Tanzania
2013 - Kildonan-East
Collegiate partnered once again with Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief
(CPAR) to
help Umoja Primary School, located at Rhotia Kati village. The main problems at
Umoja Primary School are shortage of water; which affects the children in
preparing their food, general cleanliness, garden watering, and safe drinking
water availability. There are 7 pit latrines in poor condition, shared by girls
and boys. “We have a nice vegetable garden which is affected by drought during
the dry season; we hope to improve it once we have a reliable and permanent
source of water,” states head teacher Mr. James Ndosi.
In
the spring of 2013, as a direct result of funds supplied by Kildonan-East
Collegiate, construction began on a set of rainwater harvesting tanks at Umoja
School that will collect water during the rainy season and hold it for the long,
hot, dry season. The school also received newly constructed ventilated improved
pit latrines for girls – lack of private sanitation facilities is one of the
many reasons why girls do not attend school. Separate hand washing and drinking
stations were provided to cut down on the illness that arises from drinking
contaminated water.
In
May of 2013, a group of students and staff from Kildonan-East Collegiate
traveled to Karatu, Tanzania to see the results of our fundraising endeavours.
We were excited to see the actual results of our fundraising, and while we were
in Africa we helped the students at the school establish a vegetable garden to
supplement their diet and provide a source of income in future years. The garden
will be irrigated with runoff
water from the hand washing and drinking
stations.
We
also had the opportunity to visit rural farms, several schools, different health
care facilities, local markets, and wildlife reserves. It was an eye-opening
glimpse of life in a very different culture. A visit to one of the schools we
partnered with in 2010, Gilala School, showed us that our previous assistance
had netted extremely successful results. Fruit trees we had planted were mature
and producing much needed nourishment and the rainwater tanks were operating as
expected.
It
was an ambitious undertaking, and we have decided to continue our efforts to
supply another school with much-needed rainwater tanks. If you would like to
support this project, donations can be made online to CPAR by clicking here(charitable
tax receipts provided), or you can contact teachers involved with the project
for more information.
K.
Athayde D.
Michaleski D.
Salamon
kectanzania2013.blogspot.ca
