Laughs, smiles and chatter filled the Dining Hall at St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School on October 10, 2020. St Jude’s farewelled the first class of O Level leavers from our girls’ secondary school. Completing Form 4, the equivalent of completing Grade 10, is an educational milestone for students in Tanzania.
Indeed, being the first girls’ secondary school Form 4 Celebration and Awards Day, it was a major milestone for The School of St Jude. St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School opened in January 2020, enriching our whole school community and enabling free, high quality education for even more Tanzanian females.
Among the grinning girls was Agness, who was thrilled to have reached this important stage of her educational journey.
“Today I’m hoping to win a few awards in Biology and also receive a Leader’s Certificate.” Agness smiled.
“After my O Level exams, I’ll use my time to volunteer. Teaching is my passion and I would like to come back and help to teach my young peers. I would like to help them with chemistry and biology.”
“Being selected at St Jude’s has been a blessing and my experience here has been amazing. I got to meet and be friends with a lot of other students. I was exposed to a lot of things such as activities and I went up the student rank and became a level coordinator for the Form 4 students,” Agness shared.
Agness’ mother was ecstatic about her daughter’s completion of Form 4. “I’m so happy... My wish for my daughter is one day for her to become a great leader.”
Also beaming with pride was Mr Elimringi, Headmaster for St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School. “Today I’m so glad. It’s been a long journey to reach this day and we’ve been anticipating and dreaming about this since the school opened. The celebration is important, but we also expect and encourage our students to perform very well in their upcoming national examinations,” he said.
“Our job is to make sure we are raising our girls so that we can have very strong women leaders in this country and raise the number of students that are going to focus on science subjects.”
“We want our female students to healthily compete with male students. I would also like to help the community understand that St Jude’s gives opportunities to all students regardless of individual differences,” Elimringi reassured.
So, what’s next for our Form 4 students? Soon, they’ll sit exams. National examinations take place annually with strict supervision from the Tanzania National Board of Examinations under the Ministry of Education. These exams can determine whether a student is eligible to proceed to their next level of education; students sit these exams in Standard 4, Standard 7, Form 2, Form 4 and Form 6.
Margaret, grandmother to Hilda, one of our exceptional Form 4s, excitedly recalled Hilda’s Student Selection process – it’s still a raw memory, even though more than 10 years have passed!
“I remember the first Selection day, it was tough but I was hopeful that Hilda would get an opportunity to study at St Jude’s… but this is only the first step, she still has a long journey ahead of her.”
Hilda has chosen to study business subjects. She’s looking forward to a bright future, helping to improve her community during her study break after exams.
“I’m so excited and feeling fantastic. I will be spending my time volunteering. I would like to teach. But I will also try and get a job so I can support my family during this time,” Hilda said.
Form 4 Celebration and Awards Day is a huge step forward for our students. Completing Form 4 means they are closer to realising their dreams. For their parents and guardians, most of whom didn’t have the chance to attend secondary school, this is a major step in fighting poverty through education.
Our Form 4 male students at Smith Campus will be having their Celebration and Awards Day on November 7 this year.
What would you do to challenge yourself for The School of St Jude?
The school launched the ‘Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s’ campaign in early October, encouraging individuals, families, schools, universities, clubs and different organisations to take on a challenge. The aim is to fundraise for St Jude’s and help the school continue to educate and light the way to a brighter future for underprivileged, bright students in Tanzania.
‘Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s’ is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and fighting poverty through education. Keep reading to see how our whole community has risen to the challenge…
Alumni showing support
One of our amazing alumni, David (Class of 2019), challenged himself to a 42.2km bicycle ride from Sisia Campus to Smith Campus on October 18!
“I got free, quality education from St Jude's and I would love to see many other students receiving the same education that will change their lives. This is the main reason I am taking the challenge for St Jude's. I want to raise as much money as possible for the school.”
David hopes his challenge will inspire other students and St Jude’s alumni to support the school and help the school to continue fighting poverty through education.
You can donate to David’s challenge or register your personal challenge via the school’s website; https://www.schoolofstjude.org/challenge/
Students reading to raise funds
St Jude’s students have committed to read to challenge themselves for St Jude’s. Through the read-a-thon challenge, students aim to read 10 books by the end of the year, inspiring you, our family of international supporters to donate AU$10 per book to their challenge!
Support the read-a-thon challenge by registering or donating to the power of 10 today:
http://bit.ly/SoSJ-CY
Staff individual challenges
St Jude’s staff from different departments took on a variety of quirky challenges to support the cause.
The Sponsor Relations team involved others by providing spoons to all our business office staff. In a challenge called ‘Spoon Your Table’, staff could donate AU$1 for every spoon.
Irene, a member of the Supporter Relations team registered her challenge as an individual. She and her colleague, Rosemary, washed sports shoes for staff to help raise funds for the school. For every pair of shoes washed, AU$1 was raised for St Jude’s.
Anyone can create their own special, unique ‘Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s’ activity, big or small and inspire others to be part of the campaign.
Supporters across the globe have joined the challenge!
Noela, a St Jude’s long-term supporter, challenged herself to a 10km walk. Through her walk, she’s raised AU$2,000 so far.
“The real challenge is rising with an alarm at 4:45am to walk before the Brisbane heat kicks in,” Noela said.
Noela plans to walk daily to continue to raise funds and support the challenge - wearing a St Jude’s sticker attached at her shirt especially made for the cause!
“The St Jude’s sticker attached to my shirt by what I call a, ‘puppy dog’ clip, all adds to the experience!”
Also participating in Challenge Week is Rebecca, a supporter from Sydney, Australia. She has challenged herself to raise funds for St Jude’s by running a marathon that was broken up over 7 days. She’s run 18km so far.
You too can participate in a personal challenge like Noela and Rebecca to Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s. Donate today or register here to Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s: http://bit.ly/SoSJ-CY
Family Trivia
Charity begins at home and to kick off Challenge Week, St Jude’s staff leaders and their families participated in a fun and games afternoon bringing together diverse staff and their families to raise money for the school. There were tough trivia questions, and there was also an Uno tournament and a limbo competition.
Why not host your own trivia event by purchasing a trivia pack from our website or host a games day with family and friends, charging everyone AU$10 to participate? You can make your event COVID-safe by hosting a virtual trivia event.
Over 75% of school-aged children in Tanzania are destined to a life of poverty, living on less than AU$4.60 a day because they don’t have an education. Since 2002, The School of St Jude has been fighting poverty by providing the highest quality, free education for the country’s poorest, brightest students.
This would’ve not been possible without the help of St Jude’s supporters. Donors and sponsors have made it possible for the school to provide boarding for more than 80% of students, one million nutritious meals, school uniforms and health checks.
The School of St Jude has launched the St Jude’s Community Challenge to raise vital funds. This Australia-wide fundraising campaign invites individuals, families, schools, businesses and clubs to take part. There’s no limit to what you can do to challenge yourself; from running, walking and cycling to reading books, doing house chores and holding trivia challenges. So get creative!
St Jude’s Community Challenge falls during Children’s Week - 24 October to 1 November - St Jude’s Day is 28 October.
Share, donate and register here today to Challenge Yourself for St Jude’s to help fight poverty in Tanzania!
Maryanne began making masks when COVID-19 started to spread around Australia and generously used this initiative to fundraise for St Jude’s. Through her fundraising efforts, she raised $4,000, donating the proceeds towards ‘Feed a class for a year’ and ‘Support student welfare for a year.’
Maryanne was also part of the Health Check Team (HCT) in early February this year and returned to Australia just before countries started closing their borders. The HCT is a group of international medical specialists who volunteered for two weeks at the beginning of this year to conduct annual health checks for St Jude’s students.
“I started making masks for my family and friends and also put out the offer to everyone that was in the HCT. This kept me busy posting them out to all corners of Australia. As things got more serious in Australia, the requests from friends to buy them from me built. I didn’t feel comfortable profiting from my friends so I decided I would sell them with the profits going to The School of St Jude.”
Through a family member, Maryanne’s masks have been sold to staff and families in the Australian Parliament with members wearing them to Parliament House.
“I would like to thank Caroline Hall and Karenne Michaelides, who are both HCT Volunteers and sponsors of St Jude’s students’ academic scholarship. They have been a great help with support on the back end.”
To support Maryanne’s ‘St Jude’s Mask Charity’, email her at StJudeMaskCharity@gmail.com.
Not only have they been supporters for the past six years, but they went further earlier last year TechnologyOne officially partnered with St Jude’s to provide IT technology that has transformed the school’s operational processes. The company’s employees raised an additional $10,000 that went towards ‘Funding the salary of one of the IT teachers for an entire year.’
“TechnologyOne has enabled our Managers to now see real-time transactions which means that they no longer wait until the following month to keep track of their expenditure. We have also just rolled out the Enterprise Budgeting Module. This brings an enormous change to the budget process which has had to be completed in numerous spreadsheets in the past,” Finance Manager, Johnbosco Heshima.
Adding to the same sentiments, Beyond St Jude’s (BSJ) Manager, Vivian said, “TechnologyOne has been a lifesaver, quite literally! Since the BSJ program started in 2015, we have solely depended on excel sheets for all data recording and facilitation of payments of stipends and scholarship amounts in general. While excel sheets are still great, everything is so manual, allowing a big room for error and it can be time-consuming. Thanks to TechnologyOne, all my records are accurately systemised. It is also quite centralised, allowing me to find everything about a BSJ Scholar in a few clicks! Budgeting and forecasting are also being made easy and fun to track. Thanks to Kelly and the entire TechnologyOne team, BSJ’s life has been made a whole lot easier.”
Located in Australia, TechnologyOne is a successful tech company with a heart. Their Foundation is committed to help 500,000 children out of poverty.
Andrew is gearing up to challenge himself for St Jude’s by riding Red Hill in Canberra 41 times this October. In supporting and raising funds for St Jude’s, Andrew has previously cycled alone and unsupported across Tanzania covering a distance of about 1600km.
“I was planning to come back to Tanzania in 2021 for the next great ride, but due to COVID-19 travel restrictions that is not going to happen now. As a substitute, I'm planning to ride up Red Hill in Canberra 41 times on 17 October. That will equal the elevation gain of going up Mount Kilimanjaro – unfortunately, it won't be quite the same experience as the real thing, but I will be thinking of St Jude's on the day.”
To support Andrew’s challenge for St Jude’s, visit here
You too can take a cycling challenge or physical challenge this October and raise funds for St Jude’s. REGISTER your challenge here
Andie Lowe, a long-time supporter of The School of St Jude organised a ‘Distance Dinner for St Jude’s’ intending to raise $10,000. Amazingly, Andie has already made $10,000 reaching her set target, but she has high hopes to raise even more funds.
Andie is selling dinner boxes via her website. “Everyone who purchases a dinner box will sit down on 18 October to enjoy an African inspired dinner. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we can’t all enjoy dining together, so this is a way to feel connected, from a distance! ” she explained.
She added, “I hope to have the support of Methodist Ladies' College (MLC) teachers, students and broader connections to participate. I’ll be connecting with people through social media and reaching out to friends, family and my parents and work colleagues.”
Andie visited St Jude’s last year on a school trip with MLC, thus igniting her passion to fundraise for the school when she returned home.
You too can support Andie to raise funds for St Jude’s. Click to visit her website and purchase a dinner box;
A massive thank you for all the super supporters of St Jude’s. The school couldn’t do it without the incredible support and advocacy from people like you.
Judith stands confidently before two of her trusted peers in the Visitor Centre at The School of St Jude. It’s rehearsal day for St Jude’s 2020 Australian promotional tour and Judith’s been handpicked by ‘Mama Gemma’ Sisia, St Jude’s School Founder, to accompany her on her upcoming trip Down Under.
In front of some of her peers, Judith practices telling her tale of triumph. It’s a tale that’s well-known to those in the room and will soon be shared with people across Australia. It’s the tale of how St Jude’s transforms lives.
Judith is preparing for the journey of a lifetime. This month, she is boarding her very first flight, bound for Australia. There she will meet incredible Australian supporters, who have built the school she loves – the place she calls her home – from scratch.
“When Gemma invited me to join her and help to spread the word about our school, I was so excited! I just couldn’t believe it was me going there!” Judith enthuses.
“The culture in Tanzania is very different from Australian culture. I will try to learn the differences between here and there, and I will love learning about a new part of the world.”
“Of course, I know that we share a great love for St Jude’s, so I know I will love everyone I meet!” she says.
Judith started in Standard 1 at St Jude’s and is now getting ready for university. She has benefitted from 13 years of 100% free, quality education and she believes it’s made the world of difference to her.
“Joining St Jude’s changed my life so much. I’m happy and grateful to meet our supporters. I came from a humble family and the sponsors and donors are the ones who enabled me to go to one of the best schools in Tanzania!” she shares.
“It was this golden chance that opened the door and helped me to realise that poverty could not hinder my success forever.”
While it’s been a challenging year for so many members of our international family, Judith hopes she will bring a story of joy to the people who gifted her with an education.
“I know that so many people in Australia are suffering right now, and it pains my heart. I hope Gemma and I can bring some smiles to their faces, because they really deserve to be happy.”
Would you like to hear more about Judith’s remarkable journey? Be sure to attend a public tour event in a town near you!
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!
A stone's throw away from The School of St Jude's original building, stands a crowd of people. They chatter quietly amongst themselves, anticipation rife.
It is the morning of the 10th of January and the crowd are gathered to officially open St Jude’s Girls’ Secondary School.
The pounding of the drums begins and the school choir launches into a beautiful rendition of the Tanzanian National Anthem. Approaching up the pathway is School Founder, Gemma Sisia, accompanied by His Grace, the Archbishop of Arusha, Isaac Amani, and the Honourable Adelardus Kilangi, Attorney-General of Tanzania – who began driving at 1am in order to be the guest of honour at the ceremony.
Behind them walk parent representatives of St Jude’s students, members of the school board and academic management and their families. They are walking towards an archway decorated with white tufts of fabric made to resemble flowers. Stretching across this archway is a yellow ceremonial ribbon – the entrance to the new girls’ school.
Academic Manager, Mr Mcharo steps forward, “I would like to invite our School Founder, Gemma Sisia, to speak to you all.”
Gemma takes the microphone, gazing out at the audience.
“We opened this school back in 2002 with three kids,” she says, pausing to gain her composure, jokingly pretending to hit herself to stop the tears that are welling up. The audience laughs.
“We would never have got here without the incredible faith and generosity of our sponsors and donors, the unbelievable commitment of our staff and parents and, of course, our students.”
Archbishop Amani steps forward to bless the school and the audience, heads bowed.
Finally, the moment the crowd has eagerly been waiting for – the unveiling of the sign and the cutting of the ribbon. This historic gesture has been given to Attorney-General (and Professor) Adelardus Kilangi.
Professor Kilangi cuts the ribbon with a smile, the crowd cheers, and the school is officially open.
As the honoured guests, staff and choir walk up the new footpath and around the bend, they are greeted by the entire student and staff body of The School of St Jude – over 2,000 people in total. They sing and cheer as one.
As everyone settles into their seats, the speeches begin, Professor Kilangi steps on to the stage, invited to give a keynote address.
“When I first came here to St Jude’s I saw faces full of hope,” says Professor Kilangi to a silently attentive audience.
“Great dreams become a reality if you work hard,” he continues. “If you don’t work hard then they will only remain dreams.”
“The formation of the intellect is the most noble thing you can do. So make sure you work hard, study hard and you will achieve.”
Professor Kilangi looks at the students and pauses, before saying with the hint of a smile, “I’m talking to you kids! What did I say?”
“Work hard! Study hard! Achieve!” the students chorus in response.
The ceremony concludes, with a communal lunch next on the agenda.
Underneath the beating African sun, students, teachers, special guests, visitors, sponsors and donors sit side-by-side. Their plates are full of food and they talk about their dreams; they laugh at jokes, exchange stories and reminisce about the past.
These conversations, full of hope and laughter, are the kind of conversations that can only be had at the beginning of a new year, and the beginning of a new era.
Help St Jude’s continue to take bold steps by donating today.
