Orphans Africa

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).

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. At first, eighty-four orphans sat in shifts, shoulder-to-shoulder upon benches hewn from logs as they listened intently to lessons taught by 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 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. They scored equally as well as the students from the local public school! That’s progress!

Provided textbooks for teachers, and most recently, 288 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 salaries for teachers.

Completed a teachers’ office building.

Obtained the funds to completely build and furnish a girls’ dormitory. Preparations have begun for its construction.

Now there are 92 orphan students in attendance, all with uniforms!

GOALS:

Funds are still needed for more classrooms, desks, supplies, dormitories, headmaster’s cottage, kitchen, and dining hall.

SELF-SUSTAINABILITY:

All OA schools are operated according to a model of self-sustainability. Meaning, that once the school is operational and fully 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.