A Summer Internship in Tanzania by Katy Lindquist
In the summer of 2012, Project Wezesha had the great opportunity to work with an intern who was committed to exploring international development, community engagement and the power of education. You can read more about how Katy Lindquist became part of our program in our last blog entry. In this blog, enjoy the experience through [...]
Introducing our New Students!
When we started this program, we had five students from Kiganza Village and perhaps you have been following them for the past four years: Edina, Diana, Ismael, France and Hindu. The following year we added a few more – Amosi, Silvesia, Khadija, Zainabu, Saidi and Dibeit. Since we started, Edina, Hindu, Silvesia, Zainabu and Khadija [...]
This is Their Story
This is her story. The story of most girls in the village. This is his story. The story of most boys in the village. Are you ready? There is no response more difficult to deliver than a ‘no’ to the request of a student for school support. Unfortunately, if I said ‘yes’ to every student [...]
Meeting with Village Leaders – Speech in Kiswahili
After discovering about some of our ‘issues’ here in the village, I composed a little talk for the village leaders. My friend in Kigoma, Bennie Muzzazzi helped me to translate it to Kiswahili so I could deliver it directly, knowing that what I wanted to say was being delivered. Here’s the video of the speech, [...]
An Epic Journey – Collaboration Leads to School Opening: January 2013!!
This has been a remarkably productive trip! Lucas and I feel more supported by the various government entities than ever before and that’s because, after flailing around on our own for 3 years, we’ve finally stumbled upon the right people. The first year we simply said ‘yes’ to the request of Mjumbe (chief) Bitata to [...]
Empower through Education
Project Wezesha is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2009 by Lucas Lameck and Rai Farrelly. We founded Project Wezesha to address the needs of children in rural villages within the Kigoma Region of Western Tanzania. Wezesha is the Kiswahili word for Empower. The aim of Project Wezesha is to empower local communities through increased [...]
Watoto Wanataka Kusema ‘Mambo’ to You!
Saidi is one of the newest students in our scholarship program. He just started secondary school in Mwandiga town this past January (2011). I recorded him last summer in a very informal little chat at his house. When you hear the voice in the background prompting him a bit, that’s Lucas – making my cryptic question about what [...]
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 …. [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Give a Kid a Camera and …
When I see the kids, they like to commandeer my camera and shoot away… I always love going back through what they captured…. Here’s a montage!
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 [...]
Give a Girl a Smile, Watch Her Glow
The other day was a day of serendipitous moments. Serendipity is really only interesting to the ones experiencing it, really – although I quite get a kick out of sharing and hearing about others’ experiences. So, in case you’re like me – here are two that happened the other day. I had planned to go [...]
Finger Lickin’ Good
I love eating with my hands. I love sitting down to a meal of whole fish, beans, spinach and rice with freshly washed hands because I know what comes next. I get to squish some rice around in my palm, making a nice tight little ball that I use to collect spinach before stabbing some [...]
Rafiki Zangu – My Friends
Although my work now is primarily in the village of Mgaraganza, I still have some important lasting relationships with the first village I lived in during the summer of 2008 – Kiganza. It’s been wild to stay in touch with people from so far away – see their faces light up when I return year [...]
Dokumenti – Some Humorous Finds
There are lots of writings here – on t-shirts, dala dalas, walls, signs and in various other random spots – that just make you chuckle a bit. I saw a dala dala (minibus public transport) drive by with the following on the back window: Don’t tease me, if you can’t please me There was a [...]
Salt Lake City’s McGillis School Greets Mgaraganza Primary
A few days ago, I wandered through Mgaraganza village with Lucas and a couple of friends. Those of you who know her will laugh to hear that Rebecca (Becky) Burton is here in Kiganza, TZ living at GOSESO as I did three years ago! She worked with the Salt Lake Film Center and we collaborated [...]
Nime Choka Sana! Lakini, sasa naweza kubeba mawe!
Which means: I’m so tired, but now I can carry stones (‘to the head’, as they say). If I had typed up this blog yesterday after working with the villagers in Mgaraganza at the school site, the title might have read ‘Eff That!’ And ‘That’ would have been a reference to the work that we [...]
Amahoro Secondary … Coming Soon!
My good buddy Carter Jensen has arrived in Kigoma! I thought it would be a long lonely road for me from this point on – after saying Kwaheri to my girls on July 5th, but now Carter – a good friend from SLC, UT – has arrived! On his first day in town, Carter had [...]
The mission of Project Wezesha is to increase educational opportunities for children in developing nations by building secondary schools in rural villages and providing educational scholarships to those in need.