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Hope through Education
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HABARI!
News from
Godparents for Tanzania
September-October, 2010
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Discovery Safari 2011
Reservations Now Open | 
The Land of Kilimanjaro awaits those who join us for the 2011 Discovery Safari to Tanzania, July 6-21. Our trips are intended for those interested in more than just a wildife safari for tourists. We will visit our close friends at Godparents for Tanzania projects and our students at their homes for a close-up look at what it means to live in a "developing country." G4TZ sponsors will have an opportunity to meet their students. Part of the excitement also includes two wild game safaris to Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro Crater for a close up encounter with elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, wildebeest, zebra and much more of Tanzania's incredible wildlife. Our "student guides," young people studying as Godparent for Tanzania scholarship recipients, will join us along the way to tell travelers about their country and what it means to grow up in East Africa. Reservations are now being accepted and may be made by going to our website (link at right) and clicking on Discovery Safars, or by calling 540.353.6341. After visiting our website, you may also call this number for additional information. See our Discovery Safari video on the G4TZ YouTube Channel by clicking the link at right. Please join us for a great Discovery Safari next year! Our friends in Tanzania say, "Karibu sana!" (Swahili for, "You are very welcome!"). |
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G4TZ works to combat teacher shortage |
Our primary mission at Godparents for Tanzania is to provide educational opportunities to young people from poor families who otherwise would have no chance to attend school. We are very pleased that many of our students upon completion of their secondary education desire to continue their education in college to become teachers. Here's a report on those G4TZ students who have recently graduated and are teaching, those currently in college and those who hope to attend college to study education.
G4TZ graduates who are currently teaching:
Mary Makyao--teaching kindergarten at Mongai Parish
Febronia Lulu--teaching primary school
Rejina Nade--teaching primary school
Frank Mariki-- teaching secondary school at Agape Lutheran Junior Seminary
Students studying for a two-year certificate (primary education):
Patricia Issa--2nd year
Tajieli Paulo--has certificiate, now in special curriculum course
Paskalina Herman--2nd year
Maria Nanaghi--1st year
Emiliana Lohay--1st year
Students studying for a three-year Bachelor of Education (secondary education):
Neema Michael Gwandu--3rd year
Neema Esau Kisasi--2nd year
Student waiting for acceptance to a college and sufficient sponsorship to attend:
Happiness Lebisa
Happiness Mahu
Anna Ikunda Massawe Neema Esau Kisasi. Teacher shortages in Tanzania are a nation-wide problem, especially in rural areas. Teachers in math and the sciences are particularly in short supply. So, we are proud of these students who, having been given the opportunity to learn, have now chosen to spend their careers teaching others. And, we give thanks for their G4TZ sponsors who have made this possible.
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Our Mann in Tanzania |
Emily Mann |
Emily J. Mann, 19, a rising sophomore at George Mason University, said she looked around one day at her classmates and at herself and thought, "We are such privileged people! We have it all, everything we could ever need and want." Well aware that many in the world are not so blessed, she decided she needed to learn what life was like for them and how she could make a difference.
In September, Emily found herself in northern Tanzania teaching English for a semester at Bashay Primary School, an immersion experience arranged through Godparents for Tanzania. Bashay Primary School is one of the edcuation projects supported by G4TZ.
Emily and Esau | This village school of 763 students in Grades K-12 is a beehive of activity. Of her first day at the school, Emily writes, "The day began...with the students' morning activities. The school encompasses a beautiful garden that is exploding with flowers, fruit trees and other various plants. The students take full responsibility for maintaining the school's beauty; they water the plants, sweep the pathways (with leafy branches, no rakes or brooms), tend to the gardens and mop the classrooms (with a rag, no mops). I cannot describe the energy that fills the school..." Later in the morning, Emily was surprised to see the students sent into nearby fields maintained by the school to havest maize and beans which would eventually become their lunch. Living with a Tanzanian family in the village of Bashay, Emily remarks, "The generosity is overwhelming. It is a quality which I don't believe I will ever find in another culture; it has no equal." Emily is living with Pastor and Mama Yotham Baha, G4TZ Program Coordinator and their grandson, eight-year-old Esau. Their house is about one mile from the school to which Emily walks each morning, followed by many of her students who like to walk to school with "mwalimu" (their "teacher"). Emily will conclude her visit to Tanzania in mid-December and has already anticipated that it will be very hard to leave. Click here to read Emily's well-written blog, "It's Tanzania, Mann!" |
Modest increase in 2010-2011 G4TZ scholarships |
Hope through Education
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The cost of schooling in Tanzania continues to increase while family income remains about $1.00/day. Parents of our scholarship students are finding it increasingly difficult to make up the difference between the amount provided by the scholarship and the actual costs of sending their kids to school. Therefore, our Board of Directors has acted to increase the scholarship amount requested of sponsors by a modest amount for the 2010-2011 academic year. The full scholarship amount for the 2010-2011 academic year has increased from the current $480.00 to $540.00, or $45.00 per month, an increase of $5.00 per month. The actual scholarship amount that goes to the direct support of the student will be $480.00 while the remaining $60.00 will be used for operational expenses. The small amount of the scholarship fee that is retained for operational expenses is used for salaries, office expense, fund transfer fees, and the cost of annual interviews with each of our students. This falls far short of the $85,000 annual operating budget. We will deeply appreciate contributions to assist our operating fund shortfall. |
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From the President
A cow for a bedmate |
Student home |
On this year's Discovery Safari, we continued the practice of sending our travelers on what we call "Student Home Visits." We divided into small groups and each group went to visit the homes of three students.
Afterwards, one of our travelers remarked, "This was the hardest day of the trip." She was not referring to the bouncing around she got as our Landrovers negotiated some tough "roads" to get there, but to the fact that the poverty in which some of our students live is overwhelming.
Even one of our older student guides, Thomas, said, "I've lived in Tanzania all my life, but I didn't know some people had to live like this." He was reacting to being told at one of our student's homes, a very small house built of sticks and mud with a thatched roof, that it was necessary to bring the family cow, a small herd of goats and all the chickens inside the house at night to keep them safe from hyenas and other predators. "How can they sleep in that little house with all those animals in there?" Thomas wondered shaking his head. Good question.
In spite of that, the G4TZ scholarship student who lives there gets up every morning before dawn, puts on his school uniform and walks several miles to school. He will walk home again in the waning light of the late afternoon and, after he does his chores which include gathering the animals inside the house, will do his homework by the light of a kerosene lamp or candles if there is no money for kerosene.
I don't share this story to elicit your sympathy, but to point out how badly our kids want to go to school. Though they live in unimaginably difficult circumstances, they know an education is their only hope for lifiting themselves from poverty. At G4TZ we think so, too. That's why all our resources, your gifts, are directed toward helping poor kids who would never have the chance to go to school without you. Some organizations concentrate on providing food and clothing while others build houses or tend to medical needs. Thank God for their vital work. But even when a child is fed, clothed, housed and healthy, without an education he or she doesn't stand a chance for a better life in the long run.
That's why the young student who lives in the house with a cow and goats as his bedmates gets up every morning, puts on his uniform and walks to school.
Mungu awabariki sana! (Swahili for "God bless you all greatly!")
Dwayne J. Westermann, President Godparents for Tanzania
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Godparents for Tanzania
is a 501(c)(3) public charity
incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Post: P.O. Box 20221, Roanoke, VA 24018
Voice: 540~353~6341
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