2024 – the first quarter
2024 started with a huge boost for the girls of Lyasikika Secondary School in the Kilimanjaro uplands of Tanzania. ABCDreams has been supporting all the students at the school continuously since 2017 when the last of our primary pupils graduated into the school.
The Seed4Feed Programme
Going back through previous posts it’s clear that significant developments have improved life at the school. With the ‘Seed4Feed’ programme, we have been supplying school lunches for all the students (380 approx.) through their corn and bean planting programme. Support for this has largely come from Rotary funding by the Rotary Callington, Cornwall, and Rotary Morden here in the UK. Logistical support came through the Rotary Club of Moshi in Tanzania. We hope to continue this year-on-year but still need to secure funding to go ahead. This amounts to approximately £660 per year.
The Toilets
Additional and significant help for the school has come by way of infrastructure projects. Commissioned, again with the help of Rotary colleagues both here in the UK and Moshi, these are now largely complete. The projects have so far improved the girls’ toilet facilities. We have a new toilet block, a students’ hand wash facility, previously just a standpipe 100 metres from the toilets, and a near-complete new boys’ toilet block. The boys’ block only needs plastering and painting to finish. Again, we await a further, small amount of funds to complete, approximately £800.
The girls’ toilet block, now complete.
Girls’ Hygiene
One of the most significant developments has been our collaboration with a local NGO, Binti Msafi, supplying sanitary pads for the girls. In much of Africa, girls stay at home during menstruation because there are no sanitary facilities in the schools. There is also the associated stigma. Binti Msafi supplies enough pads for six months, so funding needs to be ongoing. To date, we have been keeping up with the need. Binti Msafi, at the same time, is trying to encourage the use of reusable kits like those supported by the charity Days For Girls and also supplied through the support programme by ABCDreams Canada.
So, the first quarter of 2024 looks good! On my arrival in August, and with further funding and development impetus, I can finally put ‘paid’ at least to the toilet project!
More soon, and thank you. Donations are welcome here.