Using human hair to address environmental concerns might seem like a far-fetched idea. However, David (Class of 2019), is recycling human hair and converting it into fertiliser!

David recently completed Beyond St Jude’s (BSJ) Community Service Year, teaching physics and biology to approximately 900 students in a Tanzanian government school. 

“During my Community Service Year, I found a passion to help the community around me.  I also strengthened my passion for recycling hair into usable products for both construction and agriculture industries,” David explained.

“The hair we collect is from local hair salons or from school campus. We have started a business and now have employees who collect human hair for us.”

As a result of his ingenuity, David was recognised as one of Africa’s Top 20 Young Entrepreneurs through a prestigious international competition. His business venture takes its roots here at St Jude’s, when David and his friend, Ojung’u (Class of 2019), first showcased their idea at St Jude’s Science Day in 2018.

“Ojung’u and I collected human hair and were proud to launch the project at Science Day. We came out as second overall winners out of all the students at Smith Campus!” David grinned.

David and Ojung’u oversee 17 employees and collaborate with more than 100 workers who collect hair for them. Their biggest dream is to conserve the environment, support his community and lift his family out of poverty.

St Jude’s Community Service Year through Beyond St Jude’s is a program that supports graduates through higher education. The program provides an opportunity for these graduates to pay it forward by volunteering their time teaching and supporting over 10,000 government school students each year.

St Jude’s is at the forefront of championing female students, so that they can be tomorrow’s leaders in a range of fields. Herieth (Class of 2018) is a true inspiration to her fellow female students wanting to pursue studies in science. Her achievements at St Jude’s earned her a full Beyond St Jude’s Tertiary scholarship to study a Bachelor of Science with Education at the University Dar es Salaam.

“I’m truly happy to have earnt this scholarship. It’s lifted a heavy burden from my parents. The money that was meant to contribute to my university education is now going towards my siblings’ education,” Herieth shared, her eyes glistening with tears of gratitude.

“My dream is to become a Science teacher. I would like to come back to St Jude’s and teach upper classes, especially Advanced Level,” she added.

Herieth joined in Form 1 – her first year of secondary school. She’d endured the rigours of a government primary school education and was among only a small number of students to achieve one of St Jude’s highly contested scholarship places when she applied.

“The first time I heard of St Jude’s, I came for Standard 1 and 2 selection. Unfortunately, I didn’t pass the test. When I graduated from Standard 7, my results were good and I received a letter from St Jude’s inviting me to come for an entrance exam and interview. On Student Selection day, there were more than 900 students, but I was lucky enough to pass the test this time and receive the opportunity to join the school,” Herieth explained.

Before Herieth started university, she joined BSJ’s Community Service Year. Herieth taught chemistry to more than 100 students at a government secondary school. She sometimes even taught Advanced Level subjects, if there was no registered teacher available.

“Without St Jude’s I’m not sure what my life would be. I look at my peers and all the girls I studied with at primary school are now either married or divorced with children and they are having a hard time surviving,” Herieth shared.

“I truly thank Mama Gemma, my sponsors, all donors and other supporters. They are helping people like myself run away from this cycle of poverty. Without education, life is too hard,” she added. Both David and Herieth are working towards achieving their goals and fulfilling their purposes of helping their communities to fight poverty through the free and high quality education provided by St Jude’s, shaping up to become outstanding role models and intellectual leaders of Tanzania.

The Beyond St Jude’s Community Service Year (CSY) is coming to an end for our class of 2019 graduates, and now it’s time for them to spread their wings and embark on the next stage of their educational journeys… higher education!

Beyond St Jude’s (BSJ) is an optional, yet popular, program for our Form 6 graduates made up of two parts. The program enables our graduates to give back to their communities in an educational context as volunteers through a Community Service Year and then provides them with the funding they need to go on to access higher education within East Africa through our Tertiary Fund.

In the first year out of high school, our graduates can apply to take part in the Community Service Year as one way to give back in recognition of the free education they received at St Jude’s. As Community Service Year volunteers, they personify the school’s vision, sharing their gifts of knowledge and values they learned at St Jude’s by teaching in local government schools or in placements throughout St Jude’s campuses.

After successful completion of their Community Service Year, St Jude’s set up a Tertiary Fund to help support graduates in their first higher education qualification within East Africa.

Razak and Sarafina are two Form 6 graduates who have successfully completed their Community Service Year at Elerai secondary school and Enyoitoa secondary school in Arusha respectively. They are now in the process of enrolling in university through the BSJ program.

“I’m applying to University of Dar es Salaam, Ardhi University and Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology. My priority course is Civil Engineering, but I would also like to take Electrical Engineering,” says Razak.

Razak voluntarily taught mathematics to 484 Form 1 students at a local government school as a way to give back to his community through the CSY program.

“I studied PCM, which means physics, chemistry and mathematics in Form 6. I love science studies, that’s why I’m applying for the course.”

“Tanzania is lagging behind other countries in construction and infrastructure. I want to make an impact by being part of the infrastructure development in the country,” Razak stated confidently.

Sarafina, who loves drawing, wants to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry or Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture. “I’m applying to the University of Dar es Salaam, Ardhi University and the University of Dodoma. My courses will be involving physics, chemistry and mathematics.”

Sarafina’s dream is to become a teacher, “I chose Landscape Architecture because I love drawing so much so I feel I could be good at it. But for the Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, I plan to teach or be part of the industry.”

The Beyond St Jude’s Tertiary program is in place to help graduates achieve their dreams of completing higher education. In Tanzania, only 4% of post-school-aged students enroll in higher education.

“St Jude’s is playing a big role in stacking the odds in our favour. The program is helping us with guidance on specific courses and recommend what’s best for us by looking at our qualifications and abilities and guiding us along the right path,” says Razak.

Agreeing with Razak, Sarafina says, “Without St Jude’s I couldn’t have done this. The school is guiding us through each process, making the application easy and supporting us financially too.”

Assisting the graduates in their application process is Rickson. He’s also a Form 6 graduate who has been volunteering in the Beyond St Jude’s department for the remainder of his Community Service Year.

“This time of the year is when students apply for university. The team here have been assisting graduates in applying and making online payments. We’ve also been helping them update their information.”

“Once we enrol and begin our studies, the BSJ team come and visit us to track our progress and make sure we are getting the best education,” he added.

Rickson is aiming to pursue Chemical Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam.

“I’m in my last month of the Community Service Year, and I’m looking forward to starting university.”

“My passion is to work in industries. In filling the application, my second option was Industrial Engineering. Academically, my strength is chemistry and mathematics. So I feel like Chemical Engineering will be a good field for me since I’ve been enjoying the subjects,” said Rickson.

St Jude’s mission is to fight poverty through education and develop the future leaders of Tanzania. Through the Beyond St Jude’s Program, graduates not only get an opportunity to give back to their own communities in recognition of their free education but also share the benefits of the quality education they received with many less fortunate, but equally talented, young Tanzanians; helping to inspire them to strive for a brighter future.

To date, The School of St Jude has produced 675 high school graduates. As the next group of graduates submit their university applications, it takes them one step closer to becoming the next generation of leaders that will deliver a sustainable and self-determining future for the people of Tanzania.

Emmanuel, a Form 4 student, studying at Smith Campus, has big dreams of becoming a humanitarian. His mission in life is to live with integrity, and he aims to make a difference in the life of others.

“I am charitable and like helping people despite who they are and where they are from,” he confidently articulated as he shared his life goals.

During the school shut down earlier this year due to COVID-19, Emmanuel used his time volunteering at an orphanage on the outskirts of Arusha. The orphanage centre takes in and cares for orphans coming from poor and marginalised communities. Emmanuel spent his time there teaching English and computer skills and sharing his knowledge from St Jude’s.

“During the day, I would spend my time teaching and training children sports and first aid. I also taught them environment conservation, innovation and waste recycling. We would turn plastic bottles into ornaments that can be used by the children,” Emmanuel explained.

Emmanuel, who loves to innovate new things during his spare time, invented a hand-washing machine which he submitted to an international organisation calling for innovators to submit ideas on how to tackle COVID-19.

“I submitted my hand-washing machine idea. I didn’t win, but my idea was commended, and I received a certificate for it,” adding that although he didn’t win, it was still an amazing opportunity to showcase his design to an international audience.

Helping people, especially children, has been instilled in Emmanuel ever since he was young. “My drive and passion for helping children started when I was elected as a leader for a children’s council in my community church. From that point on, I was eager to extend my hand in the orphanage centres around Arusha.”

Emmanuel is also very active in different activities outside school. He’s an ambassador to a non-profit organisation that works to lift young people out of poverty through literacy.

He’s also been appointed to be a Country Coordinator to a platform of youth around the world to explore innovative ideas to solve issues related to youth, especially youth empowerment and employment. He believes that these roles and opportunities are helping him to become a future leader of Tanzania and putting him on the right path to fulfil his mission. “My wish for the future is to see every student from St Jude’s become a good, unique person and an asset to this country,” said Emmanuel.

Acknowledging Emmanuel’s work, Mr Humphrey, Deputy Headmaster – Core Values & Operations at Smith Campus said, “In recognising students such as Emmanuel’s achievements, the school keeps his records of the times he volunteered for future use. We also acknowledged his accomplishments during assembly.”

“To encourage more students to give back to their communities, we encourage students to form groups and volunteer during holidays. Also, we have volunteering programs, usually done on weekends where many students participate in volunteering activities in and out of school,”
Mr Humphrey added.

Emmanuel’s dream is to make a difference in his community. He believes that this begins by recognising and observing St Jude’s core values which are respect, honesty, responsibility and kindness. With these principles instilled in him and the gift of high-quality education he’s receiving, his wish after graduation is to become a source of inspiration to the society.

Science subjects are deemed to be too difficult by female students. However, Mr Nzinyangwa Mcharo disputes this notion.

Mr Mcharo is the Academic Manager here at The School of St Jude. He begins the conversation by confirming that the overall number of girls enrolled at St Jude’s is over 60% as of July 2020.

“The enrolment is based on merits and not because of gender selection,” said Mr Mcharo.

Currently, most schools in Tanzania lack science teachers, particularly women, making science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education predominantly dominated by men.

One of Mr Mcharo’s initiatives as Academic Manager is to encourage more female students to opt for science subjects.

“Most of the time, it’s a social stigma that math and physics are hard subjects. However, I can tell you about my own experience; I think history is more difficult than mathematics. I believe that anyone can pass mathematics when they focus.”

“I believe that science is very easy, and it’s also about your life. When you study biology, you study about health. You study physics, you study about machines. You study chemistry, you study about chemicals, some of them used in our daily life like in the kitchen. So it really depends on how those subjects get taught and the student’s passions.”

Mr Mcharo also emphasised on the best way these science subjects are taught. “If you teach science only to get grades, students will get upset because they don’t see any relevance of the subject. However, if you link science with every-day life, there will be no reason why a student won’t opt for science subjects.”

Mr Mcharo and St Jude’s academic staff have been at the forefront of promoting female teachers in STEM education to increase the number of female staff and ultimately have role models for girls in science subjects.

“So, the first thing is to have role models, and this can only be done if we create them to influence female students to focus on STEM. In our approach to science, we have made some initiatives such as opening a girls’ school with fully-equipped science labs and providing full university scholarships through the Beyond St Jude’s program in the field of science with education.”

To Mr Mcharo, STEM defines the future for successful female students.

“If we can get our girls into these STEM careers – science, technology, engineering and mathematics, we will get role models. This will remove the bias and improve the wellbeing of our society.”

Herieth, a Class of 2018 alum, is a true inspiration to her fellow female students who would like to pursue science studies. Her academic achievements at St Jude’s earned her a full scholarship through the Beyond St Jude’s program to study Bachelor of Science with Education at the University Dar es Salaam - Mkwawa Campus in Iringa, Tanzania. She is the first St Jude’s graduate to be offered this scholarship, and after completion of her degree, there is a possibility that Herieth will be offered a job, here, at St Jude’s.

Since opening the girls’ secondary school, St Jude’s has seen a significant increase in the number of female students interested in studying science.

Aloyce, a Form 3 student at St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School, is one of the students with a passion for science studies. She says her favourite subject is physics, "When I graduate, I want to become a medical scientist.” She adds that; “Science subjects are not as hard as most people portray them to be. I encourage girls to study science because anyone can do it.”

He was one of the first Beyond St Jude’s scholars to graduate university but that doesn’t mean Baba has cut any ties with St Jude's. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. After graduating from university in November last year, Baba applied for a teaching position and is now teaching mathematics and ICT at St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School.

“I hope I can help these students to perform well and pursue their dreams,” Baba says.

Although his new position at St Jude’s is his first official employment, teaching has been a common theme throughout Baba’s educational journey.

“They say a teacher is a leader by nature. I like teaching but I didn’t start teaching here at St Jude’s, I started by teaching my young brothers and sisters at home.”

Baba grew up in his family’s Maasai boma in the district of Monduli, three hours drive from St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School. His late father had seven wives - of which Baba’s mother is the sixth - and 49 children. Baba is the first born to his mother, with five younger siblings.

“My home was like a school in itself. During the evenings, you would find many children studying there and I would organise my siblings and teach them some lessons.” 

He successfully completed his primary school education at a government school, excelling in mathematics. At secondary school, he encountered challenges, like lack of teachers, that are all too familiar for students in under resourced government schools. 

“In subjects where there was not any teacher, we used to teach each other. We’d say to each other ‘you know algebra and I know fractions’, so I’d go and teach fractions and you would go and teach algebra,” he says. 

“When I reached Form 4, one temporary physics teacher came to our school. I was a poor performer in physics because we had never had a physics teacher, but after he came we revised Form 3, Form 2 and Form 1 physics, trying to catch up. And I managed to pass!” 

It was after receiving his above average national examination results that Baba heard about The School of St Jude and, after passing the entrance exam, was offered a place at St Jude’s for Form 5. 

In May 2015 Baba graduated from Form 6 and went on to join the Beyond St Jude’s program, finding himself back in an overcrowded government school teaching mathematics during his voluntary Community Service Year. 

After his Community Service Year Baba learned that he had been accepted into a Bachelor of Science with Education degree at the University of Dar es Salaam. 

Inspired by the opportunities his education was affording him, he also became an active member of the University of Dar es Salaam’s Maasai Students’ Association, visiting Maasai regions and encouraging parents to take their children to school. 

“We used to live in a very poor house so when I did my Community Service Year internship I used my stipend to improve it. Now I’ve managed to save some money and I’m helping my mother to build a house.”

After finishing university he returned to Arusha and successfully applied for a teaching role at the girls’ secondary school. 

“This school changed my life totally, I’m employed here because of the education I received and I was even able to improve my family home. I am very lucky to join here again.” 

It’s a milestone that was envisaged when St Jude’s was founded in 2002 and became a reality when the first batch of students completed their secondary school education in 2015. Here, four Tertiary scholars give insight into the significance of the day. 

It’s a sea of a thousand smiles outside the Mlimani City Conference Centre close to the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania’s largest city. The Centre is brimming with graduates, with every seat inside occupied. Relatives and friends sit outside in makeshift pavilions, with televisions at the front showing what is happening inside. 

“My dream is coming true,” says former St Jude’s student Edwina, as she approaches the Centre. Edwina became the first person in her family to graduate from university, when she recently completed her Bachelor of Science with Education degree.

In fact, almost all of the 24 undergraduates from St Jude’s are the first in their family to have received a university education. It’s another significant achievement, not only for St Jude’s, but families across Arusha. 

“If I wasn’t accepted into St Jude’s, I couldn’t have reached this far,” Edwina says. “I definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford to continue to study.” 

Standing next to Edwina is Seraphina, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, Economics, Business and Natural Resources. She made the most of her time at university, being peer- elected as Senior Secretary of her University Hall in her second year.

“If I wasn’t at St Jude’s I would have been in a government school,” Seraphina says. “There’s a big difference in the level of education you get, so the possibility of attending a top university like this one would be very low.” 

“When you have an education, you have a chance at making your own life. You get choices. Graduating today makes me feel very happy,” she smiles. “I can’t explain it – it feels like a dream!” 

They are joined by two more excited St Jude’s alumni, Omary and Baba. All four feel special in their black gowns and mortarboards. 

“University was a wonderful experience and I had an amazing time,” says Omary, who graduated with the same degree as Seraphina. “My thanks go to The School of St Jude and my sponsors, who made sure I got this opportunity.” 

Baba, who graduated from a Bachelor of Science with Education, agrees.

“Being a university graduate makes me feel proud and happy,” he says. “I’m so excited!” 

Now that these 24 graduates have completed their degrees, they will take the next step in their lives and start their careers, all the while giving back to their communities.

The mission of St Jude’s is to break the cycle of poverty by providing a 100% free, quality education to the poorest and brightest students from three regions of Tanzania. Today is a tangible example of 18 years of hard work coming to fruition. 

Help St Jude’s continue to make history by breaking the cycle of poverty through education. Sponsor a Beyond St Jude’s tertiary scholarship today!