Happy New Year from NTC!  Thanks to the generous support of our donors in 2009, we are looking forward to many new projects in 2010:

NTC and Smallbean Team Up to Create Solar Powered Computer Lab

Representatives from NTC and Smallbean, Inc. will travel to Kwala this month to create a solar powered computer lab at Kwala Secondary School and launch the Citizens Archivist Project (CAP) in Kwala. The project will train ten students and several teachers from Kwala Secondary School to use computers, cameras, and digital recorders to document aspects of their own lives and culture, and provide a small salary for a Kwala Secondary School teacher to run the computer lab and teach additional computer classes. The computer lab will feature ten netbook laptop computers and a solar suitcase created by We Care Solar that will power the computers. The computer lab will also allow the school to introduce computer classes.  These classes are already part of the Tanzanian national school curriculum, but very few government schools have the resources to participate. Students with computers skills have a greater advantage in finding jobs or continuing their education.

Another Successful Holiday Fundraiser at Peets

A BIG “THANK YOU goes out to the staff and customers of Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Newton Centre. This year’s Christmas Eve Holiday Fundraiser was a great success, raising over $2,400 for NTC and Smallbean’s computer lab and CAP project at Kwala Secondary School.

Representatives from NTC, Smallbean, and NTC Clubs at Newton South and Oak Hill Middle School helped at the event, which provided free coffee to all Peet’s customers in exchange for donations. Peet’s also generously matched the first $1,000 of donations from the event. This was the second year Peet’s supported NTC – in 2008, close to $2000 was raised for building new latrines for Kwala Secondary School.

NTC Continues Girls’ Scholarship Program in 2010

Thanks to the generosity of families and individuals, NTC will be able to provide full scholarships for twelve at-risk girls for the entire 2010 school year.  Eight girls from last year’s group of 20 scholarship girls graduated from Kwala Secondary School last year. Scholarships include housing, three meals per day, school uniforms, school materials, and school fees.  Recipients are chosen by the female staff at the school. Scholarship girls also meet weekly with NTC’s Project Director in Kwala Lisa Walker for support around personal issues and to get extra help in school. NTC would like to thank this year’s sponsors for your incredibly important support – and please check our website later next month to meet this year’s scholarship girls.

NTC Launches the International Children’s Literature Project

NTC has partnered with Mkuki na Nyoya Publishing Company in Tanzania to pilot the International Children’s Literature Program (ICLP).  This initiative offers children’s books written by Tanzanian authors at a “get one, give one free” rate of $10 in the United States – so that each child in Kwala can own his or her own book. Most children in Tanzania do not enjoy reading as a leisure activity simply because they lack books. Instead of shipping culturally-irrelevant children’s books from the USA to Kwala, the ICLP allows Americans to learn about Tanzanian culture while giving the gift of reading to children in Kwala, one child at a time. To promote the idea of reading as a leisure activity, participants in NTC’s Girls’ Scholarship Program at Kwala Secondary School will present the book to a primary school student and read it with them.

NTC is seeking elementary school classrooms in the United States that are interested in partnering with a classroom at Mahundi Primary School to raise money to purchase books for students in both classrooms and complete a cultural exchange project after reading the same book. $200 dollars can purchase enough books for both classrooms! We are also looking for bookstores and book fairs here in the United States to display and sell the books. Please visit the ICLP page on our website for more information on these great books, and let us know if you or someone you know is interested in helping out.

NTC’s Project Director Returns to Kwala with Second Volunteer

Lisa Walker, NTC Project Dir.Lisa Walker, NTC’s Project Director in Kwala, has returned to Kwala for the second part of her stay in the community after visiting friends and family in the United States while school was out for the holidays in Tanzania. For the next several months, she will be joined by Adrian Coyne, a senior at Boston University who will assist with teaching English at Kwala Secondary School and facilitating NTC projects in Kwala. Lisa’s blog, Live From Kwala, gives a highly readable, honest, first-hand account of her experiences in the Kwala School Community. We’re thrilled to have both Lisa and Adrian on board this year!

Website Updates and New NTC Brochure

NTC Banner The NTC website has recently been updated, adding a new page that displays budgets for our on-going and past projects and updates to our community projects. Check back for more updates next month, including travel brochures for individual and group travelers interested in visiting Kwala.

We have also completed NTC’s first official brochure. If you are interested in spreading the word about NTC to friends, families, or customers, please contact us and we will send you some.

In 2009, Kwala Secondary School became the first government school in Tanzania to have access to the internet. Using the internet will enhance communication between Kwala and their partners in the United States, increasing visibility and the extent of NTC’s cultural exchange projects.

NTC expanded the use of computers at Kwala Secondary School by teaming up with Smallbean, a non-profit organization committed to collecting and reusing excess personal electronics to provide interested citizens in diverse places with the electronic tools to document their lives and communities. NTC and Smallbean purchased ten computers for the use of students in Kwala Secondary School’s new computer lab, powered by solar electricity. Funding for the project came largely from Peet’s Coffee and Tea’s Annual Holiday Fundraiser in December, 2009, and the private fundraising efforts of Smallbean. NTC also worked with Kwala Secondary School’s headmaster, Michael Kitinya, to convert an unused classroom into a computer laboratory. Smallbean visited Kwala in late January, 2010, to train students and teachers how to use the computers and other electronic equipment to pilot their Citizens Archivist Project. Smallbean also trained Kwala Secondary School’s secretary to teach other children and teachers how to use the computers.

Kwala Secondary School anticipates adding the Tanzania’s national curriculum for computers for the 2011 school year, an extremely rare opportunity for most community schools in Tanzania.

NTC’s Project Director Lisa Walker also implemented a system in which students can sign up for computer training classes, giving them an advantage in a competitive job market after graduating from secondary school. Lisa will also run programs for teachers to learn how to use the computers so they can continue to teach students how to use computers in the future. Students and teachers accessing the internet will also be able to more regularly and easily communicate with their friends in Newton, enhancing NTC’s cultural exchange programs between the two communities.

Smallbean Builds the Solar Power Computer Lab in Kwala, TZ from Smallbean on Vimeo.

Computer Project from NTC on Vimeo.

Throughout the 2008/2009 school year, students from NTC Club at Newton South High School raised more than $4,000.00 to build eight new latrines at Kwala Secondary School. Boys and girls from each form now have their own latrine, and are responsible for keeping it in clean and sanitary condition. The latrines were collaboratively built by members of NTC’s July 2009 group trip to Kwala and members of the Kwala School Community.

Sanitary latrines will help prevent the spread of infectious diseases at Kwala Secondary School, including hepatitus A.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the NTC Latrines Project, including the fundraising efforts of Peet’s Coffee and Tea and Barnes and Noble!

NTC Latrines Project from NTC on Vimeo.

– Swahili Proverb

Women’s education has been well documented as a vital means of improving the social and economic well-being of a nation. Unfortunately, girls in Tanzania face more challenges and barriers to education than boys. Many families are reluctant to allow their daughters to attend secondary school because of the financial burden – secondary school costs $300 per year in a country where the annual earnings for many are $360.  As a result, many girls are pushed into early marriage – as young as 11 or 12 years old.  Other girls that start secondary school, particularly those away from their parents, have no means of support and end up providing for their own school fees and living expenses through prostitution. As could be expected in this environment, unwanted pregnancy is a major cause of girls halting their education – and their future.

Realizing the overwhelming challenges facing girls in Tanzania, NTC raised $6,000.00 in 2008 to sponsor twenty girls for the entire 2009 year of schooling. The girls were identified by the female staff at Kwala Secondary School as being “at severe risk of dropping out of school.” The scholarships included school fees, two school uniforms, school materials, three meals a day, and a space in a safe, girls-only rooming house near the school. Each girl had an individual sponsor in the United States, who received letters and pictures from the girl they were sponsoring.

While eight of the twenty girls are set to graduate from Kwala Secondary School this year, still more assistance is needed for the twelve remaining girls who are struggling to continue their education.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored a girl for the 2009 school year! If you would like to become a sponsor for the 2010 school year, please Contact Us today!

NTC’s Girls Scholarship Project from NTC on Vimeo.

Thanks to Jackie Schon for her dedication to making Kwala Secondary School a better place and giving students an opportunity to showcase their talents that they otherwise would not be given.

In 2007, Newton’s students and citizens raised $4,000.00 to provide textbooks for Kwala Secondary School. The initiative inspired Plan USA (an international NGO) to donate an additional $6,000.00 to Kwala for more books, and as importantly, to construct a secure library for storing the books. Plan USA went on to replicate their generous donation at four other secondary schools in other Tanzania villages. This is a great example where partnering with other NGOs helps NTC achieve its goals – not only financially, but with expertise. With the suggestion of and funding for the secure libraries, the textbooks will benefit the schools for many more years than would be otherwise.

Students now have the advantage of borrowing books from the NTC library at Kwala Secondary School, studying in the evening or weekends, and returning them to the school for other students to use. Because teachers generally teach to the mandated national curriculum, the textbooks are of great assistance to students as they prepare for national examinations. While more work needs to be done to reach NTC and Kwala’s goal to have a textbook in each subject for every student, having some textbooks for each subject is a huge step in the right direction.

Thanks to everyone who offered support for the NTC library project at Kwala Secondary School!

NTC Library Project from NTC on Vimeo.

NTC Kicks Off Water Project in Kwala with Generous Donation

Star Water Pumps, a company that specializes in digging hand pump wells in Tanzania, has graciously offered to dig a water borehole at Kwala Secondary School. Over the past month, NTC Project Director Lisa Walker and NTC Tanzania Advisor Athuman Msangi have been researching potential sources of water for Kwala Secondary School due to the community’s severe water deficiency. Star Water Pumps, which has dug more than 60 wells in conjunction with Plymouth Church in Boston, Massachusetts, has offered its services free of charge and will drill a well and provide a hand-pump as a donation to NTC. Drilling is set to begin at the end of November, so please check our website for updates as they come in. For more details about the project, see Lisa’s “Live From Kwala” blog. Many thanks to Star Water Pumps for their generosity!

Welcome Smallbean, Inc. to the NTC Family: Donations of Used Electronics Needed!

NTC has formed a partnership with Smallbean, an organization committed to collecting and reusing excess personal electronics to provide interested citizens in diverse places with the electronic tools to document the events of their lives and their communities. Smallbean will work with NTC and Kwala Secondary School to pilot the Citizen Archivist Project in February, 2010, teaching students and teachers at Kwala how to use personal electronics such as cameras, computers, and other digital recording equipment to document their daily lives and culture into a digital archive for their own use and for the use of classrooms, researchers, and universities in other parts of the world.

If you have any used electronic equipment collecting dust under your bed or in your office, consider putting it to good use with Smallbean in Kwala! Please visit their website for more information about their project in Kwala and the Citizen Archivist Project and where to donate your used electronics.

Please Join Us for Two Holiday Fundraisers

Students from NTC Clubs at Newton South High School and Oak Hill Middle School are once again participating in NTC’s holiday fundraisers.

Gift Wrap Fund Raising at Barnes & Noble

On Wednesday, December 9 from 5-10 p.m., NTC Club members will be on hand at Barnes and Noble on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill to provide gift wrapping for a donation. All proceeds go to NTC. Please join us for your holiday book shopping!

If you would like to help out with gift wrapping, (and enjoy the company of NTC’s Director Ross Lohr), please let us know!

Peet’s  Coffee and Tea in Newton Center is hosting their annual holiday fundraiser for NTC all day on December 24th (Christmas Eve day). They will provide “free” coffee, and whatever you choose to pay is donated to NTC’s Computer Project at Kwala Secondary School.  Peet’s Coffee and Tea will generously match all donations as well, so if you haven’t donated to NTC this year, this is a great opportunities to do that. Last year we raised nearly $2,000 at Peets for NTC’s Latrines Project.

Seven Scholarship Girls Graduate; More Sponsors Needed Next Year

NTC is proud to report that seven Form Four participants in NTC’s At-Risk Girls Scholarship Program graduated from Kwala Secondary School this year! Thanks to our generous sponsors, all seven of these young women were able to remain in school for the 2009 school year and graduate. Congratulations to Helen George, Eveline Staphano, Miriam Aloyce, Halima Ramadhani, Fatuma Amosi, Mariam Yusuph, and Nuru Kassim!

NTC is looking for two more generous individuals or families who are interested in sponsoring an at-risk girl for the 2010 school year. Please visit our girls education page for more information.

Welcome home Lisa Walker!

We are also excited to welcome Lisa home after three months in Kwala. Lisa is home for the holidays while Kwala Secondary School is out for the holidays until mid-January. Thanks, Lisa, for your hard work, and welcome back to hot showers!

November 5, 2009

NTC Tanzania Advisor Athuman Msangi Visits Several Local Schools and Universities in Exchange Visit

Athuman Msangi, NTC’s Tanzania Advisor and Kwala Secondary School teacher, had a productive and busy visit to the United States in October. Athuman visited several schools in Newton, including Mason-Rice Elementary School, Oak Hill Middle School, and Newton South and Newton North High Schools. Athuman also reconnected with teachers from the Boston Public School system, who visited Kwala last August. Athuman visited several Boston Public Schools, including Madison Park Vocational High School.

Athuman also visited the Massachusetts State House thanks to State Representative Kay Khan, who arranged a meet and greet and a tour. Athuman was also greeted by Deval Patrick!

NTC also hosted several events during Athuman’s stay, including the NTC Annual Event at the Newton Free Library. Athuman spoke about the challenges facing students and teachers in Kwala and Kwala’s appreciation for the work already completed by NTC. Further, NTC Executive Director Ross Lohr emphasized relationships built over the past year between Newton and Kwala and the impact of those relationships on the Kwala School Community. The event also featured words from State Representative Kay Khan about the importance of global education in the Massachusetts school curriculum, and Newton North teacher Kate Shaughnessy about her visit to Kwala this past summer. A video about the trip was also premiered, which can be viewed on the “exchange visits” page of the website.

NTC would like to thank everyone who helped make Athuman’s trip a great success.

Boys' Latrines

Girls' Latrines

Making Bricks

Latrine Building

Roofing

Toilets

Form 3 (Currently Supporting 2 girls for the 2010 academic year)

Form 4 (Currently supporting 8 girls for the 2010 academic year)