Help Red trough school. #ADHDinTanzania

Hello everyone, let's help Red to get trough school, let's show some love.

Click here to read it in dutch

In May 2022 I traveled to Moshi, Tanzania with my partner because of a crisis within our family. My partner has lived in Tanzania for quite some time in the past and made many friends there and those same friends have helped us tremendously through a difficult time.

During our trip I met a friend of him named Mari, a hard-working mother of three sons who studied in England. She told me that one of her sons is having a really hard time at school. He is bullied, structurally beaten with a stick by the teachers, verbally abused and when I met her she was just told that in front of the whole school he has been shamed by the headmaster as the "worst boy in the school".

She said that she also had problems with his behavior at home and that she went to a psychiatrist for advise and after an extensive diagnostic examination it became clear: He has ADHD.

At such moments I want to believe that everything happens for a reason, because I of all people, who at that moment was listening to Mari opening up about the struggle they are going trough, was also diagnosed with ADHD at the age of six and I also had a not very pleasant primary school period.

She continued to talk about Red and I also got to meet him myself. He is an eloquent and funny 10-year-old boy. He gets good grades, is very intelligent, sensitive and social and, as they say, has his heart on his sleeve. But on the other hand, he is also impulsive, easily bored and can therefore also have his typical ADHD excesses.

His situation at his current school has gotten so out of hand that he would rather quit school than go there for one more day. He is depressed, has no friends and is deliberately ignored and belittled by teachers. And is, as is normal in most schools in Tanzania, also physically punished by beating with a stick. A heartbreaking story.

Everything has been tried from talking to teachers, the principal, finding another school, medication (Atmoxetine) that Red did not respond well to. The psychiatrist was even asked to inform the teachers about ADHD, but there was no positive response from the school.

I have looked at different solutions together with Mari and the last hope is with Hope international school. Here are international teachers and local teachers who are fully trained to deal with children with more difficult behavior.

But here's the thing: to get him through primary education at an international school without all the additional costs you come to an amount of 28,600 dollars. An amount that the average Tanzanian or even an average household in the Netherlands are not able to pay.

Red's situation is not unique, there are many children in Tanzania who drop out or even run away from home because they get stuck in the system. We would like to prevent this with Red.

Red's family is a hardworking family, Mari has a hair salon and her partner sells second-hand clothes on a market, but they also had to take a lot of financial issues due to the corona crisis. They are doing there best to get stable again.

Yet they are willing to invest as much as they can themselves so that Red can continue to go to school and become a happy boy. Because despite his limitations, Red also deserves a chance for a bright future and who knows, maybe one day he can make a difference with his experience and education for so many other children in Tanzania and beyond.

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The amount:

Tuition fees for 6 years: $28,600

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What if we dont manage to get the full amount?

Even if we get a few years on the international school, can make a difference and will buy time for Red's family to get stable again after the corona crisis and for Red to be in a more safe environment.

If we dont manage to get even one year, they will fully use the donations to invest in Red's future.

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To which school?

It's about Hope international school

More info: https://hopetz.org/

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Is there anything else you can do?

Share the message with your friends, family, acquaintances and on your socials. Every action counts, even if it's not possible to make a donation, helping spreading the message will help.

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Red his grades from the last schoolyear:

How the tuition is build: