In 2013, 150 new students will start at The School of St Jude to receive a free, high-quality education. These children have been carefully selected to ensure that they are the brightest and poorest throughout the Arusha region.
Most of these children come from homes without basic necessities that are taken for granted in developed countries, including electricity, running water and appliances such as refrigerators. They also face difficult learning environments with overcrowded classrooms, limited resources and under-qualified teachers.
Now, with a place at St Jude's, these children will be able to work towards any dream of their choosing, no matter how big. They will be able to escape the cycle of poverty that their parents and grandparents have endured while developing the knowledge and professional skills sorely needed inTanzania.
Here is the story of one of our new students – Adolfina.
When Adolfina was five years old her parents ran a food stall at a market. They couldn't seem to make a profit no matter how hard they worked so eventually they went out of business. Her father continued to sell vegetables from a small wooden stall on a main road and her mother now washes clothes and collects water for people in the village.
Each month Adolfina's parents put aside money to pay for the education of their three children. They're always worried about how they will find the money if one of the children become sick so they try to save for that too. Adolfina shares a mattress with her two brothers in their small mud house. There is no electricity so they spend a lot of time playing outside.
Adolfina goes to a government school where there are 128 other students in her classroom, a bleak and deteriorating room with no play equipment outside. In spite of all this, Adolfina is one of the top students in her class. Each day, Adolfina brings her only three notebooks, two pencils and a makeshift pencil sharpener to school. Adolfina's passion for learning continues at home where she often teaches her brothers.
When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she says, "I want to sell bananas."
By receiving a free, high-quality education at St Jude’s Adolfina can now DARE TO DREAM, a dream beyond selling bananas.
But Adolfina's is just one of 150 new dreams. By investing in one of these children you will empower a young child to reach beyond their dreams, and you will play an active role in the fight against poverty in one of the world's poorest nations.
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