HANDOVER OF THE NEW PRIMARY SCHOOL IN EMBOREET
The handover of the new school to the government is sealed
At the end of September, ECLAT handed over the new Lenaitunyo Primary School in Emboreet to the district government, the authority responsible for running the school. At the beginning of 2020, Chrismon magazine had reported in an article by photojournalist Claudio Verbano about the school girl Pendo, who has to walk many hours a day from her home to school – and back again in the evening. Chrismon used the decision by upendo and ECLAT to build a new school near this girl’s home (and many other children) to appeal for donations. The response was so great that we were able to build considerably more buildings than initially planned. Since Fly&Help and DERPART also supported our project financially, five new classrooms with school furniture, a semi-detached house for teachers (for whom there are no other living quarters) and new toilet facilities were built and handed over by the end of September.
Pendo is looking forward to her new school
Pendo and many other children in this area of Emboreet now have a reasonable school walk to reach the new school. And the other schools in Emboreet are grateful that many of their children are now being taught at another school, so that the number of children in the classrooms is noticeably reduced – not to mention the fact that there are still far too many children in one class.
In addition to this new school, we were also able to complete the extension and renovation work on three other primary schools and hand them over to the district governments: on 12 September 2020 in Terrat in Simanjiro district, on 25 September in Loongung (Simanjiro) and on 26 September in Lengijape (Monduli). We would like to thank Fly&Help and Entrepreneurs for Knowledge for the funds for these projects.
The block with 5 new classrooms
At all handover ceremonies ECLAT was also able to hand over teaching materials such as exercise books and pens to the children, for whom even these are an unaffordable treasure.
SECOND STAGE OF THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE
Excavation for the foundations of the workshops at the Vocational Training Centre
In recent years, we have been able to improve the infrastructure of schools in Simanjiro District (and beyond) in a very noticeable way. The number of pupils has increased significantly during this period, including secondary school pupils. But most of them do not manage to qualify for further academic education. However, in order to give them the opportunity of alternative further education in the district, upendo and ECLAT have built a Vocational Training Centre in the past two years. Since the middle of last year, young people from the district have been trained there as bricklayers, both boys and girls. Most of the craftsmen who work on our and other projects in this area still come from elsewhere. Now local young people are learning a trade with which they can earn an income later on. We hope that many of them will settle down in the district and thus contribute to the economic development of their home country. The BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) and DER Touristik provided us with the funds for the construction of the centre. VETA, the Tanzanian state authority for craft training, took over the centre a year ago and now runs it.
Already at the beginning of October this year, ECLAT was able to start with the expansion of the centre for the training of carpenters and locksmiths – thanks to the promised funds of the two organisations mentioned above. In the middle of next year the first young people are to start their training in these disciplines here, both boys and girls. And by establishing a dual form of training, together with some further pedagogical training measures for the teachers, we would like to improve the training in terms of content as well.
CONSTRUCTION WORK IN THE WOMEN’S CENTRE
Extension of the residential building for the teachers at the women’s centre
During the Corona crisis ECLAT’s work to empower women came to only a brief standstill; life in Tanzania is now returning to its usual course. Women’s group regularly come again to the seminar centre for a week to talk to the two teachers about their group, their own personal and family situation, bringing up children, hygiene, birth control, economic activities, their own experiences, successes and failures with the microcredits they have been granted, and much more. Since the opening of the centre in October 2017, women have regularly come to the centre for a few days. Unfortunately, from the very beginning the house for the two teachers and their families was planned to be too small. Besides the separate kitchen and toilet, there were only two small bedrooms and a small living room – for both families together. Thanks to the support of the Foundation for Care and Education, ECLAT is currently building two more rooms to the residential house. And the two teachers are looking forward to more space to live in with their children – which will certainly have a positive effect on the education of the women at the centre.
Photos: ECLAT Development Foundation (September – October 2020)
