Thursday, October 5, 2006

Off to School...

We were privilaged to assist (in the first instance) Musa, Eliud, Godfrey and Veronika (seen here with their mother sis Anna and Carl) in returning to School again after an absence of approx 4-5 years. They are the children of a sister and they all live at the Sumbawanga Ecclesial hall.
We give much thanks for the love of our brothers and sisters in Australia and Canada for sponsering these children to attend School in 2006/7, additional tuition, uniforms and exercise books.
The cost of Primary education in Tanzania is "free" (apart from the yearly family contribution, uniforms, books and pens). While this may not be a lot of money to us, when you are a widow and have no income it is a great deal of money.
The children require additional tuition from a teacher after school hours. This is due to the loss of so many years. They attend the teacher's house every afternoon for some personal assistance. This is also vital as many classrooms in schools have in excess of 50-100 students squeezed in - not 25!
Everyone is settling into school well, although Musa (8yrs) who has never attended before took a little longer than the others.