Education Tanzania, United Republic of Project #47991

Build a school for 100 Maasai children in Tanzania

by Smart Villages Foundation

Build a school for 100 Maasai children in Tanzania

Project Report | Feb 1, 2021
Stormy times in Simanjiro - Kiruru school update

By Bernie Jones | Project leader

Kiruru pre-Primary school lost its roof in a storm

Dear Friends,

Despite COVID-related international travel problems, we have just been out in Tanzania, and in particular catching up with the community of Kiruru. The General Election in October, and its aftermath, disrupted everyone's lives a little bit, and sadly it looks as though - although Tanzania has had very low incidence of COVID since June - the disease is now making a comeback, with several hospitals in the capital, Dar es Salaam, allegedly full with people suffering from COVID.

Your generous donations last year have been used by the community to have the metal windows made for the new school - there's a photo here of them being stored in the corner of the village church, for safety.

But the really sad news we have to report is that in the storms at the end of the short rainy season in December, the roof of the pre-school blew off, and has been damaged beyond easy repair. Since then, Nemburis the volunteer teacher, not to be put off her personal mission of helping the children of the community, has been teaching them under a tree each day.

But this does mean the village is particularly keen to finish off the main structure of the new primary school (and the roof in particular) so that the pre-Primary school can be taught there in the meantime.

Your generous donations over the last 3 months have been added to funds collected in the community (and a surprise donation to the village from a Tanzanian benefactor, of 1 million Tanzanian shillings - a little over $400) to help the village achieve at least water-tightness for the school building, so that the pre-primary pupils have somewhere safe and secure to be taught when the long rainy season starts next month.

If you are able to share our ongoing fundraising page for the school (https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/build-a-school-for-100-maasai-children-in-tanzania/) with your friends and family, we know the adults and children of Kiruru will be very grateful. Knowing that people from around the world are reaching out their hands to help them improve their community, and provide improved education for their children, means a great deal to them.

Many thanks in the meantime, and we hope you and your loved ones all stay safe and healthy.

Best regards

Bernie

Under this tree - where children have lessons now!

Storm damaged pieces in the unusable school-room

New primary school building in background

Open to the sky - pre-primary school post-storm

Blackboard and new school windows safe in church

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Nov 3, 2020
Kiruru update

By Bernie Jones | Project Leader

Community discussion outside the primary school

Dear Friends and Donors,

It's a pleasure to be able to update you all on the latest news from Tanzania. Over the last six months, it has been difficult to contact the remote communities with whom we work in the Simanjiro district of Northern Tanzania. Even our local partners haven't been able to go as often as they would have liked. But luckily, COVID cases seem to have been kept low throughout Tanzania, especially in the areas that we work in.

More immediate problems for the communities were the unseasonally long and heavy rains from November 2019 until May 2020. There was so much rain that the crops were very badly affected, so community wealth and nutrition has been a concern for communities this year as well.

Depite this, there is good news from the sub-village of Kiruru. Building the new primary school was such a priority for the local community that despite the difficulties of COVID and the poor harvest, they were able to raise a small amount of money themselves to continue construction of the school. We were very happy to be able to match the funds they raised themselves with the donations we had received via GlobalGiving, so the community are now going to be able to progress with putting a roof on the school structure!

There's still a long way to go though, so please do consider forwarding this appeal to your friends and relatives, to help this community construct a school for their children, so that they no long have to walk 14km a day to reach the nearest alternative (fording a river, and fending off wildlife on the way!)

In the meantime, we'll share another related story from the community with you, about the inspirational volunteer teacher featured in the video on our GlobalGiving appeal. She is passionate about education and the development of her community. But her husband doesn't feel quite the same way. In recent months, he tried to insist that she stop teaching completely. Apparently, because she refused, she has been forced out of her house, and is now having to build her own house in a plot given to her by the community some years ago! She is very upset, naturally, but for her teaching the village children remains her number 1 priority, and it seems that no amount of personal hardship can deter her from her vision and passion. We hope our own activities in the village will make her proud!

Unloading new metal roof sheets for the school

Storing the roof sheets before installation

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