Gemma Sisia grew up with six brothers on an Australian farm, riding horses and motorbikes, trout fishing, and swimming in waterfalls. Her parents passed on to her a strong sense of justice and the desire to help others.
After college, Gemma worked as a teacher in a rural school in Uganda. There, she experienced an “educational hole,” where teachers are undertrained, textbooks are scarce, and classrooms have as many as 120 students competing for desks.
The School of St Jude in northern Tanzania fights poverty through education. You won’t find it highlighted in glossy travel brochures but it’s a memorable destination and a worthwhile experience. While not the journey, it can be a fulfilling detour.
The story of St Jude’s has been told through its inspiring and indefatigable founder, Gemma Sisia AM, a finalist for Australian of the Year and twice featured on ABC TV’s Australian Story. Gemma tells me how, as a young backpacker in East Africa, she was appalled by local government schools and “naively” wondered why these kids “born with the same brains as you or me” didn’t have a quality education.
(Most Tanzanians receive only primary schooling, which is conducted in Swahili. Only exceptional, or rich, children are taught in government secondary schools — in English.)
Have you met Victor?
You should!
Victor is a master of languages; at age 8, he is top of Standard 1 (Grade 1) in English and Kiswahili. He is also number one in computer class and science!
Science is Victor’s favorite subject and when he grows up he wants to be a pilot.
Why? “So I can go to all the places I want to go to,” he said.
‘Captain Victor’ lives in Moivaro with his father, mother and younger brother Steven.
His parents, Adrian and Beatrice, have only a primary school education; both work six days a week to provide for the family and make sure Victor gets to school and has time to study.
Victor started at St Jude’s in January this year. Now that he is receiving a free, high-quality education, the family’s dream is to save enough money to buy a small piece of land, his mother, Beatrice, said.
Victor relishes being at St Jude’s; he’s a veritable ladies’ man, in the sense that all his best friends are girls. His favourite things to do are to speak English and, “play football, the monkey game and go on the slide at lunchtime.”
If you’d like to be dazzled by Victor’s school reports, correspond with the master linguist and even hang out with him and his family in person one day, why not become a sponsor?
