Teaching students in Tanzania to read in English is challenging. English is quite different in structure and pronunciation from Kiswahili and local languages, teaching programs don’t prepare teachers to teach in English, and students are learning to read with a very limited vocabulary. Twegashe students are succeeding despite these difficulties, but a new, donated reading curriculum will be a big help.
There are many fun and exciting things happening at Twegashe School as we begin the second semester of our second year of operation. We have a new teacher, a new goat project, new cafeteria tables, new solar power at the teacher’s houses, new training for our teachers…And this is not new, but there are also lots and lots of smiles!
Twegashe School now has solar-powered electricity through a grant from US Rotary District 5030. The solar power system was installed last month by the Tanzanian company Photons Energy. Thank you to the Rotarians of District 5030!
Wondering what the school day is like for Twegashe’s first-graders? Find out here. Read about how they get to school, the daily routine they follow at school, mealtimes, and some of their favorite activities.
A Tanzanian proverb says, “The one who is patient eats ripe fruit.” We’re learning that establishing a new school in rural Tanzania presents many challenges and requires a lot of patience. But we are making good progress and soon we will be eating ripe fruit together with the people of Bushasha Village.
Access to quality education can help to keep children, and especially girls, in school. Read Mariam’s story.
We began work on a soccer field for Twegashe School during our last visit to the village, while waiting to obtain a building permit. We commissioned the village women’s cooperative for this challenging task, and they definitely rose to the challenge!
The people of Bushasha face many health challenges, but public health programs are helping to reduce the risk from diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and schistosomiasis.
Many homes in Bushasha are built with clay bricks, either sun-dried or kiln-fired. But to build Twegashe School we plan to use environmentally-friendly stabilized soil blocks. We had our soil tested during our recent trip and were happy to learn that it will work well for this type of block.
In September we made a very productive three-week trip to Bushasha to prepare for school construction. The journey went quite smoothly, and good news awaited us when we arrived in the village!
