Children Under School Age

Community Psychology

Neema’s Nursery and Montessori Daycare at Kiwodea – Saba Saba Moshi – Tanzania started with seven children on the 6th of January 2014. Now, 35 3-6-year-old children are coming to the nursery and daycare. Neema’s Nursery and Montessory Daycare  is located in Moshi. Neema’s Nursery and Montessori Daycare is a private school, and the teaching is mainly in English.

Neema Marko, a teacher and the founder of the nursery school, has before been teaching at Khuba Nursery for seven years. Her longtime dream is to help children’s education as someone helped her once. Neema comes from a poor family, and as a child, she was selling mangos and onions to get by. Her uncle’s friend from Germany sponsored her so Neema could finish school. Now, she wants to return the favour by helping children from complex life situations study. Now, along with the work in Khuba Nursery, Neema started a new nursery school in January 2014 with the help of a volunteer from Finland. When her contract is finished, Neema will finish working at Khuba Nursery in December 2014. She has taught adult English classes for people with no English or writing skills. Also, in this, volunteers can help.

Volunteer in Nursery School

Since Neema has worked with volunteers in her new project, she has had many excellent cooperation experiences; this is also why she wanted to work with Art In Tanzania. Neema’s Nursery and Montessori Daycare Volunteers teach English, drawing and math. They are also playing with the children.

Volunteer in Nursery School

At the moment there is also a local girl working as a volunteer. She hasn’t been able to get to college, so working is a good experience even when she is not paid the teacher’s salary. Neema needs someone there to help her teach, cook, and be with children. Also, for the days when Neema is not going to be there, the school has to run.

Neema wants to invite many people to come and help the children, and there are many ways of doing so. Teaching is the most important thing, but sponsoring the nursery is essential because the school relies on donations. The school lacks many things, and books, pencils and food for the children are needed. Neema is renting the building, and the rents of two rooms, desks, mattresses, and water are pretty high, so help is needed. “Teaching is the most important help for the children. But I want to tell you about the problems we have. It is not to ask for money or force people to donate but so that people know.”, Neema highlights.

Neema's Nursery School and Daycare

Helping children with education and starting a nursery school has been Neema’s longtime dream that has come true. The challenge is to keep the dream alive and the school running. When asked what her future hopes and plans are, Neema says that she would like to get a teaching diploma. She dreams of moving to a new building and expanding to have a primary and a secondary school as a boarding school. Of the shorter-term dreams, she would like to collect enough money to get dala dala a car to pick up the children to school every day. Some of the children live far away, and getting them to school is hard. Many stay at home because the parents don’t have the money to pay for transportation to the school.

These are big dreams for her, but not impossible. “Me and you. When we share, the dreams can come true.”, Neema says. Neema says that even with her name, the nursery school is not hers but the community’s. Even if something happens to Neema, the nursery school must continue. “This is our nursery because this is our society.”

Two volunteers working in Neema’s Nursery and Montessori Daycare at Kiwodea wrote this text in May-June 2014.

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