School Aid Tanzania

Both myself and my husband, Richard, have a great love for the county of Africa. On our most recent visit to Tanzania we visited two primary schools to meet the students and teachers and see their way of life.  Many of the students come from the Masai tribe. Traditionally children of the Masai tribe do not participate greatly in education but slowly change is progressing.

The Simanjiro Primary school is a large school with almost 700 children. This school provides dormitories for the girls & boys to stay in during the school week. By staying in the dormitories the children's safety is secured as walking through the dirt tracks in the  bush puts their lives at big risk of being attacked by any wild animal or snakes, of which most in Africa, are poisonous. 
This school opened over fifty years ago but as time went on and participation in education in the area increased the school began to run out of classroom space. Some classes have to be taught outside under trees. The parents work hard to fund money to extend the school. The vast amount of students and the sharing of resources struck us. On our most recent visit we gifted them donations of footballs and pumps, pens, colouring pencils and chalk. The excitement on their faces was amazing.
 
We also visited the primary school in Emboreeti. This school is only opened four years and is a much smaller school for local children. The school building itself is more like a shed and that really struck the both of us. There are only three classrooms and it is very basic. The parent’s scraped together what Tanzanian Shillings they could to build the school for their kids to get a basic education. Some of the kids walk from 5 to 15 kilometers to get to school and the same home. Parents in rural Tanzania are now beginning to see education as a fundamental factor to escape a life of poverty. During our time there we witnessed the kids eat “Ugali” which is very stiff porridge and a few beans if they are lucky. They may also get a little goat or cow’s milk to drink during the day.

As the Emboreeti Primary School is located in a very rural area it would massively reduce the danger to all the children’s lives if  dormitories for the girl’s & boy’s could be built where could share playtime with their friends and not have to walk such long distances to get to school each day.  In rainy season children can easily get soaked walking to school. There is always a fear that a child may be bitten by a snake or a scorpion or lose their little life by a buffalo or big cat attack.
 
In both school’s some kids might not have their own pencil so pencils have to be shared. We witnessed up to four kids sharing a seat when we visited Emboreeti.
 
Our aim is to provide funding to build dormitories for the children to sleep in and to provide School Aid i.e pencils, copies, school books, chalk for the blackboards etc.  We are also hoping to provide provisions for the villagers to feed and clothe themselves and their children as well as funding medicines to prevent infections.

So far we have received very generous donations of school supplies, clothes, shoes and children's games. We have even been given suitcases to carry all these items with us! However there is a limit on how much we can bring so now we ask for your help to donate a few Euros to this worthy cause.

Every little helps and we would be very grateful.

Thank you,

Bridget & Richard.