More than 500 promising primary school graduates streamed through the St Jude’s gates late this month.
They arrived early, prepared for testing and hopeful of securing a St Jude’s scholarship that will ensure they receive a free, high-quality education through high school.
An opportunity like this doesn’t come along often in Tanzania, one of the world’s poorest countries. Just 7.5% of the total population over 25 years old has a secondary education, so those who are eventually chosen from this eager group already have a chance at a brighter future.
Each of these students have already showed their dedication to education – due to their impressive exam results, they were invited from under-resourced government schools to vie for fewer than 100 Form 1 scholarships available.
“Student selection is very important to St Jude’s and it’s imperative we get it right,” testing co-ordinator and Community Relations Manager Charlotte Peyrat-Vaganay said.
“This process gives the most diligent students the best chance of receiving a well-educated future.”
Each year St Jude’s awards scholarships for free high-quality education to the poorest and brightest students in Arusha.
New students are enrolled in a number of different age groups, from Grade 1, right up to Form 5, the second last year of high school.
In August, more than 700 students from across Arusha participated in a similar process for our 2017 Grade 1 scholarships.
Students who successfully pass the academic testing must then pass a poverty assessment to ensure we reach the families who need your support the most.
Donate today and help our school continue to offer a high-quality education to promising but underprivileged students in Tanzania.
Every fundraising event around the world helps our school to fight poverty through education a little more every day! Our school relies entirely on sponsorships and generous donations from our friends around the world.
Paddling for ‘Education and Empowerment’
404km / 5 days / 1 river. This November, Karenne will participate in the 2016 Massive Murray Paddle: a 5 day 404km kayaking marathon to raise funds for our school. “Education is so important because it allows you to make choices, and if you’ve got choices, the world is more open to you.” Karenne said.
Karenne visited us in 2014 while here she trekked Kilimanjaro. “Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro was always on my bucket list and was one of the main reasons that I decided to go to Tanzania. Despite reaching the summit, visiting St Jude’s turned out to be the most rewarding experience of the entire journey.”
While here, Karenne met Kemmy, the student she sponsors. “The school regularly keeps me updated on all of Kemmy’s achievements. She is now in Grade 3 and often sends things to me that she’s written or drawn, which is really lovely.”
Armed with as much advice and helpful hints as possible (including bubble wrap for the kayak seat!), Karenne has been training regularly for the event, spending many hours on the water concentrating on her technique and improving her fitness level. We wish Karenne boat loads of success!
Challenge Tom
Tom and his friend Lloyd have set out to complete a range of challenges to get Tom to do something different, fun and most importantly raise funds for charities that really need the support. In late September, Tom undertook an abseil and flying fox challenge to raise funds for St Jude’s.
Tom is a special St Jude’s supporter. He has Leigh's syndrome, a neurological disorder resulting in progressive loss of mental and movement abilities. But Tom doesn’t want you to feel sorry for him, he wants to undertake challenges, have fun and raise money for charities he likes. We are so proud that Tom chose us and impressed with his bravery in completing the abseil, we’re pretty sure we wouldn’t be brave enough to do that!
A fish and chip store and cufflinks in Hong Kong
Peter first heard of St Jude’s in 2006 when his parents brought Gemma’s on holiday. “My father is from the same town as Gemma and had sold the Rice family farm machinery. It turns out we even had mutual friends.” Peter explained.
Peter began his support of St Jude’s in 2006 when he sponsored one of our students. He has continued this support organising speaking events in Singapore for Gemma and convincing his class from the executive MBA program from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business to sponsor two students for their entire education.
Though the fundraiser was successful, there was a shortfall. Peter decided to make cufflinks using some coins he had collected living and traveling throughout Asia. His many soldering attempts were a bit of a flop, but Peter is never one to give up. He instead decided to try using bottle caps and had a resounding success.
Peter then discovered a new fish & chip shop, a rare thing in Hong Kong. The founder is New Zealander, Matthew Beldham. Matthew stocks a selection of craft beers and soft drinks, perfect for the cuff links. They began collecting bottle caps and selling the finished products, with all proceeds to support the Chicago Booth sponsorships.
If you’re interested in a pair of the cufflinks get in touch with Peter here.
Lyn's building a bridge
A game of bridge, a leisurely lunch and a good catch up with friends made Lyn’s annual fundraiser a roaring success. Lyn has been organising a bridge day to support St Jude’s since 2009 and we really appreciate all her hard work. Each year the event grows in popularity and we are so lucky to have Lyn helping us spread the word and raise much needed funds for St Jude’s.
Each year has been a huge success and this year was no exception; everyone who attended had a great time while helping to raise an amazing $5,000. We look forward to putting the donation to good use and to seeing what next year’s bridge day brings!
Ladies with Altitude
The Ladies with Altitude certainly reached new heights when they visited St Jude’s and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to help raise funds for St Jude’s. This was the biggest event organised by the ladies who had also hosted fashion shows, presented at their churches, workplaces and local Rotary Clubs. Wow!
Upon returning home to the UK, the ladies have kept up the efforts and are continuing to help spread the St Jude’s message and fundraising to sponsor two of our students that they met on their trip. We can’t wait to see what other challenges the ladies take on in our name.
If you wish to fundraise by holding an event, big or small, we have dedicated staff who will help you every step of the way. Just register your event.
Innovation: Check.
Motivation: Check.
Solutions to problems: Of course!
These three primary school students are cutting time and effort out of an everyday job to make life easier for their community.
While the buzz of a lawnmower may be a normal part of any average neighbourhood weekend in the developed world, it’s also the sound of a convenience we often take for granted.
In Tanzania cutting the grass is back-breaking labour, something Grade 7 students Goodluck, Mikidadi and Boniface set their sights on to change.
“We tried to make something that will help in our community,” said Goodluck, whose co-inventors agreed that parents, or their loving kids, would find cutting grass easier with their simple electric lawnmower.
“(Without it) you would use a slasher. It’s very hard work.”
The hard work this innovative trio put into constructing their concept saw them take out third prize in our recent 6th annual Science Fair – the very first time a primary school group has won a spot in the top three!
“We worked on building it for two weeks, but the idea we had for a while before then,” Goodluck explained.
“We feel proud (to have won third place).”
Mr Mcharo, St Jude’s Head of Physical Science Department and Assistant Academic Master, was full of praise for the young inventors.
“Our students have been proving themselves nationally for the last six years but we’ve never had a group of primary school students invent something as impressive as this lawnmower,” Mr Mcharo said.
“We asked the students to come up with solutions for the problems in their communities. What they came up with is a great way to make labor less intensive, and I have confidence that they will integrate solar power in the years to come.”
Boniface, Mikidadi and Goodluck said construction was hard work, but their families were very pleased with them and it was something they were happy to have completed themselves.
They scavenged around for the parts they needed, from materials to build the outer shell, tyres and a fan blade, and asked for some wood glue to help their dream come together.
When the only blade, or fan, they could get ahold of was not made as sturdily as they had wanted, the team saw it simply as a challenge to overcome.
“So we added a switch to add the power. It goes from volume 1 to 3 power,” Boniface said.
“If the grasses are really hard, you would use (volume) 3,” Mikidadi added.
The award-winning team of 14-year-olds plan to continue working together on projects that they have brewing, but are yet to be made official.
“We are still working on ideas,” Goodluck said.
We can’t wait to see what they come up with next!
Show our enthusiastic students some support for their hard work! Donate to Learning Resources today.
We are fortunate to have generous supporters across the world, and are excited to announce that some of our amazing American friends have made it even easier for US supporters to help fight poverty through education.
The American Friends of the School of St Jude, Tanzania, Inc. has a new website which allows US supporters to give to St Jude’s with easy, tax-deductible contributions!
Our American Friends have been working hard to ensure St Jude’s US fundraising efforts are officially recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Now we’re celebrating the American Friends organization being granted official tax-exempt status! EIN 47-3077055
This means that donations from the US will no longer go through a third party financial provider, so more of your donation will come directly to the school.
That will help us continue to foster the next generation of leadership in Tanzania, by providing a free, high-quality education to approximately 1,800 of the poorest and brightest students in Arusha.
And you aren’t just helping our students have a brighter future.
Our holistic approach and extended national curriculum is creating community-focused leaders with strong skills and values, a vital contribution to a country where 93% of the adult population has no secondary education.
You’ll also help support local families, as our school purchases local ingredients for 31,000 meals each week. From January to December in 2015 St Jude’s injected over $3,254,000 USD into our local community through purchasing, services and wages. In fact, 98% of our total expenditure benefits the surrounding community, not to mention the 19,256 hours our hard-working local staff members spend volunteering each year in their local communities.
The American Friends website is now accepting donations and sponsorship payments, and US supporters with monthly auto-deductions can easily make the switch by clicking here.
All supporters can now be confident that any financial donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.
You can also help St Jude’s by letting us know of any American government and foundation grants we may be eligible for.
Finally, find out more about our excellent American Friends board and its members here.
Celebrate with us today by donating to American Friends of School of St Jude!
From opposite sides of the world two families share a common connection in their support of Isack, one of our Form 1 students.
Jim and Bridget are both teachers, so they understand the value of education to a student like Isack.
“As two people who have spent their entire careers in education, in different parts of The (United) States, I feel when we’re talking about tackling issues like poverty or about ways we can help communities work through issues related to poverty, education is one of the most valuable places to start if you are going to donate money or time,” Jim said.
Jim was first introduced to Isack in 2015 when he taught him as part of a teacher exchange program.
“Jim came home and talked about Isack and our family made a decision to sponsor him," Bridget said.
"Our kids talk about Isack at home, we share pictures and letters that we get from him. They use some of their allowance to help pay for the sponsorship. I feel like it’s been a great educational experience for our kids.”
On the visit Jim and Bridget share stories with Isack and his family about their everyday lives.
“We met his mom Martha and younger brother Stanley, they were really lovely," Bridget said
"She was really talkative and engaging and asked me a lot of questions. We talked a lot about being moms because I’m a mom of two and she’s a mom of two – we found out we’re a similar age and our kids are similar ages!”
Isack demonstrated how the skills and knowledge he has gained at St Jude’s is already benefiting his family.
Jim was so impressed with Isack, “We got to learn a lot about Isack as well – how he helps around the house. He’s a great guy. He cooks and cleans, is super hardworking, cares a lot about his studies and his school work. He tutors his younger brother.”
Their lives may be worlds apart, but their goal is the same – a quality education for Isack.
“I felt like we had a lot of connection with her just as parents, parents who care about their kids and their education – being proud of your child and feeling like they have a really good opportunity in life. I could tell that was really important to her.” Bridget said about Martha.
“I felt like it was great conversation and there was a lot more in common than we could have guessed," Jim said. "We have a lot in common in terms of what we value and what’s important to us and teaching our kids the right things to do and the right ways to be.”
Jim and Bridget were able to experience first-hand why their support was so valuable, and why boarding is such an essential service that St Jude provides.
“I was really surprised just how long it took to get to Isack’s home and the conditions of the roads – the things that we saw along the way, how the families are living and the lack of resources that you could see around you," Bridget said.
"Just that trip from school out to where he lives got me thinking about that journey to school for all those years he wasn’t boarding.”
The families stay connected even when they can’t all be together in Tanzania.
“St Jude’s has been really great about keeping us connected with Isack through the sponsorship program – sending us updates and letting us know how he is doing at school. The emails we get, we share those with our kids and it helps us stay really connected.” Jim said.
Want to help St Jude’s provide a quality education for a deserving student like Isack? Sponsor a student today!
Together with a special guest, Gemma will be sharing the story of how access to a free, high-quality education is changing the lives of approximately 1800 disadvantaged, bright students in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Gemma started our school in 2002 with just three students, one volunteer teacher and the belief that education is the best way to fight poverty.
In 2017, we’ll be celebrating our 15th anniversary and this tour will be a celebration of everything we’ve achieved together.
Gemma and special guest will be travelling all over the country between the beginning of March and early April 2017.
“I can’t wait for you to meet another one of our amazing students! Don’t miss your chance,” Gemma said.
If you are interested in organising an event, or know of any local conferences, organisations or media contacts that Gemma can share St Jude’s story with, please let us know.
Be sure to contact our tour organiser at australia@schoolofstjude.org to register your interest before our schedule fills up.
Please give us as much information as possible about your proposed event such as date, time, location, number of attendees and whether it will be public or private. The more details the better and we will do our best to work our itinerary to accommodate you.
Helping us to spread the word about St Jude’s is vital to our mission of providing a free, high-quality education to the poorest and brightest students here in Arusha!
Keep an eye on our website, social media and newsletter for more upcoming information, especially our very special reveal introducing the student who will join Gemma in Australia!
