Ziga School Bus

Hamjambo!  “Hello!” from Tanzania.   We are the Malangalilas and we are looking for some help from you to expand Ziga English Medium Academy. We opened in January of this year to six children. The school has grown faster than we ever could have hoped and now we find ourselves with seventy-eight students. Some travel over eleven miles to get to us.  We are hoping you can help us keep up with this phenomenal growth by making a donation.


Why we started a school: Both of us have experience with learning in rural villages, as both a teacher and a student. It was frustrating witnessing the lack of resources available and the barriers children had to achieve for a basic education. This experience shaped our passion for teaching and wanting the fair distribution of resources. Although we have sent several family members and friends to schools in Tanzania to become electricians, teachers and nurses somehow it didn’t feel like enough. We wanted to do more. 

What we have done: In 2009, with our tax return we bought a piece of property in Makambako, located in the southern highland of Tanzania in hopes to build an elementary school one day. We envisioned a school with an innovative approach to education - a school that would provide students with nutritious meals for breakfast and lunch, treat female students as equals to male students, employ loving teachers, and prohibit corporal punishment.  We wanted a school with bright, naturally lit classrooms and a library full of books, puzzles, Legos, and board games.  We imagined students exploring a playground, climbing on a playscape, and soaring on swings for the first time in their lives.  Immediately, Osmundy began working two full time jobs and several side jobs to save up to pay for our future endeavors and in 2014 we were able to buy 80,000 bricks, the journey began! In 2016 and an additional 20,000 bricks later the foundation was laid and our vision was starting to form. As the buildings became classrooms, offices and a library we began to collect used books for the future school library from kind donations from our friends, local organizations like Half Price Books, our children’s former daycares and elementary school. 

Finally, eleven years later on January 13, 2020 Ziga (named after our two children Zia and Gahmoto) English Medium Academy opened its doors to six eager students disembarking from a school bus with a sitting capacity of only 28 students. Ten months later Ziga has grown considerably with a current enrollment of 78 students now needing to commute over 11 miles on bumpy dirt roads to school. We are in serious need of an additional school bus to transport these ambitious students safely to school. 

Why we need help: Unfortunately, time is not on our side to save $25,000 for the desperately needed bus. It has room for 76 students, so it will accomodate all of our current kids with room for 26 more as we grow!  Tanzania does not have a system in place for making monthly payments to purchase vehicles. Therefore, we need your help. Please kindly help us reach our goal of $25,000 to purchase the essential school bus. Every dollar helps us reach our goal. As they say in Swahili, asante sana! Thank you very much!

Who we are: My name is Maggie Malangalila and I work for Austin Independent School District at Garza High School as an Agriculture Science teacher in Austin, Texas. My husband, Osmundy, is an immigrant from Tanzania, East Africa and has worked as a multimedia technician at Austin Community College (ACC) for the last 13 years. Prior to his employment at ACC he volunteered for Austin Habitat for Humanity for nine months helping build houses while he waited for his work permit. Osmundy and I met in 2000 while I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. We married in 2006 and have two beautiful children, Zia and Gahmoto. We remain close to family and friends in Tanzania and visit regularly, packing our suitcases full of backpacks, shoes and school supplies to donate to our old village.