Hamjambo!
(Hello to all!) Life here continues to amaze and intrigue me. Life here is always busy. Locals are working or sweeping or hawking their wares - all quite busy but yet at a controlled, easy pace (except for the street vendors - they are quite focused ALWAYS!).
One of the stops we made yesterday (July 4th) was at a facility called Peace House Africa. It is a residential secondary school outside the city of Arusha. This is a new project of the Arusha Diocese and the initial phase has just been completed. While the Tanzanian government donated the land, the Peace House is totally supported by the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. (Many, many services which are typically provided in the U.S. by the infrastructure of our government is provided by a church - or else it is not available to the people.)
Several buildings house 210 children ages 13 - 19; with most of those being ages 15-16. Nearly all of the youth have been orphaned due to the AIDS virus. These children are at the highest risk of not succeeding in life - intense screening is completed to ensure they have no other viable means of sustaining themselves in the immediate future without Peace House's help.
Like many private schools, the students wear uniforms and their hair is cut the same. There are separate dormitories for the girls and the boys. Eight students (4 sets of bunk beds) share a room and each gets a bunk, mosquito netting, a pillow, a small blanket and a very small wardrobe with shelves for their few possessions. A 'matron' or 'patron' live with the youth and are responsible for 60 children each.
The students study many subjects from the 9 teachers there and appear very happy and eager. They were well mannered and enjoyed the chance to speak with each of us and were eager to answer our questions.
The atmosphere was positively amazing. It appeared that Peace House is performing a vital and so important service to these children. The environment was clean without being sterile and everyone seemed so happy to be there - as were we!
Two more phases are scheduled to be constructed - with the final capacity of 2,000 students the goal. A follow-up piece is more technical, on the job training for a myriad of occupations to help the students actually learn a skill or trade - even the knowledge to start their own business! University is also an option for students at that point.
Want to learn more? Please go to: http://www.peacehousefoundation.org/. It is an amazing project that will indeed change lives - one child at a time!
Thanks!
Sue