Click to see a slideshow of our trip
NEWS FROM THE TANZANIA PROJECT 2015
On June 16th, a group of 10 members of ISA, comprised of 4 staff (Sue Worsnup, Margaret van Berkel, Elaine Dinnie and Jennifer Gryzenhout) and 6 students (Virginia Cinelli, Valeria Hernandez Sanchez, Alessandra Lessen, Ayse Hincal, Miyu Haraguchi, Danique Ceyssens) left ISA to go and run a 19-day programme with the Form 1 students from the MaaSAE (Maa Speakers Advanced Education) Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS) in Monduli, Tanzania.
ISA has been involved in this project since 1995, which has involved running summer school programmes for the Form 1 students as well as helping to support the school with some of its financial needs. Each year at MGLSS, a group of around 70 students start in Form 1 and there are over 300 students in the school. The impacts of this newly educated generation of Maasai women are now being seen. As educated women, they are now better equipped to confront challenging issues in their culture, such as early arranged marriages, lack of girls’ education, female circumcision and gender violence, whilst still embracing the traditional values of close-knit families and their rich Maasai heritage. In October 2015, fifty two Form 4 students graduated, this marked the 700th Form 4 graduate of the school, since the first graduation in 1999. This year MGLSS also have the largest number of students ever in our post-secondary program. There are 102 graduates studying at vocational schools, colleges, and universities. Ex-graduates of MGLSS are now to be found in teaching, social work/community development areas, nursing, medical school, Clinical office training, Law, Journalism, Clerical work, Public Administration/accounting and Wildlife management with one working as a pilot.
Following seven months of preparation, the ISA group was ready to go to MGLSS in Monduli, full of anticipation and ready to meet the challenges that such a trip brings. We worked with the Form 1 students who had started at MGLSS in October 2014. They have had some basic English at primary school and one of the aims of our programme is to help them to develop and communicate more in English. We try to encourage this by providing a varied programme and working in smaller groups. We flew to Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania, where we were warmly welcomed by Dr. Msinjili (Head of School), Ciwila Shirima and Nanyouri Morris (Coordinators for the project) who had come to meet us and we then travelled the 100 kilometers to the school. The next day we began teaching the Form 1 girls, who were very enthusiastic and keen to learn. Our daily routine followed a fairly strict schedule. Day breaks around 6.30am and we got up shortly afterwards. Each day began with uji (maize porridge) for breakfast, then lessons from 8.30 – 10.30, 11.00 - 13.00 and 13.30 – 15.30. We taught English, Library, Maths, Science, Arts and Crafts, First Aid and Sports. The ISA students did a fantastic job working with the MGLSS students, assisting in lessons and leading group activities. We also ran an evening programme from 19.15 – 20.45, which included games, dancing, singing, campfires, Arts and Craft activities and a camp-fire. We enjoyed a Maasai cultural evening, prepared and presented to us by the Form 1 students in which they dramatized aspects of Maasai life, including some of the difficulties that Maasai girls encounter in order to get an education and an arranged marriage. It certainly highlighted to our group what struggles and challenges these Maasai girls encounter that we don’t even have to consider.
During our trip we went with the MGLSS students to the Taranguire National Park. The MGLSS students were very excited about going on the trip and we all had a fantastic day. The park is renowned for elephants and we saw an amazing number roaming through it, as well as other wildlife. On the trip, we stopped at one of the safari lodges that had a swimming pool. Most of the MGLSS students had not seen a swimming pool before. It resulted in much excited chatter as they watched a family swimming. We enjoyed a short walk to a view point over the Taranguire river.
We also went to visit a Maasai boma (family settlement), the home of one of the girls in Form One, where her father lives with his wives. The boma is situated on the opposite side of Monduli from the school itself, approximately 20 minute bus ride away. We were warmly welcomed and were shown around their homes and enjoyed the ceremonial singing and dancing. It was an amazing experience and extremely interesting to have a brief glimpse of a patriarchal society.
The trip to MGLSS is a real cultural experience for all involved and can be quite humbling to see the richness of life in hard circumstances. The opportunity to be able to spend time together, sharing and learning from each other, and making friendships are things we all really value. We all have many wonderful memories that we truly treasure. (see the above links to our time spent at MGLSS(
Fundraising for the Tanzania Project went on throughout the year by various groups. The Share Committee group worked hard and raised a considerable amount of money for various charities that ISA supports and again donated money for the Tanzania Project. The Tanzanian Girls Student group also raised money for the project. These donations enabled us to buy the required supplies and run the programme. The funds also paid for a trip to the Taranguire National Park for all the Form 1 students, which they enjoyed immensely. In addition to this, a financial donation was given to the school to further support their current needs. Dr. Msinjili, the Head of School, expressed on many occasions, thanks and gratitude for the continued support, help and kindness that ISA has been able give to the MaaSAE Girls School.
During the project, we also had the opportunity to visit the Heifer Project that ISA has also supported over the years. This is a great addition to the project and enables group members to see clearly another and very different aspect of life in Tanzania. This organization supports people in need in developing countries by giving them livestock to help alleviate hunger and poverty. Besides the gift of an animal, the person receiving it must take part in a training programme provided by the Heifer project to learn how to look after the animal correctly and its’ subsequent offspring. They must also agree to pass on the first offspring to another family and hence the gift is then passed on to another family. During our stay we were able to visit a dairy goat project that has been recently funded by ISA. Heifer International Tanzania works in partnership with CCBRT (Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania) and together have implemented the dairy goat project in Shigachini Lower Moshi Kilimanjaro in Mtakuja and Mikocheni villages. In the past, the Heifer organisation has focused many of their projects in Tanzania in supporting families or organizations that are affected by the HIV virus. They have now expanded their support to helping families who have a mentally and /or physically challenged child. This support is much needed in Tanzania as these families have in the past been left with no help. It is very encouraging to see the difference a goat makes to the lives of those concerned – the milk helping to provide a nutritious food source, with any excess being sold, thus providing an income of its own, which helps to pay school, housing and clothing costs.
On behalf of the ISA Tanzanian group, MGLSS and Heifer Tanzania, we would like to thank all of you who have been involved in anyway raising and /or donating money for the Tanzania Project – your kindness, efforts and generosity are greatly appreciated.
Thank you to all, or as they say in Swahili,
Asante Sana
Sue Worsnup (Tanzania Coordinator 2015)
NB. Without a scholarship 85% of the students would not be able to attend the school. Scholarships for MGLSS are administrated by OBA (Operation Bootstrap Africa). The cost of a full yearly scholarship is $1000.00 per student. Many students have two sponsors, each providing half of the scholarship amount. If you are interested at all in helping to provide scholarships (designated to MGLSS) then please contact OPERATION BOOTSTRAP AFRICA at bootstrapd@aol.com for more information.