Recent developments

Developments from November 2008 to July 2009

By December 2008 our first main building along with a kitchen, toilet block and storeroom were completed and on February 2^nd 2009. The Shiri Mgungani Learning and Resource Centre welcomed 100 pre-primary school pupils. They are taught in two groups in morning and afternoon sessions according to Montesorri principles by our two excellent young teachers Sarah and Veronica. Every child is given lunch. Children, parents and teachers report that the first term of the kindergarten has been very successful indeed and everyone is looking forward very much to the second term.

In February 2009 we also held our first science teachers’ and headteachers’ conference at Shiri Mgungani. Educational professionals gathered in the main building to discuss teacher-training priorities and textbook and other material needs of local schools. Participants responded very positively to the conference and especially to the fact that they could discuss their difficulties with teachers from other schools. There was a clear consensus that improving the quality of science teaching, especially practical work was an urgent priority, as was the teaching of English.

By March 2009 work had progressed on the science laboratory.  By June we had reached roof level and by the beginning of July the outer shell of the building was completed.  The challenge now will be to equip the laboratory in good time for local schools to be able to timetable classes there for the academic year 2010.

WATU is now paying the fees of 78 students in public and private schools in the region.  Most are in the Moshi urban or rural areas but some are also in Pare and in the Masai areas. During this year we have been following as many of them as possible very closely, mostly to help them but partly to provide valuable feedback for sponsors in Europe. It became clear that many of these supported students were experiencing quite severe difficulties at school. In order to give them some academic support, therefore, we have established a series of extra tuition sessions during the months of June and July. These sessions in Maths, Physics, Biology and English have been received enthusiastically and very appreciatively by our students, especially those preparing for Form 4 and Form 2 examinations. We will be continuing to monitor closely the performance of these students and also trying to exploit as many opportunities as possible to get them together as a group.  We expect to be able to offer support to even more students in the near future. We are grateful to the international schools of Munich and Florence, and to FOTIS of Geneva for their extremely generous support to these needy youngsters. FOTIS, in fact, very generously donated a sturdy English dictionary to each of their sponsored students. They were presented with their dictionaries by Mr Josiah Mchome at the end of the three week extra tuition session.

In June 2009 work continued on the small hostel complex at Shiri Mgungani. These rooms will play an essential part in eventually making the Learning and Resource Centre self-supporting, and thus reducing reliance upon donors. We are very happy to announce that we have sufficient funding to complete the first wing of the hostel by October 2009. The rooms of this first wing will also double up as classrooms.

Work is also ongoing, in conjunction with the Cicely Foundation in UK, to send a container of education materials to Tanzania from Southampton in England in late September. Teachers attending the conference at Shiri-Mgungani in February helped to prioritize needs, and materials are currently being collected in Switzerland and England.