Build a school for 100 Maasai children in Tanzania

Dear Friends,

We're taking the opportunity to update you a little earlier than usual, following a visit to Kiruru village in Tanzania last month. The community impressed us with their self-motivation from the start, and as you know from the updates we have shared for the past 3 years, the amount they have achieved - with your help - is remarkable.

They informed us that the primary school that you have helped them build now serves 212 children - more than twice our original target number. That's more than 200 children who aren't having to walk 7 kilometers (4.5 miles) each way to school every day! More realistically, a large number of those children probably wouldn't have gone to school at all, as they couldn't have managed the walk or their parents wouldn't have wanted to send them for fear of what might happen on those long journeys, from river crossings to attacks by wildlife.

But incredibly, the school is still only able to provide for 4 classes out of the 7 that form the primary school structure in Tanzania. So classes 5, 6 and 7 are still having to make the long walk every day, so that their younger brothers and sisters can use the local facilities that have been built.

The community want to continue their excellent work and have started to build foundations for a further two classrooms and another office so that the remaining children can also be educated locally. And of course this number of children need more facilities! Currently, there is only a single toilet to serve the needs of everyone attending the school. The community have dug two pits for new blocks of seperate latrines for boys and girls - no small challenge through the rock-hard ground during dry season! And the teachers continue to work with the children to improve the local environment as well, by planting tree seedlings around the school to start to make a garden.

All this amazing transformation has been made possible with your generous support, so as ever if you would like to share this wonderful project with friends and family, we and our partners, but more importantly the people and particularly the children of Kiruru will be very grateful.

Best regards and many thanks until the next time

Bernie and Smart Villages Team