Marilynn Primary & Nursery School
Where It Began
Humble Beginnings
2007
Orphans Africa began in 2007 with a collaboration between three Westerners and a grassroots organization of Tanzanians. This grassroots group recognized the plight of the orphans and began building a primary school to house and educate them. However, being poor themselves, they quickly ran out of funds.
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When the founders of OA first stepped foot on the fledgling campus in 2007, they were taken aback by the conditions: No clean water, one toilet shared by all 120 children and staff, few school supplies, one set of textbooks shared by all the teachers, few finished classrooms, and children who needed attention, most certainly medical care.
Consistent Progress
2013
Since 2007, OA has developed the Marilynn Primary and Nursery School into a beautiful campus with classrooms, lavatories, kitchen & dining hall, computer laboratory, security, library, and water well, as well as textbooks, supplies, and desks.
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Infrastructure aside, students consistently achieve high marks on their National Examinations. In one year alone, four of Marilynn's students scored in the top 10 out of thousands of children, with the school taking the number ONE spot overall! Almost all Marilynn students graduate and enter high school.
Self-sustainability
2024
The Marilynn Primary & Nursery School fully operates on a model of self-sustainability. What does this mean exactly?
Half of the student population have parents. Attracted by the school's impressive education, those parents pay tuition which in turn goes toward paying for school operations, as well as for the care and education of the orphans who attend for free.
In partnership with the grassroots organization, Orphans Africa has developed this school to such an extent that it no longer requires OA's financial or managerial support. It is OA's goal to have all their projects become self-sustaining.
