Secondary School Complete
Why this project was needed
Most families in Nadasoito have no source of regular income. The majority are people work in agriculture and the average life expectancy is 55 years old. Only 30% of Tanzanian children attend secondary school, with most students attending coming from urban areas. Without continuing education, it is near impossible for families to break the cycle of poverty, children run the risk of engaging in child labour and girls are particularly vulnerable, falling victim to early marriage, early pregnancy, HIV infection, survival sex and gender based violence.
Details on the project
Working in collaboration with a local Tanzanian NGO, CHETI, who provide exemplary knowledge regarding education and poverty in their community, we significantly contributed to the building of a secondary school by building 6 classrooms. Government permits were granted in 2016 to build the area’s first secondary school, which will cater for 45 students in the next academic year starting January 2019, reaching a capacity of 250 students by 2022.
The school will offer the standard academic subjects, health/girl empowerment workshops and free school meals to boost attendance. There will also be toilets on campus, which has been highlighted as a barrier to attendance, especially for girls during menstruation.
The project will promote education, specifically for children living in poverty, offering all of the standard UK academic subjects. English will be taught to a high level, giving students the opportunity to find skilled work and access Tanzania’s ever-growing tourism industry. The students will be able to access qualifications up to O-Level (GCSE equivalent).
Fundraising
Fundraising took 2 and a half years and was done by dedicated volunteers. Fundraising began in February 2016. We completed all fundraising in August 2018. Fundraising began with community fundraising (events, buy a brick campaigns, sponsored walks). We were also supported by Cocowhite in Summer 2017 (for our CSR fundraising programme) who contributed over £7,000 of unrestricted funds, however we dedicated this to building the school. Another huge boost in fundraising happened when a major donor donated in February 2018 in lieu of a big wedding. We launched our Trusts and Foundations fundraising in January 2018 and received 3 out of 6 grant applications.
A huge thank you to our amazing funders for this project:
Classroom 1: Major Donor Matt and Charlottes £6,875 including gift aid to build one large vocational classroom. Matt and Charlotte’s wedding donation of £6,875 (£5,500 donation and £1,875 in Gift Aid). They are getting married late October 2018. They are not keen on being publicised so keep their name’s out of it until we have full confirmation.
Classroom 2 and 3: Allan and Nesta Ferguson Trust - £13,661
Completion of Class 4,5,6: Hazel’s Footprints Trust - £8,900
Contribution to overall building of school: The Ashworth Charitable Trust - £3,000
Contribution of over £7,000 from Cocowhite for their CSR programme.
Project timeline
Building took 2 years. Building began in September 2016 and completed in September 2018.
Plans for the future
We recognise education is more than just building a school. Over the coming years we will support the school in terms of providing clean drinking water, toilets, hand washing facilities and girls health.
