Submitted by Jaclyn Campson
Cranford resident and college student, Marissa Frank launched a non-profit organization, True Thabo, which provides schools in Africa with clean water. The organization aims to also educate people around the world about the global water crisis and inspire a generation of change through reusable water bottles.
Marissa Frank and business partner, Jaclyn Campson, have already supplied over 500,000 liters of clean water to schools in Zambia through True Thabo. The organization sells trendy reusable water bottles to raise money for water purification systems for their partner schools in Africa.
True Thabo currently has seven partner schools in Livingstone, Zambia that they are working with to improve their water sanitation processes. Marissa and Jaclyn are working on partnering with more schools in the coming months. “We have become advocates for our partner schools and we take that job seriously,” Marissa says.
Marissa was born and raised in Cranford. After graduating from Cranford High School, she volunteered in Ghana the summer before college. She has volunteered in various African countries during her college career as well. Marissa is currently a senior at the University of Scranton majoring in Marketing.
According to Marissa, “I saw first-hand the problems that schools were facing and how it was effecting the quality of education. I knew that there was a lot more I could do, even when I returned back to the States.Jaclyn and I started True Thabo to help eliminate the risk of students getting sick from water at school.”
True Thabo is a registered 501(c)3 organization which aims to supply underserved schools in Africa with water purification systems and water hygiene education. People can learn more about this serious issue, and ways to help on their website, truethabo.com.
(above) Two Zambian students pose with the water purification system that True Thabo has provided their school with. True Thabo has provided six partner schools in Zambia with water purification systems.
(above) Marissa Frank posing with the sixth grade class at Nekacheya Primary School in Zambia, where she taught English and language during a volunteer trip.
