To President John P. Magufuli and PayPal Holdings Inc,

My name is Trevor Allen. My fiancé and I have been volunteering with a local non-profit (Kyosei Training Centre Foundation) in Arusha for the past 5 weeks.

Through a GoFundMe campaign, we have raised over $4000 USD for our host organization. This is enough money to finish construction of Kyosei’s new school that will enable children of all ages to learn for the first time.

But there is a problem.

Kyosei’s founder and director, Steven Saning’o, is a Tanzanian citizen, and Tanzanian PayPal accounts are not eligible to receive funds. We tried a Western Union transfer, which was a complete failure. We are now forced to withdraw the funds from our American bank account at the ATM. This poses challenges: we are charged withdrawal fees for every single transaction, there is a daily withdrawal limit, and carrying around so much cash is risky and dangerous.

In addition, I am unable to set up a donation page on Kyosei’s website because they cannot accept PayPal payments. Such a webpage would drastically increase the likelyhood and frequency of foreign donations. Besides diminishing Kyosei’s chances of securing fundraising, this PayPal policy results in several other negative repercussions for Tanzanian citizens; this change.org petition summarizes them.

It seems a simple policy change regarding Tanzanian PayPal accounts could change all this. Tanzanian citizens must be able to receive money through PayPal.

Paypal’s self-stated mission and vision is “that every person has the right to participate fully in the global economy, and that we have an obligation to empower people to exercise this right and improve financial health.” Do Tanzanians not count? Does this situation not directly apply to Paypal's mission?

More than 15 years ago, the United Republic of Tanzania enacted the National Economic Empowerment Policy, with the vision that "a more favourable business environment will be created to foster a strong economy that is capable of competing effectively in a globalised world market.”

To quote specifically: "The primary objective of this policy is to provide general guidelines which will ensure that the majority of the citizens of Tanzania have access to opportunities to participate effectively in economic activities in all sectors of the economy” (Section 3.3 - Objectives).

When I came across this paper I was excited—this is exactly what my fiancé and I want to help with!—but we need your assistance. This policy was created in 2004. It’s 2019. Changing the PayPal conditions for Tanzanian accounts directly achieves a principal aim of the National Economic Empowerment Policy.

We need your help. The children of the Mkonoo Terrat community, as well as millions of Tanzanians around the country, would significantly benefit from this change. It would stimulate the economy in a big way and create innumerable possibilities. It would empower the citizens of Tanzania. Can you grant them this key financial service? Can you give them the opportunity to thrive?

Regards,

Trevor Allen