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”

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”

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”

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
Ezra

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
George

 

 

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!

 

 

 

Prospective Students
Prospective Students

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

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

Spring 2016 Update on Our Students

Rahma 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. Amina Kudra

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.

George Christopher

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!)

Upward Momentum for More of our Students!

LucasI’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 schoolHajira . 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!

Diana and RaiFor 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.

Evidence of Impact – Sky’s the Limit!

Dibeit and TumsifuWe 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!”

Insights from Our Students

PW Scholarship SsOur next update is from Kagongo Secondary School. In August, Lucas and I went and visited with our new Girls Education International Form 1 students, and we also met with 6 of our current Project Wezesha students. These 6, Marieta, Olivia, Sango, Simoni, Mahamudu, and Ahmadi wanted to share with us some of the challenges that students are facing in the village schools.

In this video, they share their honest views on the situation. I admire their willingness to speak candidly and their ability to think critically about the roots of their problems.

Before you watch, I have to also be an advocate for the teachers, who come under harsh judgement by the students at times. In many cases, it’s true – the teachers are not performing at their best. The reasons for that vary from insufficient government support (large class sizes, no textbooks), to disenchantment with living in the village (they don’t get to choose where they work). Of course, other factors such as personality, motivation, and organization are likely contributors.

Two of our students mentioned that teachers come and go. The reality is that student teachers do come for their teaching practicum and internship on a short term basis. This seems to cause confusion for our students – understandably so. But, all student teachers do teaching internships. The key is to organize them well so that they compliment student learning and support existing curricula, not lead to disruption. But – this is work for another phase of our long term vision!

For now, please take a moment to hear what our students have to share. And remember, at the end of the day – they still choose education over no education, even if the reality of their situation is less than ideal.

Congratulations Hindu and Khadija!

Hindu and Khadija
Khadija and HIndu

Lucas and I are happy to share some wonderful news! Our amazing students, Hindu and Khadija graduated in November from their program at the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA). They began studying together two years ago and both pursued careers as administrative assistants.

Before they entered VETA, neither of them knew how to type or use computers. During this program, they have learned about shorthand, typing, using MicroSoft Office, communicating via email, and browsing the web for information. Each of them participated in two field placements (internships) in the Kigoma Region. Continue reading “Congratulations Hindu and Khadija!”