Mr. Mhina, who works as a tour guide at home, visited three Boston-area schools last week as a representative of the Meali Primary School in Karatu, a rural area in northern Tanzania.

He explained that while a free primary education is compulsory for all Tanzanian children (through Level 7, about age 15), only about half graduate. Fewer still continue their schooling for another six years to pass their O and A levels, or go on to attend college or university. Mr. Mhina himself went all the way through the system, and later received a private scholarship to study marketing and tourism in England. He volunteers for Meali to help create educational opportunities for rural children for whom the obstacles to staying in school are greatest.