Kiwalaa Classroom Renovation Project

My name is Katie and I have been a teacher in Australia for almost 25 years. I was lucky enough to meet a beautiful Tanzanian lady and her French husband when I lived in France 20+ years ago. Their names are Sarah and Gabriel and they started a charity called Education Pour le Kilimanjaro to help support primary schools in the Kilimanjaro region where Sarah grew up and went to school.

I have always dreamed of travelling to Africa and this year the opportunity presented itself, so I grabbed it with both hands and have just spent a month volunteering in 3 schools near Moshi where I stayed with Sarah and Gabriel in Sarah’s childhood home. I was lucky to see firsthand the incredible work they have done so far with Education Pour le Kilimanjaro. I visited 3 schools…

The first fortnight was spent at Neville Primary School and Mbokomu Primary School. Sarah and Gabriel have been supporting these two schools for over 10 years. They have organised sponsorship programs for students and worked with other charities and groups to undertake massive building projects where classrooms, toilet blocks, dining halls and kitchens have been built. These projects have resulted in almost 100% of students in these schools now passing their end of primary school exams and being able to continue their education in secondary school. Previous to this support, only a handful of students passed each year and the remaining students were forced to stop their education at the age of 12 years! Over 800 students have benefited from sponsorship and been provided with uniforms, shoes, a school bag, school resources and a meal each day!

The second half of my trip was spent at Kiwalaa Primary School. I was greeted like a long lost friend and showered with hugs, smiles, dancing and singing! The staff and students were incredibly welcoming! But it was obvious to me that first day that this was a school with incredibly high needs.

I walked into the first classroom to see the broken concrete flooring had given way to dirt floors. The blackboard was cracked and ruined and teachers took one piece of chalk into each lesson. The walls contained little to know posters, resources, decoration or inspiration. The odd number chart, poster or diagram that could be found was dirty, faded and ripped. There was no sign of technology and student notebooks were barely holding together and were covered in plastic bread bags and scrap paper. Most kids only had one pen and one pencil! I invited students to colour in a picture during one of my lessons to be told they don’t have colours. I had taken some supplies with me so the students then shared one set of coloured pencils! Watching 50 students share a pack of pencils without one single complaint, no snatching and no nagging is an image that will stay with me forever! These kids were just so grateful! I put a stamp on their work and the excitement on their faces was just priceless! Something my Australian students wouldn’t even notice was the best thing to happen to these kids!

After spending a month with these students, their little faces will forever be with me. I know with absolute certainty that they deserve more and I know with your help we can do something incredible and life changing for these children.

Whilst I was at Kiwalaa, they too were being blessed with a building project thanks to Education Pour Le Kilimanjaro and their partners Human’Isa. Human’Isa is a group comprised of final year French engineering students and their teachers. They work with charities to carry out humanitarian works and building projects. There are currently 60+ people working at Kiwalaa to build two new classrooms, a toilet/shower block, an office for the principal and a dining hall/kitchen. The project lasts for 6 weeks!

My plan is to continue on from this project and help the other classes look as great as the new buildings. I will spend the next 18 months or so raising as much money as I can. I will then take that money, and a team of 10-15 volunteers, to Kiwalaa Primary School where we will paint all of the classrooms, repair the blackboards and put up useful and relevant posters so the children have a variety of motivational resources to refer to. Teaching materials will be created in collaboration with teaching staff at the school to ensure correct and relevant content is created. I’m also working to be able to provide each child with a stocked pencil case…including coloured pencils!!

My dream is that the classrooms become a place of inspiration, fun and joy for these children. A place where they can dream of the possibilities and get an education that will help them achieve those dreams!

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” (Malcom X)