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Khadija – Kigoma’s Newest Woman Entrepreneur

Khadija in her first year with Project Wezesha

Khadija is a student from one of our earliest cohorts of students sponsored through Project Wezesha. Khadija is the daughter of former Mgaraganza Village Chief, Bitata, who was instrumental in the founding of Project Wezesha back in 2009. Her brother Ashahadu and sister-in-law Janny have been generous hosts to Lucas, me and several of our volunteers and guests over the years.

It makes all of us very happy and proud to see Khadija in her newest role as an entrepreneur. With the support of Project Wezesha donors, Khadija was able to complete secondary school and then attend vocational school to earn a certificate in clerical studies. She completed internships in offices in Kigoma and Kasulu. Then for three years she made a brave move to work in Muscat, Oman through a family connection. Continue reading “Khadija – Kigoma’s Newest Woman Entrepreneur”

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Rabia – A Tailor in the Making

The day we first met Rabia (left of Rai) and awarded her a secondary school scholarship.

Rabia was selected as a Project Wezesha student due to her performance as a standard 7 primary school student years ago. She lived in a small village along Lake Tanganyika and attended a remote, under-resourced school.

 

 

We supported Rabia through secondary school, but she struggled due to the fact that all secondary subjects are taught in English and her proficiency level was at a beginner level. She began to improve in many of her courses and with her English when she started to participate in our bi-annual academic study camps.  Nonetheless, she didn’t pass the national exams after Form 4, which would have given her the option of attending high school. For Rabia, that was ok. Her goal was to become a tailor and eventually become a business owner. Continue reading “Rabia – A Tailor in the Making”

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Student Profile — Sospeter, aka The General

Today we’re sharing an update about one of our young men – Sospeter. Currently, he is a Form Three student. Next year he will be a Form 4 student, on his way to high school if all goes well! 

This post comes from the blog of our volunteer Kate who recently lived in Mgaranza Village for several months and taught at Amahoro Secondary School and in our Academic Study Camp. You can read Kate’s entire blog, including more of the pictures that accompanied this post here. Continue reading “Student Profile — Sospeter, aka The General”

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Amahoro Secondary School Desk Campaign

During the Fall and Winter months of 2017-2018, a remarkable woman and educator, Kate, lived and worked in Mgaraganza Village as a volunteer with Project Wezesha. She taught English at Amahoro Secondary School, she taught during our December 2017 academic study camp and she lived with our dear friends Jane, Ashahadu, Mike and Sifa. She recorded her time in a blog entitled Life Under African Skies. Be sure to check it out!

While teaching at Amahoro Secondary School, Kate identified several challenges facing the students — some of them were harsh realities of life and learning in Tanzania, such as the situation with corporal punishment. Others are ones we can address more easily (buying textbooks, supporting teachers through workshops, etc.). Kate is a doer and her concrete goal was to raise $12,000 to purchase 320 desk/chair sets to furnish all classrooms at Amahoro Secondary School, which currently has a student enrollment of 500. Continue reading “Amahoro Secondary School Desk Campaign”

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University-Bound Project Wezesha Students!

Dear Project Wezesha Supporters,

The time has finally come for our first scholarship students to really spread their wings and take flight into higher education–they’re university-bound! We are so proud of Tumsifu, Dibeit and Saidi for completing Form 6 and doing well enough on their exit examinations to join universities in Tanzania.

Saidi and Tumsifu at their Form 6 graduation ceremony.
Tumsifu and Dibeit at their Form 6 graduation ceremony.

Dibeit and Tumsifu are both interested in studying medicine. Their long-term goals are to become surgeons. In particular, they both shared their unique interests in maternal health care. It’s not surprising since they both come from small villages in Western Tanzania where the incidence of maternal and/or infant mortality are high. It has historically been difficult for women to get to the hospital to deliver their babies and when certain complications arise, even the best midwife loses patients. Fortunately, development is spreading in Tanzania, so transportation options are increasing from villages into town hospitals. Continue reading “University-Bound Project Wezesha Students!”

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A Little Help From My Friends

Shelmina, Rai and Minaz on the Puget Sound

Project Wezesha was founded when Lucas and I responded to a request for support from the chief of Mgaraganza village: Can you help us build a secondary school? Of we course we said yes, but we then had to come up with funds. We raised money little by little. But then – a miracle! Our miracle was Shelmina Babai and Minaz Abji. These two remarkable souls, born and raised in Tanzania and Uganda respectively, were set to marry. They desired nothing more from their wedding guests than contributions to Project Wezesha so we could construct Amahoro Secondary School. Their aim was to honor their fathers through this amazing gift. Continue reading “A Little Help From My Friends”

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Serendipitous Encounters

Through a series of random FacebookFritz visits Mgraganza encounters, I met a man named Fritz from Germany who was making his way to Tanzania with his sons. He had spent time in Kigoma in the 80s and was now returning, with hopes of visiting Gombe National Park.

In time, we had arranged for Lucas to meet him and escort him to Gombe and take him to visit the school in Mgaraganza. After his visit, he said that the trip to the school and village was the highlight of his trip. He even had the opportunity to speak to the entire student body at Amahoro Secondary School. We are grateful to him for making the time to visit and speak with our students. Lucas was inspired by conversations he had with Fritz’s sons and we were touched when they made a donation upon leaving.Fritz_Speaks_to_Students