel them as a starting point into pursuing their dreams.”
To learn more about Maeve’s charity and programs visit the Inuka website.
