My New Project in Africa

First a little bit of Background on how I ended up in this dusty little town on the other side of the world: I first started volunteering in Tanga in 2008, with a locally-run NGO called Tanzania Eco-Volunteerism. I lived in my own house for 3.5 months at that time and worked 5 days a week at a Pre-Primary school in Amboni village. I started a nutrition program at the school where all the children received milk and bananas at school to supplement their poor diets at home. On the weekends and during any spare time I had, I also started going to a local Orphanage, called “Stehmann House,” which was run by a German expat and her local staff. I met Saumu, about 8 or 9 years old at the time, who my friend Midoli had been helping in 2006 when she volunteered at a local street children’s centre. When I met Saumu there, she had just been brought in off the streets, was malnourished, thin, and covered in bug bites and rashes. I felt an immediate attachment to Saumu for some reason and made a point to keep coming and checking in on her in hopes that I could help her adapt to her new, more structured environment. After many afternoons of reading, dancing and crafts we became good buddies and I kept in touch with her from Canada after I left.

In December 2009, I received an email from the owner of the Stehmann House orphanage stating that she was leaving Tanga permanently and never returning due to health reasons. She said she didn’t know what would happen to the orphanage and that the “future of the children is open.” Knowing that Saumu came from the streets and would have nowhere to go, I bought a plane ticket to Tanzania for the following week, and returned to Tanga in January 2010. The rest of that story can be found HERE. 

I got Saumu into a boarding school in January, but didn’t have a place for her to stay during the school closures. I had been working with the assistant manager of Stehmann House – Vera, their arts and computer teacher – Joel, and a young man who had received aid from the German expat – Steven. While things got quite complicated here in Tanga, I decided to accept Steven’s offer to care for Saumu during the school holidays, and she seems to feel quite comfortable and at home with him, his wife and their two adorable little sons Allen and Lewis. Steven has gone out of his way over the course of the past year to visit Saumu on parents’ days, monitor her progress in school and send me random updates about her well being. He has been a huge help to Saumu and me in the past year.

Steven’s livelihood is his 2-room English-Medium Nursery School and Kindergarten in the Kange neighbourhood of Tanga. Steven started his teaching career as a teacher’s aide at the Indian Ocean boarding school that Saumu now attends. After gaining experience at Indian Ocean, the headmaster asked Steven to transfer to his smaller Kindergarten in the Kange area, called “Airport English Medium Nursery School” where he would essentially run the school. Steven did a great job with the little students (ranging in age from 3-6) in Kange, but the Headmaster of Indian Ocean decided to sell the building that Steven’s Kindergarten was in so that he could focus on the main Primary school. Many of the parents in Kange were so happy with the progress they saw in their children who studied with Steven that they approached him and asked that he find a place to continue teaching there. While Indian Ocean school offered to shuttle these little “Babies,” as Steven calls them, out to the other side of town to attend schooling there, the parents lobbied to keep Teacher Steven closer to their homes.

His students’ parents found an empty home in their neighbourhood and helped arrange for him to rent it from the absent owners. Steven worked out an arrangement to pay rent, but realized he would be better off to buy the building outright. If I am getting the story straight, this is where the owner of Stehmann house orphanage stepped in and bought the school for Steven. The agreement was that Steven would pay her back over time until the debt was cleared. When this German expat left suddenly in 2009, she arranged for Steven to keep the school but pay back his debts by looking after all the orphans. Instead of repaying the money to her, he now monitors all the kids left hanging from the orphanage and pays their school fees for them. Essentially, he’s cleaning up the mess that this woman left behind, and in return gets to keep his school.

I have visited Steven’s school, which still goes by the name of Steven’s old school - “Airport English Medium Nursery School,” several times on my last 2 visits to Tanga. I get mobbed by 66 adorable kindergarten kids who let me take hundreds of photos, grab my hands hoping to play, and laugh at my poor attempts to teach them songs and games. I can’t believe how smart the kids are though! They speak English, and well! They ask and understand questions in English, have good manners, can add, subtract and multiply, and are able to write nice neat little words in their notebooks. I had also taught Kindergarten aged students in Tanzania and these kids are already MILES ahead of my students. I am very impressed with the quality of education they are receiving at Steven's School..

Steven’s school facilities are lacking unfortunately, and the building doesn’t have proper toilets, ceiling tiles or a proper fence. The floor and walls are a rough concrete and the mosquito netting on the windows has become old and torn. The kids currently play in a barren, unfenced yard with scraps of barbed wire hanging around the perimeter. When the building was inspected in late 2010, the inspectors told him that he must make some major improvements to the building or his school will be shut down.

Steven’s goal is to improve the school following the recommendations made by those inspectors and have it officially registered as a private, English-Medium Nursery School. At this point, the only thing holding him back is funding for the improvements he needs to make. Steven showed me a detailed list of the supplies he needs, including things like concrete, plaster, sand, rolls of mosquito netting, bathroom fixtures, ceiling tiles and fencing. In the future he hopes to add a third classroom to accommodate more students, but first he needs to get the existing building in better shape so it can be registered and operate as licensed school. Steven asked me if I’d be a part of his parents committee to fund-raise for the school improvements, and also if I would help think of a new name to give the school when it is officially registered. Many of the students’ parents have already committed to buying individual supplies for him, or are simply donating some money for the whole cause. It seems that the Kange community is backing him in hopes of keeping his school open for their children. I kept quiet and gave it some thought, waiting to see how everything panned out in Tanga, but have decided to help finance Steven’s school renovations as he’s helped me with Saumu so much in the past year.

I did the math based on Steven’s lists of what he needs, and it will cost about $1800-2000 to do all the renovations he currently has planned. My family, friends and even some of my guests from the fishing resort this summer had pledged money towards helping a worthy cause in Tanzania.  I’ve raised about $1400 so far, so hopefully reaching a goal of $2000 shouldn’t be too hard. I hate asking people for money, but I’m really hoping that I can come up with $600 to ensure that Steven gets all his improvements made quickly. If any of you are willing to donate any amount of money, I will make sure it is put to good use to help keep Steven’s school open by paying for the necessary renovations. $5 can buy a bag of plaster for the walls, $10 will buy a bag of cement for the floor, or $15 will buy a box of bathroom tiles, so really, every little bit helps! I gave Steven a bit of the money I'd already raised last night and by this morning at 10am he had a crew of 3 guys there plastering the walls and one classroom was half-finished! He isn't wasting any time and is serious about accomplishing his goals.

If anyone is willing and able to contribute any amount of money, however small, send me a quick email at kaitross@hotmail.com and let me know. I can collect cash or cheques in person when I’m back in Canada at the end of the month. All your help is truly appreciated and I will keep you updated on the school’s development through photos and updates from Steven so you can actually see how your money is helping.

Asante Sana!

 A Curious student

 Students in Class

 One of the two classrooms before the renovation

The Before Photo of the second classroom - At the time of writing, the walls in this classroom are currently being plastered and are almost finished already!