Orphans Africa

 

In the summer of 2008, in a small mountainous village in Western Tanzania on land donated by the community, village leaders built a secondary school out of sticks and thatch for the area orphans. Unlike primary school, secondary school is not free to students in Tanzania, making it cost-prohibitive to any orphans who wish to continue their education beyond the 6th grade level (Standard 7). At first, eighty-four orphans sat in shifts, shoulder-to-shoulder upon benches hewn from logs as they listened intently to lessons taught by local volunteer teachers.

Knowing that they needed help, village leaders approached Orphans Africa and proposed construction of a more permanent school. Impressed with their initiative and passion for helping the orphans, OA agreed to undertake the construction of the Mwaji Secondary School.

Click here to watch a video about an orphan named Rosie and the Mwaji Secondary School.

Click here for a video about Pablo and Monica from Sao Paulo, Brazil; Pablo and Monica volunteered at the Mwaji Secondary School.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Since the Fall of 2008 and in coordination with the village leaders of Bujela, Orphans Africa has accomplished the following:

Completed three permanent brick classrooms, to include cement floors, plastered and painted walls, glass and screens on the windows, locking steel doors, and 20-year tin roofing. A fourth classroom is nearing completion. Soon each grade can have their own classroom!

Provided student desks and chairs for the new classrooms.

Dug and installed a water well; the well is open to the community during non-school hours.

Completed a 2-hole teachers’ toilet facility.

Completed 8-hole boys’, and 8-hole girls’ toilet facilities.

Provided funds for the Form Two students (approximately 8th grade) to sit for their national examinations in November, 2011. They scored equally as well as the students from the local public school! Now that’s progress!

Provided textbooks for teachers, and most recently, over 400 textbooks for the students. OA is actively seeking funds to purchase the remaining textbooks needed. (Each student requires 7 textbooks — one per each subject.)

Provided two high quality microscopes, an unheard of luxury in an educational system that still teaches by rote with zero practical application.

Provided salaries for teachers and hired a new science teacher.

Obtained a grant from the Bujela community for three additional acres for school expansion. The land continues to be cleared by hand. Proceeds from the lumber harvest go back to the community as part of the agreement.

Actively interfacing with the government in an effort to officially register the school, a lengthy, red-tape process. While the school will remain private (not public), registration is necessary so as to show compliance with basic standards of curriculum and facilities. The government continues to be supportive of OA’s efforts.

Obtained a free site plan drawn by the government. The map details the location of all future structures. Click here to see the site plan, with clickable links to all buildings under construction.

Begun construction on an administration building (required by the government), with the requisite offices, storage facilities, and staff area.

Completed a one-room teachers’ office building. Once the administration building is completed, the teachers’ office will become a temporary library until a permanent library can be built.

Obtained a $25,000 Tangible Love Grant from Community of Christ to build a girls’ dormitory. Construction is currently underway; the dormitory will house up to 48 girls and is located on the new land. Soon most of the girls will be able to live on campus, providing them with security and a place to call home. More dormitories are planned for the future, including for the boys.

Provided washable, reusable, feminine hygiene kits for all the girls, and instruction on how to care for the kits and for themselves. Previous to this, the girls frequently had to miss school during their monthly cycle. The kits will help the girls not fall behind the boys in their studies.

Provided sports equipment so they can have some fun and work off some energy.

Now there are over 120 orphan students in attendance, all with uniforms!

GOALS:

Funds are still needed to build more classrooms, dormitories, a headmaster’s cottage, library, laboratories, a playfield, a kitchen and dining hall, as well as to purchase desks, other furnishings, textbooks, and school supplies and equipment.

Because of the additional land grant by the Bujela community, it is now possible to include agriculture as part of the curriculum. Ideally, students will learn sustainable agricultural practices, as well as be able to supplement the school diet with fresh produce. The local teachers’ college in Tukuyu (20 miles away) has agreed to send a couple of student-teachers who are majoring in agriculture to the Mwaji Secondary School for their two month internships, where they will instruct the secondary students on sustainable farming. Sustainable farming is critical in a country where 89% of the population earns their living through farming. Students will learn about erosion, soil health, maximizing yields, and more.

Position the Mwaji Secondary School as a leader in educational excellence, teaching students through traditional methods as well as through practical application, hands-on experience, and field study.

Continue to provide teacher training from qualified volunteer visitors.

Obtain a library of books.

Obtain a laboratory of science equipment and to promote the school as a leader in the sciences.

Power the school with solar energy.

Build a system of gutters, cisterns, and poly-storage tanks so as to fully utilize the rain from the rooftops.

Provide free room and board for any orphan students who need a home.

Raise a generation of leaders who can help their country rise out of its crushing poverty.

SELF-SUSTAINABILITY:

All OA schools are operated according to a model of self-sustainability. Meaning, that once the school is fully constructed, operational, and registered with the government, it is capable of supporting itself and OA can move on to the next project. OA’s model combines tuition-paying students with fully-dependent orphan students. Tuition received from parents of non-orphan students cover the costs of teachers’ salaries, school operation, plus the room and board of the orphans. Also, by combining non-orphans with orphans, social stigmas and prejudices are reduced as opposed to being reinforced through orphan-only schools.