Seeking “Funding Families” to Support Students

Young man in Tanzania teaches students

Summer is winding down, and in the U.S., students are heading back to school! In Tanzania, our students will also be returning to their university programs in the coming months. With this return to school, Project Wezesha faces a new batch of tuition bills. We’d love your continued support – a contribution toward the continuing education of the young men in our program: 2nd year university students: Lameck, Yohanna and Elias; 3rd year university students: Hamisi & Mayani; and, 4th year university student: Simoni. The average cost for one year of university for these young men is $1680 each. 

We would love to find sponsors for these young men to ensure their costs are covered completely. One idea we’d like to present is “funding families” – small groups of friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues who collectively commit to raising $1600 to cover the costs of one student. If you’d like to create a “funding family” and sponsor one student, email us and we’ll help you get the information you need to share with your community and raise the money. We can provide images, stories, reports, and more about the young man you’ll be supporting. Email us today to get started: projectwezeshatz@gmail.com

We can assure you that there will be a profound impact from your investment. We have only seen positive outcomes since we began our scholarship program in 2009. Here are some inspirational updates we received this month from some current and former students: Lameck, Sospeter, and Dibeit. Continue reading “Seeking “Funding Families” to Support Students”

Reflections for a New Year

Flyer for World AIDS Day with Hamisi wearing doctor's white coat

Happy Holidays from Team Project Wezesha: Lucas, Rai (me), Madaga, and all the students!

Time for Reflection

Each New Year brings a special time for reflection. Reflecting on my years working with Project Wezesha and Girls Education International brings a rush of memories – of miles walked between villages with Lucas, of schools we’ve visited, of students we’ve supported, of meetings with various leaders, of classrooms built, and challenges faced.

I’m reminded of our responsibility to the youth in our programs who inspire me with all they’ve achieved with a little support from you and me!

I’m hopeful about the future as we continue to offer academic study camps with the incredible support of our Education Director, Madaga and the amazing teachers who provide their time and knowledge each December and June to ensure more students from villages can attend high school and university.

Partners for Life

The year 2023 marks 15 years since I met Lucas, co-founder of Project Wezesha, advocate for all young people, family man, and dear friend. We call each other “kaka” and “dada” respectively, which means “brother” and “sister” – and it truly feels like we are family. We are the adopted “baba” and “mama” (father and mother) of two orphans in Kigoma that we’ve been supporting for many years. And we are affectionately known by many local villagers who have seen us work tirelessly in service to the mission of Project Wezesha as “baba kazi” and “mama kazi” – roughly: “father work” and “mother work.” I’ve seen Lucas marry and have two daughters. I’ve eaten with his family more times than I can count – singing, dancing, smiling, and chatting with his mama, baba, wife, children, siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins. It is my most cherished blessing this holiday season to have these memories and my forever-connection to Lucas. Continue reading “Reflections for a New Year”

The 2023 University Season is Beginning! Focus Your End-of-Year Giving on Supporting These Young Agents of Change in Tanzania

This November, six young men are reporting to university for the upcoming academic year which runs from December 2022 through August 2023. They are at varying stages in their academic journey. 

Donate here

Lameck, Yohana and Elias are starting their first year at university! We are so proud of all they’ve accomplished through high school, including performing well on their Form 6 national exams and earning a place at universities around the country.

Mayani and Hamisi are beginning their second year at university. Hamisi accomplished so much in his first year, studying to become a doctor, visiting several medical sites in the field, and learning how to perform minor surgery under the guidance of doctors who teach in his program. 

Simoni is beginning his third year in medical school and is actively and enthusiastically pursuing his studies to become a doctor. 

All six of these young men have been pursuing their studies with the help of Project Wezesha since they entered secondary school. Between semesters during secondary school, they attended our academic study camps in June and December. The learning and personal growth during these camps resulted in high performance on Form 4 national exams so that each could attend high school. 

We are so proud of them for how hard they have worked and all they have overcome as first generation high school and now university students! 

Please help us continue our support. The best way would be to select a young man and sponsor him outright! But any contribution will help us reach our goal! 

Asante sana!
Thank you very much!
projectwezeshatz@gmail.com

Donate here

University Fees due for 2023

NameCost in USD
Lameck$1457 
Elias$2400 
Yohana$1458
Hamisi$1757
Mayani$1430
Simoni$1593

George Pursues BA in Environmental Disaster Management

George began university in Fall 2019. He is pursuing a degree in Environmental Disaster Management at the University of Dodoma in the country’s capital city. 

We met George when he was a standard 7 student at Bitale Primary School. He and his classmate Ezra were among the top students of his class. They were selected for our scholarship program on the day this picture was taken. 

George excelled in secondary school. He did particularly well in his science classes. Thanks to the support of our academic study camps, he also performed well in his two years of high school (Form 5 & 6). We were thrilled when George was accepted to university and chose to focus on the sciences with emphasis in environmental disasters.

This past year, he was able to complete several field placements. He and his classmates visited work sites that reflect the type of important work they’ll do as a young professionals in the field. He learned about the functionality of gear and equipment. In the video below, his instructor is teaching the group about the importance of fitting the gear appropriately to ensure safety – with George as the student being fitted. Continue reading “George Pursues BA in Environmental Disaster Management”

Successes and the Season of Giving

The Next Generation of University Students

Our second cohort of university students – Ezra, George, and Simoni – have all returned to start their second year of university studies. These pictures are from the day they were awarded scholarships to attend secondary school back in 2012!

Swimming in Lake Tanganyika in 2010. We were all babies!
From Left to Right: Dibeit, unknown child, Rai, Lucas, Saidi, and Muhsini

 

Our third cohort of students pursuing post-secondary education have also reported to their colleges. We have added Muhsini, the cousin of Saidi who comes from Kiganza Village. We have known Muhsini since he was a young boy (see lake image). His parents supported him through secondary and high school, and now we are happy to step in and offer our support.

In addition, Sospeter (The General) and Anzaruni are attending Sumbawanga Clinical Officers Training Center in Dodoma. They are each pursuing a 3-year diploma in clinical medicine. Felisiano is pursuing a 3-year degree in Business Management in Dodoma. We expect great things from each of them and know they are up for the challenge.

Continue reading “Successes and the Season of Giving”

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!)

Ismail – Student, Driver, Mechanic, Success Story!

ismail-photo-from-progress-report-a-word-of-gratitude-fIsmail 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:

  1. The schools (school fees)
  2. Local shops (for textbooks and supplies as needed for our students)
  3. 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!).