Our Advocate – Mary-Ann Dyer
We are delighted to have the support of Mary-Ann as our Rafiki Thabo Advocate. Mary-Ann first came into our lives when she signed up for our Kilimanjaro Trek in 2023. We immediately warmed to her positivity, her passion for well-being and education and her deep desire to help others less fortunate. Mary-Ann decided to fundraise for Rafiki Thabo as part of her Kilimanjaro trek and raised enough to pay for 8 disadvantaged children to attend secondary school for a year. What also caught our eye was Mary-Ann’s honest and reflective social media reels, which soon incorporated frequent and whole-hearted support for our work.
As Rafiki Thabo Advocate, Mary-Ann provides regular feature in our social media: “A Moment with Mary-Ann”, posted on the last Friday of every month. To accompany her social media reel Mary-Ann also writes a blog for our website, elaborating on her monthly topic. Mary-Ann’s hashtag is #AMomentWithMaryAnn and you can find the link to her latest social media reel at the bottom of this page. Mary-Ann also provides social media support for our small team, helping us to improve our presence and alerting us to the ever-changing features and tools of social media. Mary-Ann will continue to look for fundraising opportunities and support us at events.
“My name is Mary-Ann Dyer and I am proud to be a Rafiki Thabo Advocate. What I have learnt so far is that people come into your life for many different reasons, some come to teach you valuable life lessons, some come for a season, and some come to change your life.
I learnt about Rafiki Thabo through a life changing Instagram message from an incredible friend who asked me a simple question: “Would you like to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for the Rafiki Thabo Foundation with me?”, and I said yes.
I’ve always felt extremely fortunate to have had a family that put my education above everything else. My parents believed that education is the key to a better life, and this started with both of my amazing grandfathers who made it a priority and created generations worth of scholars who are all incredible advocates of life.
I am so grateful for the opportunities my education has given me, and in all honesty, it would have been easy for me for me to just sit back and enjoy the reward of all the hard work… but it wasn’t just my hard work, it was all the right pieces coming together and all the right decisions from people to get me to this point. I find it very hard to see so many people in the world struggling and especially so many families who crumble because they are not able to afford schooling for their children. What I know is, it only takes one educated person to change the world they live in and to enhance their community, so it is hard to see so many people not get this chance.
I wanted to be an advocate for Rafiki Thabo because I knew immediately that theirs was a movement that aligned with mine. Education is power, education is confidence, education is equality. It improves communities, countries and can change the path of a whole continent.
For a long time I didn’t know how I could be of service to this struggle, but due to a simple word, “yes”, I have found my place in a community who strive to improve education and makes me want to be my best, and do my best, to help others find the joy I have found in the opportunities I have received from someone creating a path for me.
Education is the one thing no one can take away from you and I believe it’s the one thing every single person on this planet deserves to get.” Mary-Ann, October 2023
Thank you so much for joining our team Mary-Ann!
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