By Ellina Chulpaeff
Tiffany Jung â06 started the Gambia Scholarship for students in Gambia to pursue higher education. Jung spent three months during the summer of 2007 in Gambia representing Operation Crossroads Africa to complete the construction of a library in the village of Jambanjelly.
During her visit, Jung developed friendships with the locals and realized that many of her native friends did not do well in school.
“In their eyes, more time devoted to education meant less time to work and make money for the family,” Jung said.
Jung wanted to inspire students to learn at a higher level.
She discovered the University of Gambia and decided that creating a merit scholarship would be an incentive for many Gambian students to pursue a higher education.
Immediately after returning from her trip, Jung created a website that explained what the scholarship would do. However, she found the process of becoming an official non-profit tax-exempt entity extremely long and time consuming. After researching other organizations, Jung found Develop Africa, a non-profit organization that shared her vision of helping advance Africa. She immediately contacted Develop Africa and added the causes of the Gambia Scholarship to the Promise of Hope Scholarship that already existed.
“In addition to having the same goals I envisioned of the scholarship, Develop Africa is extremely efficient and far-reaching,” Jung said.
According to Develop Africaâs website, to apply for the scholarship students must be currently enrolled in a college and demonstrate exceptional leadership potential.
In addition, they must have exceptional grades and provide evidence of contribution to the civic life of their communities.
Jung plans to sponsor two students within the next year, and eventually more.