Team Vista

Team Vista is an Australian not-for-profit organisation created by the late Kerry William Frost with the following key principle in mind: "Business and the community can work together to achieve social and environmental outcomes." In 2009 Team Vista was relaunched by Brendan and Kerry Anne Frost from Sydney and Caroline Collier from Adelaide. Our main project is to assist those living in poverty in a community in Moshi/Tanzania - Click on the 'Projects' link to find out more. Our goal at Team Vista is to help a community learn through education to help itself. We have a number of projects under way to achieve this goal. Education of the children, particularly girls. We are now sponsoring more girls in secondary school and have set up an 'after school group' where the high school girls get the opportunity to discuss with more successful Tanzanian women some of their issues. We have established a Business Course where some of the local unemployed adults in the community have the opportunity to learn about business. This is a 4 month course run by our co coordinator, a University graduate in Business and languages. They have to attend, pass a written exam in English, submit a business plan and if successful, they receive a 6 month interest free loan which amounts to around $40. So far, there have been 14 graduates, both men and women who are now successfully running small business' in the community and have paid back their loans. They now have formed a community bank under the direction of our coordinator. They each put money in every week, which can then be loaned out to any of the members for emergencies etc. Poverty is endemic in Kaloleni, and many people try to survive by picking through the local rubbish dump to find items to sell. We have also been able to take 7 women off the dump and have taught them sewing skills. They now have a small business, selling their skirts, bags, lap top bags etc to a shop in town and in Australia via Team Vista and Etsy. They have their own income and they too are using the community bank. Our whole focus is to give these people a hand...so they can help themselves. The families whose children we sponsor ALL give back in some way, sometimes by providing an extra piece of wood for cooking, but usually they come to help clean the school, help clear the grounds, help with planting crops, which we provide. Team Vista is a development organisation. We believe in helping people living in poverty with a hand up - not a hand out.