Challenges for 2007

The main challenge for the School in 2007 is the building program at the new campus. To be ready for students at the beginning of 2008, the new campus needs buildings (classrooms, administration and work rooms), furniture, computers, library, hall and kitchen, toilets, water, electricity and all the basics for a new school.

Work begins on Usa River site

Three reasons to support the School of St Jude

1. All funds go directly to the school and are used for running the school.
2. Hands-on management of the school by the very capable Gemma Sisia. — "Lunch for 2,400? No worries!"
   
3. The school meets the very real needs of bright children from poor families in an impoverished country where education often means classes of 40-60 children who share a handful of books.

Supporter Programs
The school accepts general donations of any size and also offers a number of Supporter Programs.

• FULL sponsorship of a student's annual fees AUD$1,100.00 p.a.
• HALF sponsorship of a student's annual fees AUD$550.00 p.a.
• Sponsor a classroom AUD$500.00 p.a.
• Sponsor a school bus AUD$500.00 p.a.
• Sponsor a teacher AUD$500.00 p.a.
• Sponsor Internet for a Class AUD$500.00 p.a.
• Sponsor 30 square metres land purchase US$100

Special project sponsorship
If you have an idea for a special project you would like to sponsor, please contact the school with your thoughts.

Check out the school website (link in sidebar) for more information about the school. Come aboard! Make a difference!

Africa: The Next Chapter

What better way to help a poor country like Tanzania than to give it some of your business? Arusha, with its excellent hotels and proximity to major tourist attractions (Serengeti and Mt Kilimanjaro) is well-placed to host international conferences. So it is great to see this conference scheduled for June 2007.



The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference is an annual event where leading thinkers and doers gather for inspiration. Titled ‘Africa, The Next Chapter’, the conference will feature 50 extraordinary speakers who are shaping Africa's future though innovation and world-changing ideas.

Underlying this new initiative is TED’s recognition that Africa is at an important tipping point. Its problems and challenges are well known. But across the continent, tremendous change is afoot. Ingenious solutions are being applied to tackle some of the toughest health and infrastructure problems; businesses are being launched that are capable of transforming the lives of millions.

A new generation of Africans is emerging who refuse to be daunted by Africa's familiar litany of challenges, and instead believe an exciting future beckons. They include leading entrepreneurs, inventors, cultural ambassadors, scientists, designers, artists, writers, activists, musicians and mavericks making real change across the continent.

Leading the conference is TEDGlobal Program Director Emeka Okafor: entrepreneur, analyst and creator of the influential blogs Africa Unchained and Timbuktu Chronicles.

You can find more information about the conference at TED.

I am sure that conference delegates will want to visit the School of St Jude as an outstanding example of the new energy that is contributing to the fresh wind of change in Africa.

Climbing mountains

Remember the 3 peaks 3 weeks challenge that I mentioned a while ago? Ten women are climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Meru and Mt Kenya as a fundraiser for local beneficiaries, including the School of St Jude.

Well they are now in the middle of the expedition. You can read daily reports here.

This group of amazing women have raised $300,000 so far.

Between mountains, they visited St Jude’s. Here’s what they say.

After sorting out our luggage at the hotel we loaded back up into the cars and headed out to St. Jude. The school is an amazing example of how education can give even the poorest children an opportunity to succeed. Gemma Rice, founder of St. Jude, led us around the campus which has grown from 1 classroom, 1 school bus, and 3 students in 2002 to over 20 classrooms, 17 school buses, and 800 children this semester!

The children came out to greet us, proudly wearing their dark and light blue uniforms, and couldn’t have looked any more precious than when they donned their wide-brimmed sun hats. Gemma asked grade 6 if they knew why we were there and they replied by correctly stating each mountain we would summit. When we asked them why we are climbing mountains, many looked confused. We, too, have had times when we feel confused as to why we are climbing mountains! We made sure to stress the point that we are building a secondary school for them – of which grade 6 will be the first to use. In 2009, that class will graduate primary school and enter secondary school. With the funds we are raising from 3 peaks, the new secondary campus will be built.

More on St. Jude to come tomorrow. We are all very impressed by the education they offer and will be spending a day at some of the student’s homes. Donations are greatly appreciated as we near the $300,000 AUD mark. Please visit the donations page on our website for more information on how you can be a contributor!

There’s a lot happening! Get on board!

Teacher Training

The School of St Jude aims for excellence and works hard to ensure that teaching standards are high. In a country that has been starved of resources for education, it is a challenge to find enough well-trained teachers to meet the demands of the rapidly growing school.

Heads of Department, 2006

In December 2006, the school employed 37 Tanzanian + 12 foreign + 8 teaching assistants. The school rewards the Tanzanian teachers with good salaries and a bonus scheme for initiative and exceptionally high standards of work. Foreign teachers work on a volunteer basis and receive a monthly stipend.

In December 2006 the Smith Family Foundation from the United States granted the school a great gift – the expertise of two education experts who spent three weeks in December with the teaching staff working on leadership skills and innovative teaching techniques.

Teacher training seminar


Mr Florian gives feedback in training seminar

For three weeks from late November to early December, Amy and Freda, two wonderful teacher educators from the USA, gave professional development sessions with teachers and leaders of the school. Everyone absolutely loved the sessions and got a lot out of the visit. Amy and Freda have totally revamped the school’s curriculum, so 2007 will be a challenging year for everyone!

The School is currently seeking volunteer teachers in three fields: primary teaching, art teaching and teacher training. Check out the Teachabroad website for details.

It is quite wonderful to see the comprehensive range of activities carried out by the School of St Jude in its mission to blend the best of Western and Tanzanian instructional methods to instill critical thinking and high moral values in students who will later become the leaders and builders of Tanzania

Value for money!

In 2006 the School of St Jude educated 700 primary age children at a cost of $1,000,000. That is $1,429 per student. This amount includes all expenses associated with running the school, including capital works (purchase of 30 acres and new building of 10 classroom block).

Classroom block nearly complete, December 2006

In comparison, in 2005 the NSW Education department educated 1.1 million students (primary, secondary and TAFE) at a cost of $10,145,000,000; that is $9,900 per student. This also includes all expenses associated with running educational institutions, except, of course that in NSW capital works take up a much smaller proportion of the overall budget than the rapidly expanding School of St Jude.

It seems to me that the School of St Jude offers donors excellent value for money.

We can only wonder at what Tanzania could achieve if it had the same resources for education that NSW has. I regularly read announcements of aid to Tanzania amounting to hundreds of millions – for example the British government gave $275 million in 2005/06. It seems like a lot of money. But it is very little compared with the $10,000 million every year that NSW spends on its 1.1 million students.

I have heard people say that aid has not worked – Africa is still a basket case despite all the aid given over the years. But when you compare the amounts given to African countries for education with the real amount that it costs developed countries to offer the same service, we can see that the aid given is miniscule. It is not enough to improve anything, in fact it hardly serves to maintain the poorest of possibilities.

So, let’s get on with the job of sharing the resources that we were lucky to be born into. Your support of the School of St Jude will make a massive difference to hundreds of children and their families. These well-educated children will grow up to be thoughtful citizens and future leaders of Tanzania.

Birdman of Arusha

Are you into birds? Since marrying Hal, my eyes have been opened to the obsessive qualities of serious birders as they make their lists and learn the subtle (obscure?) identifying features of different species. So, it is no wonder that birds will be an important feature of the visit we plan to make to Arusha later this year.

You can picture my delight at discovering the Birdman of Arusha.

James Wolstencroft, Birdman of Arusha

James Wolstencroft made his first East African safari in 1976 and settled in Tanzania in 2005 with his wife and two sons. He is a lifelong naturalist and very keen birder, whose enthusiasm for all forms of wildlife has encouraged an interest in many others, some of whom have become avid birders.

His website reflects his passion, knowledge and aesthetic appreciation of the natural world, especially birds.

Luckily for us John offers guided tours of all varieties. He says,

In my tours and writing I seek dialogue with nature. Where ecological insight and aesthetic appreciation meet; hopefully generating more rewarding experiences than quick looks and ticks on a list.

I hope that we can spend some time with this remarkable man, in the natural world that he knows so well. Who knows, maybe we will be lucky enough to see the critically endangered Beesley’s Lark – there are only 45 left in the world.


A visit to East Africa can be a richly rewarding experience. We hope to experience the wonders of the natural world, learn about the local people and culture, and make a contribution to the School of St Jude.

Rain!

After a devastating drought in 2005-2006 that brought the country to its knees, late rains have filled the dams enough to give hope that electricity supplies will soon return to normal. It will take more rain to restore the confidence of farmers and give the country the farming production it needs for economic growth.

The drought and power cuts led the government to revise its 2006 gross domestic product growth forecast to 5.9% from an earlier 7.3%.

With the return of more certain electricity supplies, the School of St Jude won’t need to rely so heavily on its diesel generators, and will get some relief from the $8,000 per month fuel bills.

Here's Gemma with two of her constant companions – Amiri, the head groundsman in charge of all the building stores and Amani, our fulltime electrician, who has the tough job of keeping the school ‘switched on’ in a country with an atrocious power supply.

How many schools have a full-time electrician to keep things working? I guess that this is just one of the many wonderful differences about the School of St Jude.

I keep thinking about solar power. How effective is it in the Arusha district? Are there local suppliers? Can sponsorship help to provide solar power at both campuses? I need to find out more.