Girls' Dormitory Dedication

In late October, Soit Sambu Secondary School held its graduation for Form Four students and the official dedication ceremony for the FoTZC-constructed girls’ dormitory at the school. The dormitory is beautiful, and is even fully-furnished! It was wonderful to see the community come together to celebrate the new building in such a spectacular fashion. More than three hundred people from the surrounding communities attended the event! The Ngorongoro District Commissioner, Elias Wawa Lali, was the guest of honor at the celebration. Also in attendance were the Ngorongoro District Member of Parliament, Saning’o ole Telele, the Oloipir Ward Councilor, William Alais, and the Sukenya Village Chairman, Loserian Minis.

The day began with an official delegation touring the dormitory, followed by groups of parents, students, and community members. Everyone who saw the new space was impressed by the size of the dormitory and the quality of the facility. Choirs sang several songs praising and thanking FoTZC and its donors for the new housing for female students at the school. After the performances, the District Commissioner gave a short speech about the importance of collaboration among communities and FoTZC, and unveiled a plaque for the dedication.

Later in the day, the Form Four graduation kicked off with songs, dances, and skits. The Soit Sambu Secondary School Board awarded certificates to the District Commissioner, the Member of Parliament, the Oloipiri Ward Councilor, the Sukenya Village Chairman, the Soit Sambu Secondary School headmaster, and to FoTZC. We are proud to be working with such an outstanding school.

Giving Back - Part I

During the holiday season, we wanted to highlight some of our extraordinary donors for their efforts to give back to communities in Tanzania. Their dedication to FoTZC has been outstanding. Thank you to all of our donors and supporters for helping FoTZC to have an outstanding year.

If you would like to donate to FoTZC in honor of a loved one as a holiday gift, please click here and select “Honor Your Loved One”! 

In November 2012, a group of 17 family members and friends booked a Kilimanjaro trek and wildlife safari with Thomson Safaris. Before they ever visited Tanzania, the entire group wanted to give something back to the communities they would visit. Don and Jim, two of the trekkers, host an incredible holiday party each year and invite over a hundred people. They asked their guests to bring donations to FoTZC to the party in lieu of bringing holiday gifts. It was a huge success!

Don and Jim said: Traveling to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro and experience a safari has been on our life-long bucket list! We love to have intense family vacations that create deep bonds and memories. Experiencing and trying new things with friends and family is the ultimate joy for us. We love different cultures, people, wildlife, and languages. We are fundraising because we feel that it is a privilege to be able to take our family on such an extravagant and exotic trip. We realize that most people are not lucky enough to have the means to do so, and we would like to pay it forward.

They did an incredible job. Not only did their whole group summit Kilimanjaro, they raised over $13,000!

Left: Don and Jim at their holiday party. Right: Don and Jim’s house decorated for the holidays!

Remembering Mama Lulu

Spitfire. A force for progress. Persistent. Passionate. Generous. Dynamic. Confident. Tenacious. Vibrant. Unstoppable. All of these words were used to describe Mama Lulu, the Headmistress of Ganako Secondary School, who passed away surrounded by her family and friends on July 5th, 2013. She was a special person who had the gift of making every person she met both feel important and at ease. At the same time, Mama Lulu knew what she wanted and was always determined to make progress.

Mama Lulu, more formally known as Sister Mary Lulu, was born in January, 1952. She was the second of 14 children, and dedicated much of her life to supporting her family. In the 1960s, it was unusual for Tanzanian girls to attend school, but Mama Lulu’s father wanted her to get an education, so she started primary school in the early 1960s. She excelled in both primary and middle school, and upon her completion of middle school she became a nun with the Sisters of the Daughters of Mary. Mama Lulu passed the Sisters’ secondary school entrance exam and enrolled in secondary school in Dar es Salaam. She continued through university and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1982.

Mama Lulu had been teaching for over 20 years when she became the first Headmistress of Ganako Secondary School in 2004. Judi Wineland, one of the directors of FoTZC and a co-founder of Thomson Safaris met Mama Lulu that year and was immediately struck by her leadership and her close relationship with the school board at Ganako. Judi introduced the rest of the FoTZC board to Mama Lulu, and, along with the Harriman family, they set out to turn Ganako into a model for other schools in Tanzania. From 2007-2010, the Ministry of Education sent Mama Lulu to run another secondary school, but she returned in 2010 for the beginning phases of construction of Michela’s Room, a dining hall and community center at Ganako.

Mama Lulu pushed all of her students and teaching staff to excel, and was particularly interested in improving education for girls. This included visiting her students’ families to explain how important it was for the students to spend their time on homework instead of on housework. During Mama Lulu’s tenure, Ganako was certified by the government to teach A-Levels (Forms 5 and 6) to boys, which is high praise for both the school and her leadership. The chairman of the school board said that Ganako’s achievements were all attributable to Mama Lulu’s efforts. She still, however, was focused on helping young girls. She spoke excitedly about working with girls in need when she retired, and wanted to help young women create better lives for themselves through education. Her vision was remarkable.

FoTZC, along with many others, will truly miss Mama Lulu. She was an enthusiastic leader, an outstanding educator, and a great friend. We will all remember her as Judi Wineland does: “she was a big personality, had a smile and a laugh that could melt ice in an instant, and was a no-nonsense leader who was passionate about her goals but had a warmth that filled the room. She led us all.”

Girl’s Dormitory and Oloipiri Teachers’ Housing

We had planned to break ground on the girls’ dormitory at Soit Sambu Secondary School in early March, but due to a shortage of bricks and unusually wet weather, the only part we’ve been able to start on is building the furniture for the dormitory! We hope to break ground on the building in early May, but in the meantime, we are getting a head start on the furnishings.

Once we complete the dormitory, the next project we are raising funds for is a 2-in-1 teachers’ house at Oloipiri Primary School. The school is in poor condition, and has asked that FoTZC build a teachers’ house to enable them to increase their teaching staff to accommodate their growing student body. For the 2013 school year, Oloipiri has 560 students and only eight teachers – a 70:1 student-teacher ratio. The community completing the construction of two classrooms at the school, which we hope will be completed prior to the ground-breaking for the 2-in-1 teachers’ house.

Oloipiri Classroom

Students at Oloipiri

Preparations for the Dormitory

February 17, 2013 – Written by Eliza Hatch
Frank and Jane, the engineer and the project manager from our contractor’s office flew up to Loliondo for the day on Thursday to visit Soit Sambu Secondary School to lay the groundwork and choose the site for the new girls’ dormitory. The existing girls’ dormitory has 48 beds and houses 160 girls; the new dorm will have an additional 50 beds, easing the crowding of the existing dormitory.

Frank and Jane were extremely thorough in their choice of the site and in scoping out the general area. The headmaster wanted to put the new dorm directly next to the old one, but Jane suggested leaving some space between the two dorms as a play area for the girls or as a potential space to build a reading area in the future. They also noticed a building nearby that had settled and started to crack. I would have assumed the building wasn’t well-constructed, but they immediately asked to see the soil. Apparently when it rains, this particular kind of soil settles, so they have to account for this in the building of the foundation of the dorm. They even took a bag of soil back to Arusha with them. I am impressed by how thorough they are!

We plan to break ground in about three weeks as soon as the bricks are ready and delivered!

ABOUT

FOTZC is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization registered in Watertown, MA. FOTZC also accepts donation of securities. Please contact info@fotzc.org for guidance on making this type of donation.