A small nursery in the village of Fuoni, pronounced An – na – Ba – wee –yah, was built in 2012 by Ms Asia Issa Jecha and Mr Hassan Mwinyi Kombo as part of a women’s project.
The school is run by six local teachers who devote their time from 7:30 am to 12:00 pm, five days a week, to helping educate the local children. The school initially had 93 students and now has at least 100 local children who attend the nursery for free. The nursery building is also used from 19:00 to 20:00 for private tuition classes, which different teachers hold.
The children learn English, Maths, Science, Swahili, Arabic, Art, and Religious Studies. Art in Tanzania has been involved with the nursery since 2014. He has provided a total of 10 volunteers who have helped teach the children and also assisted the local teachers by, for example, providing them with one-to-one English lessons.
On our first day at the nursery, we delivered four benches that a former Swedish volunteer had kindly donated. There are four classrooms; however, all four benches were placed in one classroom. The aim is to fill all four classrooms with these little benches so that all of the children can benefit from and enjoy learning in a comfortable environment. All the children wanted to sit on them and were extremely excited and happy with the generous donation.
When we went to revisit the nursery, we spoke to the head teacher, Mrs Latifa Mahfoudh. She was a stunning and pleasant woman who loved working with the children and had always had a passion for teaching. We sat down and had a long chat about the nursery and her ambitions for it and its students.
Latifa pointed out some of the improvements to the actual building that needed to be carried out; a new roof was required as the current one leaked, new windows were needed, as well as a more stable and safer wall/fence around the parameters of the school with a gate, to keep the children safe and protected. Two of the classrooms were not plastered so it was impossible to provide a more pleasant environment for the children to learn in, as you can see from the pictures, the classrooms were dark and unpleasant, even with the sun blazing outside. The nursery also needed to build new toilets for the little boys and girls.
In addition to the children’s facilities, Latifa showed us her own office, which does need some attention. It would help her to have a proper carpet that covers all the floors, new stable chairs, and shelves so that when volunteers or guests come, they too can use the office and have a pleasant and clean workspace to work in, without feeling that their chair is going to give way at any second. Latifa would also like to take computer courses and acquire a computer for her office to make her work more manageable.
Upon our return, three volunteers, Louise Proctor, Claire Manning, and Elizabeth Drey, flew out to Zanzibar from Ireland and brought with them a very generous donation of over £ 4,000 for the nursery. With their help and that of local workers, building work has now commenced, including the installation of a new roof and plastering. The work on the wall/fence will begin next, and the new windows will be installed. The donations will also help to build new toilets for the little boys and girls. A further £3296 has been donated by Whitney Harris-Linton from Michigan (£77 towards the roof), Melissa Wolseley from Findlay, Australia (£99 for a blackboard to be fitted in the classroom), £2600, and £520 have also been donated from additional kind donors. The funds provided will be used to complete the school’s renovation, and any remaining funds will be allocated to a new project in Madale, Dar-Es-Salam, subject to the donor’s consent.
If you would like to volunteer at the nursery or donate your time, skills, money, toys, stationary, or school equipment, do contact Edward Busungu at Art in Tanzania and get involved. It certainly is a fantastic project, and the children and staff are delightful to be around.
If you wish to teach at the school, we recommend spending more than two weeks, as this will enable you to build a stronger rapport with the children and staff. They will be able to put into practice what you teach, and you will be able to witness the difference that your presence can make in their lives and futures.
