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.)

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.

For the past six years the students of one Rockhampton school have had a very special connection to a school in Tanzania.

Rockhampton Grammar School Teacher Wendy Goldston has encouraged her students to fundraise for the School of St Jude in Tanzania which was started in 2002 by Australian Gemma Sisia.

It was 13 years in the making, and it lived up to the hype.

Supporters from around the world flew to Arusha on Saturday to celebrate The School of St Jude’s first ever Form 6 graduation.The milestone event saw the 61 students, proudly draped in gowns of navy blue and canary yellow and wearing matching mortarboard hats, complete their secondary schooling.

A FEW years ago, Kim Saville was working in a high-profile job in film and television casting, finding future stars for shows including Water Rats and Murder Call.

These days you will find her in the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro,
surrounded by smiling, bright-eyed Tanzanian children from The School of
St Jude.

It’s a dramatic lifestyle change, but one which the former Sydneysider finds extremely rewarding.

Hundreds of students have decked out in colourful costumes to celebrate St Jude’s Day recently, showing their appreciation for the free, high-quality education they receive at the school.

Primary and secondary students did traditional African dances, including Maasai and other performances, which expressed their happiness at being able to study at St Jude’s and their dedication to their studies.

Awards were given out to the best group performances on the day. It is the third year that the event has been running and each year staff and students join together and dress up to demonstrate their sense of pride for their school.

During the event’s mass, students carried baskets of goods onto the stage, which they will then distribute to needy people throughout the Arusha region.