admin, Author at Project Wezesha

January 4, 2017December 26, 2019

Launching an Academic Study Camp

Happy New Year, Project Wezesha Supporters! We wrapped up 2016 with a really cool pilot project that we’re excited to tell you all about.

As most of you have learned through these reports, education in government village schools is readily available, but not always of the same quality as that experienced by the youth in urban government schools or private schools. The short list of reasons includes lack of support for ongoing teacher training, limited English proficiency of teachers and students, lack of educational resources (e.g., laboratories, textbooks, maps, technology), and long walking commutes to schools with no meals provided on site (i.e., hunger, diminished attention spans).

For quite some time, Lucas and I have puzzled over what we can do to build on classroom-based learning. For the past few years, we have been providing additional tutoring for our students between terms and after school, especially for those struggling in particular subjects. The students are always grateful, but it still didn’t seem like it was having enough of an impact. Students continued to struggle in classes and some weren’t finishing secondary school with marks high enough to get them into high school or vocational school. Continue reading “Launching an Academic Study Camp”

October 4, 2016December 4, 2017

Autumn Update on our Scholarship Program

Happy Autumn to all of you! The leaves are turning in their brilliance here in Vermont, but back in Tanzania, rainy season is upon them – which means everything gets so lush and green!

Students are getting ready for their end-of-year examinations. Let’s just say there are some stressed students in our midst! These exams play a significant role in the lives of students in Tanzania – determining for some whether they will be able to attend secondary school, determining for others if they will continue to study at the secondary level, and determining for yet another cohort whether they will move from secondary school into high school. The stakes are high!

But in the spirit of Autumn, we’d like to celebrate that for which we are grateful. Lucas recently spent time traveling around and visiting some of our current students and their teachers to see how everyone is doing. Here are some highlights.

Ezekial shared his story with us. He said that he was born in 1997. He attended Mungonya Primary School in Kiganza, Tanzania and finished in 2012. He began secondary school in 2013 with the help of Project Wezesha and this year, he is completing Form 4. He is one of our high school hopefuls who will take the exam this month. We will get his results in December and find out if we can support him as he pursues studies through Form 5 and 6. Ezekial wants to be a doctor. He says that in Tanzania, many people die due to a shortage of doctors in the region. He wants to fill that gap and we want to help him do so!

Ezra also shared some thoughts with us. First, he says he thanks God because he was blessed to have a father who cares about him and education. When Ezra was young, he didn’t like studying. But his father gave him advice and highlighted the example of a cousin who did very well in school. With this cousin as a role model and his father as his mentor, Ezra studied with renewed enthusiasm. After his standard 4 exams, he was ranked second in his class. He was motivated to become the top in his class, so he studied even harder. Throughout the remaining years in primary school, Ezra was ranked first in his class. It was this ranking that landed him a spot in our scholarship program. He did so well on his O-level exams that he was sent to a boarding school in another region, where he studies Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. His dream is to become a doctor – with a rather specific focus on kidney problems. We love his focus and determination! He also takes his exit exams this month and we see a bright future in higher education ahead!

George, like Ezra, was inspired by a parent – but in this case, his mother. George saw how hard life was in the village and he saw how hard his mom worked to provide for him and his siblings. She encouraged him to study. He studied hard throughout primary school and succeeded in the exams to get into secondary school. His ranking as top of his class caught our attention. Life continued to be difficult for George through secondary school, however, because he had to walk a long distance. He later decided to move closer to the school – where he had to cook and care for himself. Fortunately for George, he did excel in secondary school – scoring high in Division 2 on his Form 2 exams. We expect an equally high result on his Form 4 exams in his track: Physics, Chemistry and Biology. George would like to be an Engineer, specializing in the Oil and Gas industry, and we’re proud of him for having tenacity and vision!

As students graduate from our program, space opens for new students to join us. Lucas and our friend, Madaga – an amazing local educator – have started to visit local primary schools to scout for new students to join our program. They have created an assessment tool to do some initial screening. Once we get exam results from these recent Standard 7 graduates, we’ll be able to announce who is joining us. The photos of the young girls below are the faces of some of our potential new students. Join us in sending them hope as we await their results. We’ll soon let you know who will join us in January!

Asante Sana for all of your support. Please know that our work continues as long as there are children in need of education … i.e., forever! … or for as long as we have the capacity to do so. As you know, we can’t do this without donors who are willing to contribute to the cause. Now that secondary school fees have been waived by the president, we can focus on the critical costs of keeping students in boarding schools, buying text books, and funding support classes between terms.

Please share the work we do with friends and family (click the sharing buttons below) and of course, chip in when you can (click ‘Give Now’ here on our donation site). Let us know if you’d like to know more about how you can help.

With gratitude,

Rai Farrelly & Lucas Lameck
Co-Founders, Project Wezesha

September 4, 2016December 4, 2017

Social Media Becomes a Tool for Project Wezesha

As of recently, social media is reaching more of our students. When I started working in Tanzania in 2008, no one I knew in the villages had a cell phone. A few folks in town had old-school Nokia phones. Now, almost everyone has a basic phone, and more and more people have smart phones. If you can afford to buy credit, you have 3G access – even in remote villages. Not surprisingly, it’s really changing communication and human interaction in huge ways.

For me, it’s a bonus because I have closer contact with some of our students – even from across the world. Diana, Tumsifu, Dibeit, and Hindu use Facebook. Khadija and Hindu love What’s App! Through social media platforms, I’m able to get stories from them, share ideas and pictures from home, and just keep the relationships alive. They also stay connected to others that they’ve met over the years – friends from the US who have traveled with me or visited as interns: Hadley, Tamrika, Katy, Krista, Carter, John, Dagny, Marte, Laetitia, Amy, and others. It’s these connections – as much as the education and the financial support – that contributes to the work we do. For us, these young people are friends and our support of them is personal.

Thank you for all of your support and for believing that we can make a difference, even if our reach seems small (i.e., we’re not the United Way or CARE) – it’s a reach in the right direction and it does matter!

Sincerely and with gratitude,

Rai Farrelly & Lucas Lameck
Co-founders, Project Wezesha

April 12, 2016

Spring 2016 Update on Our Students

We’re at the half way mark of a new school semester and are eager to share some updates on our students. These updates are based on a report compiled by Lucas after many calls and personal visits with teachers, headmasters, parents and students.

As each year passes, our student numbers ebb and flow due to graduation and new enrollment – and unfortunately, also due to dips in retention. These dips are often the result of failures on national examinations. Students take examinations after Form 2 and Form 4. If they fail Form 2 examinations, they have the option to repeat Form 2. If they fail Form 4 examinations, they can repeat, quit school all together, or opt for vocational training in a career center. With that information in mind, here are some updates on our current cohort of students.

One of our Form 4 students, Albert passed his Form 4 examinations and has been accepted to start high school (Form 5) this summer! We are thrilled about this news and are looking forward to see what he chooses to focus on for his Form 5 and 6 studies. Another of our Form 4 students, Shabani didn’t pass his examinations, but he did well enough to enter VETA for vocational training. Lucas is currently working with him to identify a potential focus for career training. It will be his choice if he continues and what path he chooses.

Two of our Form two students, Sango and Amina did well on their Form 2 examinations and will continue on to Form 3. These young girls are excited by the challenge to keep studying at a secondary level. We continue to support them with additional study support outside of their regular class time as we’ve come to learn it’s key to success for students attending village schools.

We also have six students – Simoni, Mahamudu, Rahma, Ezekial, George and Hassani who are moving on to Form 4 at Kagongo and Bitale Secondary Schools this year. They have really dedicated themselves to their studies and we are proud that they have made it this far. Each of them is doing very well – in particular Ezekial, George, and Simoni. Simoni is one of our top performing students – always at the top of his class – and will hopefully follow in the footsteps of Dibeit, Saidi, Tumsifu and Albert – to go on to High School!

In our boarding schools, we have three students entering Form 4 – Waridi and Ezra. They are both doing very well because, as Lucas says, all students in the boarding schools do well. Placement into secondary school is determined by the government. Placement into boarding schools is based on high performances on secondary school entrance exams. In many ways – for a young Tanzanian – this is winning the lottery. The schools are well equipped, the teachers are dedicated and well prepared, and the fact they live on campus increases their focus and chance for academic success.

Sadly, there were students who failed the national examinations and made the choice not to continue studying (not to repeat a school year and try again). Lucas felt great pain in reporting those updates and even delayed his report because he didn’t want to share bad news. We have to believe that we didn’t fail them, but rather that the system failed them – a system in which students who barely speak English are required to switch gears in the middle of their educational experience and start learning all subject matter in English. It’s a broken system and one that I wish I had the power to overhaul. In time, I believe the government of Tanzania will find a solution – whether that be starting English earlier or continuing education in both Swahili and English at the secondary level. Nonetheless, for now – it’s not working and the inability of our students to complete their education is one price that is paid. So, we wish them well on their journeys and hope that the time they did have in school gave them an opportunity to expand their knowledge base and build a relationship with education that will serve them for life. Best of luck to Oliva, Samiru, Mussa, and Mariam.

To make sure we end on a positive note, let us not lose track of Dibeit, Tumsifu, and Saidi who continue to study hard in Form 5 at their respective boarding high schools in Dar Es Salaam and Arusha. Ismael continues to study at VETA to become a mechanic and driver – he will be completing his studies and entering the workforce this year! Hindu and Khadija are reunited in Oman. They are both working there and living with host families. They make a monthly salary equivalent to their families’ annual income and they send most of their earnings home to support their loved ones, while exploring a new land, language, and culture together! They send us messages regularly on What’s App and Facebook so we can see how they’re doing. All signs point to happy!

Thank you for all of your continued support. You may never actually experience the return on your investment, but trust me when I say that our students certainly do! They are very grateful for the opportunities that we have collectively afforded them and not one penny has gone to waste!

Please consider continuing to support our program so that we can make sure that we can cover the continue costs of high school, vocational training, and tutoring for our students. (Click Donate to your right. Asante!)

April 12, 2016

Ismail – Student, Driver, Mechanic, Success Story!

Ismail joined our program years ago! He was among the first scholarship students that Project Wezesha admitted into the program. After secondary school, Ismail didn’t score high enough on the national examinations to go to high school, but he had the option of our continued support through vocational school. Since then, he has been immersed in his studies to become a mechanic and driver, which will open many doors to him in the Kigoma region, and well beyond! But without further ado, these are his words to you!

My name is Ismail. I’m living at Kiganza, Tanzania. I was born on May 12, 1990 in Kiganza, Kigoma. I’m living with one parent – only Mother. My Father was died the year 1998. The time when Father was died, he was remain with seven children and I’m a fourth child born. I was starting primary school the year of 2000, and I finished the year of 2006 for that year, I was fail the Examination and I repeated primary school at Kagina primary school in 2008. I passed the Examination and I was so happy for that time.

Then I joined secondary school Form One at Kagongo Secondary. It was 2009 up to 2012 – I finished form four. I was happy because Project Wezesha was supporting me to cover all cost from form one up to form four at Kagongo Secondary School, under Sister Rai and Brother Lucas – Thanks for all.

After Secondary, I was continue to study to join (VETA) – the means of VETA is VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINIG AUTHORITY. I was taking Motor Vehicle Mechenics, under the cost of Project Wezesha, between the year of 2014 up to 2015 and I’m continual to train even now. At the year of 2015, I had a Debe of 300,000 Tanzanian shilings. This is the cost of fees per year for my course. Also I have a challenge, because I like after this grade I need to continual grade three, up to grade four. I’m still sending my request for Project Wezesha (PW) to continue to supporting me up to the end of my study – not only me, but also and other people.

For myself I’m attaching so many thanks for Project Wezesha and all peoples or any Organizations who is supporting Project Wezesha to supporting me from begin up to now, because without Project Wezesha it was difficult for me to be here right now.

So I don’t have more to say, but I can say thanks, thanks, thanks a lot and God blessing you and Project Wezesha. Also I wishing you to continue to help other poor people like me because there is some people they need to get Education but they don’t have any supporter to supporting.

THANKS,THANKS,THANKS A LOT

YOURS,

ISMAIL

So, along with Ismail, let us extend our deepest gratitude for your support. Know, as always, that your contributions to Project Wezesha go straight to the cause. We’re a small organization and you can always trust that when you donate to our programs, the money goes to one of 3 places:

The schools (school fees)
Local shops (for textbooks and supplies as needed for our students)
Lucas’s Salary (his annual salary is $3,000 – and boy do I wish it could be more! Half is paid by Project Wezesha and half by Girls Education International. By local standards, he’s doing well, but on his salary, Lucas supports his family – paying school fees, covering medical expenses, buying food, clothing, and basic housing needs. He’s a good man, that Lucas!).

November 15, 2015

Our Next Steps

After years of fundraising and some very generous support from all of you, Amahoro Secondary School opened its doors in January, 2015. The opening ceremony was a fabulous event with music, dancing, singing, speeches, laughing, honoring, and hugging!

But most importantly, there was a school opening!

In January 2015, school officially began. 75 first year secondary students joined their peers in classes with new and excited teachers. The surrounding community was thrilled to welcome this school to Mgaraganza. Children from the lakeside villages of Mtanga and Kigalie would now only walk one hour to school instead of two! The children of Mgaraganza village would only have to walk about 10-20 minutes, rather than an hour and fifteen minutes – as they did when attending school in Kagongo Village.

Through our joint efforts, we were able to make this happen! We constructed 16 rooms – 4 quads with space for classrooms, offices and laboratories. With the help of our rockstar donors Shelmina and Minaz, we also built state of the art latrines for the school.

Is the job done? No. There is still finishing work to be completed on some of the classrooms.

Is our job done? Yes. We believe in honoring our commitments, and so we have. The local and regional governments and the Ministry of Education have made commitments to continue the final touches on this school until it is ready to host not only Form 1 students, but cohorts of Form 2, Form 3, and Form 4.

Did Project Wezesha make any other commitments? Well … maybe.

In 2015 the Prime Minister of Tanzania mandated that all schools have laboratories to better support the development of education in STEM fields. In particular, all secondary schools must have labs to explore chemistry, biology and physics through hands-on practice. His goal is too ambitious and likely will not be realized – um, actually, it wasn’t realized. He wanted all ward secondary schools to be equipped with labs by May 2015. This might have been doable in certain developed and wealthy regions of the country (i.e., Dar es Salaam), but not in the majority of the country.

Project Wezesha plans to help the local government in Mgaraganza village as they construct labs to develop a community of creative and critical thinkers who can reach high school and pursue academic interests in any field they want – including science and technology!

So, what’s next?

We are closing this campaign and want to thank all of you for your fabulous support over the years. Our next steps … We invite you to continue supporting our efforts in Mgaraganza, Tanzania through our newly launched campaign: Provide Science Labs for Tanzania Secondary Schools.

‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding. -Alice Walker

If ‘Thank You’ is a prayer, then we are always praying and you are in our prayers. It seems impossible to adequately express our gratitude for your participation in this journey! But we hope that you’ll continue to venture on with us.

November 15, 2015

Upward Momentum for More of our Students!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – talking to Lucas Lameck always puts the biggest smile on my face. Lucas is the heart and soul of Project Wezesha. Today, he updated me about the upward momentum for scholarship students in our program – students that you help support!

Here are some of the highlights:

Kiza and Hajira are rounding the bend in secondary school. This month, they will sit for their Form 4 Exit Exams. These exams are difficult and stressful and let’s be honest, most students are not well-prepared in village schools to take a national standardized exam. But we think Kiza and Hajira will do their best and lay out some nice options for themselves. If they do well, they have the choice to go on to high school. If they don’t pass, they can let us know what next steps they wish to take – and we’ll try our best to support them!

For some of our students who didn’t pass secondary exit exams, that next step was vocational school. This past year, our former student Diana graduated a program offered through the Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA). Now, using her newly developed clerical skills, she is working in Mwanga market as a secretary. Lucas told me today that she is so happy because she is making money for her family, who still lives in Kiganza village.

Amosi, one of our bright young students from Kiganza village also finished secondary school. He has since taken a job as a teacher in a nursery school (pre-school) in Tabora! We’re so excited that one of our graduates is a school teacher, and can only imagine what an impact he’s having on these cute little learners!

Several of our other scholarship students are still studying in Form 2 or 3, and a few of them are staying at the top of their class in their respective schools, including: Simoni, Ezra, George, Ezekial, and Rahma.

In December 2016, I’ll be traveling to Tanzania again. When I’m there, I’m hoping to meet with Saidi in Arusha and Tumsifu in Dar es Salaam to see how our first high schoolers are doing! I’ll also check in with Dibeit by phone (but by all accounts on Facebook, he seems to be doing well!). I have to say, knowing them from the time they were 10 and 11 years old in a village without electricity to now being their friends on Facebook while they live in cities and go to high school – well, it’s pretty incredible!

In 2008, when we started supporting students by paying school fees and mentoring them on their options, we figured we would help a handful of students. Thanks to your support, we’ve helped dozens and we hope to continue!

Please consider sharing this project through Twitter and Facebook (share buttons below!) and encourage friends to chip in. Funds pay school fees, buy textbooks, and pay for additional support (tutoring) between semesters to make sure they are coming in on level for the next term.

August 15, 2015November 15, 2015

Updates Since Amahoro Secondary School Opened

Here are some updates since Amahoro Secondary School opened. Since our big bash to open the school in January, school has been in full swing! The first term ended in May and the students enjoyed a summer break in June. Classes started back up in July. The teachers and villagers are thrilled about the school – parents never imagined they would have a secondary school right in the village.

Lucas met with some of the parents recently (see pictures) to discuss ways in which the parents can best support their children to be successful in school. Among the ideas they shared, parents are committed to making time after school for students to study. They are also going to make sure their children get up and out the door each day to arrive at classes on time. (You know how hard it can be to get teens out of bed! In Tanzania they’re up with the roosters, but getting the sandals to the sand for the walk to school can be a challenge!)

The teachers are grateful for the opportunity to be teaching in such a lovely, tree-rich environment. There is always a breeze up at Amahoro and the views of the surrounding hills and forests of Gombe are stunning! But, most of the teachers are either staying with families in the village or commuting from town (not a short distance!). This set-up may ultimately result in discontent, unmotivated teachers or resignations. Our next initiative will be to work with the village and town governments to fast track the building of teachers’ houses near the school.

In addition, we are planning to launch a campaign to help the school finish up its laboratories so that they have the mandatory labs and equipment to properly teach Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. Keep an eye out for information about those campaigns in a forthcoming update.

As part of the Girls Education International expansion into Tanzania, we have 15 girls studying at Amahoro Secondary School. Project Wezesha continues to support all students in our scholarship program by paying for additional support classes (what they refer to as ‘tuition’) throughout the year. In this way, our students can stay after school and work with teachers to really dig deep into the subjects that present them with the most challenges academically.

My next trip to Tanzania will be December, at which time I’ll be identifying teachers who wish to be involved in a two-way teacher training program with volunteer student teachers from other countries. It will be an ambitious project, but it’s the area through which I think we’ll see the most impact on education. Walls and books only do so much – the teachers really create the learning opportunities and if they’re not motivated, prepared, inspired, and supported then things continue – status quo. We prefer to move education forward to ensure that more of our students reach high school, college and beyond!

June 15, 2015November 15, 2015

Evidence of Impact – Sky’s the Limit!

We are very proud to announce that as of Summer 2015, our three young men – Dibeit, Tumsifu and Saidi found out which high schools they will be attending starting July 18th. School assignment is based on secondary school exit exams, and the fact that these three are going all over the country speaks to how well they did!

Dibeit was selected to attend Mahiwa High School in the Lindi Region of Tanzania. He will study a PCB combination – Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Tumsifu was selected to attend Kibiti Secondary School in the coastal region just outside of Dar es Salaam. He too will take on the ambitious PCB combination. Both of them have goals of becoming doctors! We’re hoping they excel in their high school program so we can continue to help them pursue university studies. Continue reading “Evidence of Impact – Sky’s the Limit!”

February 15, 2015November 15, 2015

Open a School? Don’t mind if we do!

This is sure to be my favorite update so far. After four years of fundraising, planning, negotiating, (struggling), and succeeding – we are so excited to share the news that Amahoro Secondary School is open! There are 70 Form 1 students currently studying in our completed classrooms! Of this cohort, 15 are newly added girls for our Girls Education International Scholarship Tanzania program! We really couldn’t be more happy, excited, and hopeful!

In January 2015, I traveled with two friends to the Kigoma Region. For the first few days, we met with leaders at the district level – planning the opening party, budgeting for the festivities, negotiating PW’s contribution and the government’s contribution, and much more. We visited the site of the school and met with the enthusiastic and proud new Head Master, Mr. Kumenya, as well as the local village leaders who have been working with us since the beginning. Village ‘Diwani’ (Chief) Patrick Maganga was on hand all week – preparing the final details for the opening, including finishing the latrines, building steps into the classrooms, and staying on top of official business (organizing entertainment groups, arranging the schedule of events, staying in close contact with district leaders, etc.). He is a model of what true leadership should look like! Thank you, Diwani Maganga!!

One of the final hurdles to overcome prior to the opening of the school was completion of the latrines. I’ll admit – I was very impressed when I finally saw them! Our top supporters, Shelmina and Minaz are responsible for the completion of the latrines. (Thank you, Shelmina and Minaz!!) The latrines come complete with porceline base toilets and a state of the art system for storing waste – which will last up to 70 years before it has to be cleared out by truck! Not just your average hole in the ground! Of course, our fabulous builder Isaya Lameck brought his A-Game to finish them, and his crew of laborers put in many hours digging deeper and deeper through very rocky soil. It was one of the toughest parts of the overall job!

The party was a smash! There were entertainment groups from the village and neighboring towns. They brought in an MC, a DJ, and set up a big tent for the VIP guests. Parties like this are a very big deal for villages and they let it show!

There was a theatrical song and dance performance, dancing by youth hip hop groups, and even some dancing by our current scholarship students. Interspersed with the entertainment were speeches by the village and district leaders. The village exective officer read a speech prepared by Lucas which outlined the timeline of the project, acknowledged the many contributors – near and far, and ultimately celebrated the big opening day!

The District Commissioner, Ramadhani Maneno gave a big speech about the promise of the future with education at the helm. He told the crowd of over 1,000 that I would be back in the future with volunteer teachers of English, Science, and Math to help build capacity … no pressure! (Any volunteers?)

After all the dance, music, and speeches – they revealed the beautiful foundation plaques on the wall of the school. And then – the feast! All villagers and VIP guests were treated to a celebration lunch. Lucas showed that his skills even extend to being an event caterer and food server! He was tireless in his efforts to make sure this entire celebration was a huge success. By the end of the day, needless to say – we were all an exhausted group of planners and supporters!

But enough reading … take a little break from whatever else you have to do right now and watch this video mash-up of the celebration!

Thank you very much to everyone who has collaborated, contributed, and cheered along the way! We’ll continue to work with the leaders and the headmaster to continue this school’s development – building laboratories, finishing additional classroom spaces, and of course – getting the football pitch ready for matches! So – we’ll take you along for the journey for as long as you’ll let us!