Our Story

Eric and Linda Funke moved to Tanzania in September of 2012. After three months at a language school learning Swahili, they began their work in Mwadui, Tanzania.

Eric taught math, physics and computers at Mwadui Lutheran Secondary School. Linda, a social worker and Lutheran Deaconess, taught a guidance and counseling course at the school, worked with the Lutheran church on community development projects, and home-schooled their two children, Michael and Julia.

After over seven years of service in Tanzania, they prayerfully decided to move back to the U.S. in 2020 in order to expedite the process of getting U.S. citizenship for Michael and Julia. However, they continued to fundraise for various Tanzanian projects through different organizations.

In 2023, they realized that their passion to help to fund education projects in Tanzania remained, even as they now live in the U.S. Therefore, they decided to start a non-profit to centralize these fundraising efforts and provide transparency and tax deduction to donors. As they discussed this idea with dear friends and family, they found ourselves saying over and over again, “We don’t know exactly where God is leading us, but this feels like the next step.” Likewise, they often heard stories from Tanzanian students who had no idea how their families would be able to pay the next year’s school fees. They couldn’t see far into the future. They just want to take the next step. Linda and Eric also heard from the Lutheran church in Tanzania about ministries they would like to start and expand, but they don’t know how they will fund the next step in that project. And thus Next STEP Tanzania was born.