Posted on

Gifts of Education for the Holidays

This holiday season, you’re likely being pulled in many directions for your holiday shopping.  I get several emails a day about how I should shop this year – all worthy causes, such as Seva.org, Kiva.org, Heiffer.org, Amnesty International, and many others.  So why would you even consider Project Wezesha as your option this year?  Well ….

For better or worse, we’re a very small organization with one important project on the table and over a dozen wonderful children in our scholarship program.  Because we are so small, all of your donations go to one of three possible places – the building of Amahoro Secondary School, the school fees of our 12 rock star students and the salary of our co-founder, Lucas Lameck – which is small by our standards but life-changing for this amazing young man.  Lucas is currently using half of his salary to attain his own high school diploma with the hopes of one day going to university, which will only enhance his capacity to work on improving access to education for children in this region.

Here’s another amazing reason.  Yesterday, while I was sitting in a NonProfit Academy workshop on High Impact Philanthropy, I received a text from Tanzania.  It’s the first text I’ve ever received from anyone there (Lucas and I usually email or skype).  Here’s what the email read (word for word/letter for letter):

My name is Dibeith. How are You and your fine that we have very happy because we can pass an exams. me and saidi. can help me to get the communicate you for now Thank You. Continue reading “Gifts of Education for the Holidays”

Posted on

PW Students Visit Amahoro Secondary School

Last week, Lucas passed through Kiganza village en route to Mgaraganza village to collect more pictures of the school.  On his way, he picked up some of the Project Wezesha students who were making the long journey home from school in Mwandiga.  For those that live in Kiganza village, such as Hindu, Edina, Ismael and Diana, that trek is about an hour long on foot.  For those that live in Mgaraganza, there is another 30 minutes through the forest to get home – that impacts Zainabu, Silvasia and Khadija.

On this sunny day, Lucas invited all of them to go the extra distance through Mgaraganza village to the school building site to see the progress. They wandered through the lush forest (rainy season just passed) and up to the school where they were so excited to see the progress. Along the way, they also picked up Matamshi and Judith, two of our students who go to secondary school in Kagongo village. In this picture, they are crossing the river that divides Kiganza village and Mgaraganza village.

 
Crossing the River that borders Kiganza and Mgaraganza Villages

  Continue reading “PW Students Visit Amahoro Secondary School”

Posted on

Giving Thanks-Asante-Urakoze!!

On this lovely Thanksgiving Day, I would like to give thanks to everyone who has made Project Wezesha a great success over the past year.  Lucas and I had a simple plan when we sat at the Sun City Cafe in Kigoma in July 2009.  We just wanted to give out scholarships to a handful of children who wanted to go to secondary school, but couldn’t afford it. 

Now, only a year later, we are happy to be supporting 12 children in secondary schools in Mwandiga, Bitale and Kiganza villages.  We also have three young students awaiting test results who hope to join the program in January!  In addition, we are so happy to be building Amahoro Secondary School with the village of Mgaraganza.  So much went into making this all possible – and I give thanks for all of it!  Continue reading “Giving Thanks-Asante-Urakoze!!”

Posted on

September Update on Amahoro Secondary School

Welcome back for another quick update!  For those of you who are new to Project Wezesha, make sure to browse through the July blog entries as I spent three weeks in July 2010 working in Mgaraganza village and Kigoma town – making this happen – with my in-country director, Lucas Lameck.
I spoke with Lucas twice over the past couple of months.  We have a plan to chat with each other every other Sunday.  Thank goodness for Skype Mobile on my Droid!  Now staying in touch is easy!  (That sounded like a commercial, but I swear no one is paying me … or this school would be finished by now.)  Continue reading “September Update on Amahoro Secondary School”
Posted on

August Update on Amahoro Secondary School

I left Tanzania exactly one month ago! In that time, so much has happened on the school front. When I returned to Salt Lake City, I sent Lucas another large sum of money from the Project Wezesha account. I couldn’t leave the money in our shared Tanzanian account because I was pulling it out daily from the ATM – limits enforced. Now, I am happy to be able to wire large sums as they come into Project Wezesha, for the building progress to continue.

Lucas reported through email and with photographs on progress since I left. The foundation for the four classrooms and the headmaster’s office is complete! Two truckloads containing 13,000 bricks have been delivered to the building site and the walls are going up as I type! I am so excited to see those images and hope that we will see a few completed rooms by the year’s end. Here are some pictures of the work that took place after I left one month ago.

Continue reading “August Update on Amahoro Secondary School”

Posted on

I Know This Much is True

These are my Summer 2010 final thoughts.

I know this much is true – (dedicated to Sara Bridge)

I’m writing on a netbook computer in Dar es Salaam and as I look around, I see only varying shades of brown skin and hear only the occasional word or phrase that I understand. I have a thin film of sweat all over my body and my shirt is damp under the arms and I stink. Coins are jingled deliberately in the hands of young boys walking the city, selling peanuts from baskets. Motorcycles and loud banging on metal are wracking my brain. Taxi drivers hover for the hopeful sighting of someone in need of a ride with big cash in his pocket. Some women walk by with kangas tied around their waists, but more are dressed for the city; most of the men are wearing the distinctive small Muslim hats and every handful of hours, the Mosque reminds all of us what some should be doing. The smiles – when they come to life – light up my day. I’ve never seen more perfect, straight, white teeth on more beautiful faces. Work is done inefficiently – with brooms made from small sticks, trash is thrown in the street so someone can pick it up every morning at 5am and coffee seems to take 30 minutes to brew. I am in the city and it’s loud and impersonal. Continue reading “I Know This Much is True”

Posted on

When I Leave, I Will Miss …

When I go, I will miss …

I will miss the children – their smiles, their shy greetings, their big eyes and bare feet, their toys made of palm leaves, plastic bottles and spare tires, their school uniforms in varying degrees of deterioration, their unyielding desire to go to school. .. even their shouts of mzungu and naomba hela or the English version of the same phrase – give me money! I will absolutely miss the children – they keep me going from visit to visit, they keep me energized to pump donors for more money, they keep me coming back for another hot summer, another crammed dala dala ride, another trial of my patience and determination. One afternoon in their humble homes or on a rock by the river, chatting away about simple matters or sharing information about our respective cultures and I feel that they are all that matters in the whole world.

Continue reading “When I Leave, I Will Miss …”

Posted on

July Update on Amahoro Secondary School

Well – as I suppose you may have surmised, progress was a little slower than I was hoping it would be, but not by much. In fact, in the 3 weeks that I was there, I never imagined that as much would be done.

First, Isaya (the builder) had architectural plans drawn up in about one day. With the plans we also got the building permit. Having that out of the way, we met with the land office and the ministry of education and confirmed with the village government that the land was ready for building and it had been approved by the villagers.

Next on the agenda was the big materials shopping day. I gladly handed over almost 3 million shillings so that Isaya could take care of this on his own. He bought aluminum, wood, tools, 100 bags each of lyme and cement, nails and other odds and ends for the initial phase – four classrooms and two offices. The transport of this material alone – in car part of the way and on the backs of the men up the final stretch of steep rocky path – was quite a feat!

Continue reading “July Update on Amahoro Secondary School”

Posted on

Dusty Road to Kabanga

When you’re doing anything in Tanzania as mzungu, you’re bound to get some attention – some wanted, some unwanted. Mostly – the attention I get is wanted, even (most of the time) when it comes to the repeated requests for saidiya (help) … most of the time, I must repeat. Sometimes, it’s annoying and exhausting at best.

In this one case, I didn’t need to be asked. The babu or grandfather for one of my young friends, Saidi Sadiki, is named Saidi Mkete. He’s such a cool old man – and I say that based on my observations of his behavior and others’ reactions to his words. I barely understand him but I adore him as if he were my own grandfather and again, I barely know him. I think this is because there is something vulnerable and wise about him.

The vulnerability comes from his near blindness. His eyes have been bothering him a lot recently and he is progressively losing his sight. As the sight goes, it leaves him in great pain. I thought he was fully blind when I first met him because he’s always sitting with his head in his hands – or his eyes resting on his knuckles. He’s never without a cloth to wipe his eyes.

Continue reading “Dusty Road to Kabanga”