NTC Launches the Village Reading Corner

NTC is kicking off the Village Reading Corner initiative at the Newton Free Library and local book stores this month, offering Tanzanian children’s books at a “buy one, give one free” rate of just $10.00.   NTC’s Village Reading Corner will be featured in one of the Newton Free Library’s display cases near the main circulation desk, as well as in the children’s room. Books will be available for purchase at The Children’s Book Shop in Brookline and at the International Childrens Literature Project page on our web site.

Purchasing any of these great books will allow your child to enjoy and learn about Tanzanian culture, become a member of the village reading corner book club, give a book to a child in Kwala (after it is read aloud to them at the weekly village reading corner), and fund additional classroom-to-classroom exchanges in Newton and Kwala. For a look at the the Village Reading Corner Book Club website, click here.

Last month, students at Mason-Rice Elementary School in Newton and Mahundi Primary School in Kwala each read The Story of the Crow and Frog by Walter Bgoya, and shared their favorite illustrations from the book. See some of the results in the slideshow at the Village Reading Corner Book Club page.

This project has required countless hours of volunteer work and the participation of many gracious people. NTC would like to thank Joni Waldon, Jamie Bushell, and Maggie Jones as general advisors for this project, Laura Aglin for designing the posters and website layout, Christina Patton for constructing the website, New England Mobile Book Fair and The Children’s Book Shop, the Newton Free Library, and teachers and staff at Mason-Rice Elementary School.

For more information about the Village Reading Corner, please visit www.NewtonTanzania.org/ICLP

A (Kwala Kwala) Tree Grows in Brooklyn

23 members from the Brooklyn Free School community traveled to Kwala with NTC last month to visit Kwala Secondary School and Mahundi Primary School, connect with the local community, and complete several projects at Mahundi Primary School. The group funded the construction of a library and a playground, and painted a mural at the school, while participating in cultural exchange activities with students, teachers, and community members throughout the week. NTC would like to thank the Brooklyn Free School for their efforts in creating a meaningful and life-changing experience for the entire group and the Kwala school community, and we look forward to their continued involvement with Kwala! Special appreciation goes out to Gia Rae and Lily Mercogliano for helping to organize the trip.

From Alan Berger, the Director of the Brooklyn Free School:

“The trip to Tanzania was a huge success and an unforgettable experience for all involved!! We spent time in the largest city-Dar es Salaam, and traveled to Zanzibar, a fascinating island which until fairly recently was a separate country, spending time in Stone Town, and at the beach on the Indian Ocean. We also went on a fabulous safari to Mikumi National Park, but most of our time and the centerpiece of our trip was living and working in the village of Kwala, a small rural community of about 3,000 people, getting to know the people, and working on projects for their primary and secondary schools.

We built a playground, painted a large mural, worked on the secondary school library, met with the headmasters of both schools, taught classes in both schools, taught American football and whiffleball, how to make pancakes, did a lot of filming for our documentary, held two democratic meetings, learned Swahili, learned a lot about the Tanzanian educational system and its many challenges, local economics and culture, how to buy, wear, and use khanga (beautiful colored fabrics), how to cook chiappati and, one of the highlights, learned some local dance moves at a big school dance party.  We also donated school, sports and medical supplies, mattresses, mosquito nets, and solar showers.”

As always, we want to thank our gracious donors and partners for their continued support of our projects in Kwala!

…and experience Tanzania the way it was meant to be experienced!

Thousands of people visit Tanzania each year without ever experiencing the beautiful culture and communities that make up the majority of the country. While Tanzania does in fact host some of the world’s best wildlife, national parks, and scenery, it is a shame to visit Tanzania without connecting to its strongest asset: the culture and people.

Safari Arts Expeditions has partnered with Newton-Tanzania Collaborative, Inc. (NTC) to create a trip to Tanzania that covers all the bases. Enjoy the natural beauty that Tanzania has to offer, while building relationships and participating in projects that will benefit the youth of Tanzania and impact generations to come.

This two week trip will include:

• Trekking Mount Kilimanjaro
• A Three day safari to Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park
• Visiting the community of Kwala for cultural exchange and community service activities

Community Service

Safari Arts Expeditions has generously offered a highly discounted price for this trip to allow participants to make a significant contribution to the Kwala Community through NTC. NTC is seeking assistance in the construction of an NTC house and educational facility in order to sustain and enhance the ability of NTC to contribute to the community of Kwala, Tanzania and surrounding communities. Your visit to Kwala will include working with the community and  local workers to construct the facility.

The NTC Educational Facility will provide a safe and learning-friendly educational environment for Kwala Secondary School’s 400 students and Mahundi Primary School’s 500 students, hosting after-school tutoring sessions, reading corners for primary school children, academic, extracurricular, and cultural exchange activities, girl’s group meetings, and counseling sessions for students seeking academic, occupational, or emotional support.

Cultural Exchange

Visiting Kwala with NTC and Safari Arts Expeditions allows you to connect to a real Tanzanian Community. NTC has fostered a relationship with Kwala since 2006, initiating three school-to-school cultural exchange partnerships, supporting exchange visits to and from Kwala, and completing high-impact projects suggested by the community to improve education throughout the Kwala community. This relationship allows visitors to truly connect to the Kwala community. Visit classrooms at the primary and secondary school, drink sodas with the villagers, and visit real Tanzanian homes…the possibilities are endless.

Your Hosts

All accommodations, transport, guides, safaris, and food will be provided by Safari Arts Expeditions. Safari Arts Expeditions is run by Walter Miya, who grew up in Tanzania and has been in the Tanzanian tourism industry for more than 10 years. Safari Arts Expeditions specializes in safaris throughout Tanzania and has a strong commitment to serving local communities. For more information, please contact Walter@SafariArtsExpeditions.com, or visit www.SafariArtsExpeditions.com.

Watch a Video from an NTC trip to Kwala in 2009!

Trip Costs and Dates

The trip will run from July 15th to July 30th.

The total price of the trip is $4,600. The price can be broken down as follows:

$2,600* – Paid to Safari Arts Expeditions for all trip related costs, including basic camping accommodations, food, park fees, guides, and transportation.

$2,000 – Tax deductible donation to NTC to fund the construction of the NTC Educational Facility

*please note – cost of trip does not include airfare, shots, travel insurance , medications, or visas for entry to Tanzania

To reserve space on this trip, please send a non-refundable 500 dollar deposit to:

Safari Arts Expeditions

1040 Summitview Place
Bloomington, IN 47401

The remaining fees to Safari Arts Expeditions ($2,100) are due by May 1st, 2011.

The tax-deductible donation to NTC ($2,000) is due by May 1st, 2011, can be mailed to:

NTC

11 Wenham Rd.

Newton, MA 02461

NTC is a 501 (c) (3) organization based in Newton, Massachusetts.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact info@newtontanzania.org, or walter@SafariArtsExpeditions.com

NTC Club at Oak Hill is a group of committed students who serve as NTC ambassadors at Oak Hill Middle School in Newton, connecting personally with students at Mahundi Primary School through meaningful cultural exchange and getting other students and teachers at Oak Hill interested in NTC as well.

Recent News: Students from NTC Club at Oak Hill hosted a school talent show to raise money to purchase soccer jerseys for Mahundi Primary School’s soccer team. Students from Oak Hill showed off their music, dance, and other talents, while videos of performances from Mahundi Primary School and Kwala Secondary School were projected during intermission. With a bake sale earlier in the year, NTC Club at Oak Hill has raised over 900 dollars to support projects to improve educational opportunities for children at Mahundi Primary School.

NTC Club Member Brendan Duggan will visit Kwala this summer to volunteer at Mahundi Primary School and deliver the jerseys as a gift to the school from NTC Club at Oak Hill.

Meet NTC Club at Oak Hill!

2010 NTC Oak Hill Representatives. Top Row (L to R): Ahaana Singh, Mel Gundersheim, Sammi Suga, Lauren Levy, Allie Lushan, Taylor Bovarnick and Wesley Fabrizio. Middle Row (L to R): Faith Bergman, Tamar Bulka, Mandy Gordon, Jaclyn Bovarnick and Brendan Duggan. Bottom Row (L to R): Geoffrey Gray, Michael Garfinkle, Jack Groper and Devin Rosen

NTC is excited to present a new feature in our monthly newsletter!  Each month, Michael Kitinya, Headmaster of Kwala Secondary School, will talk about Kwala and NTC in a short video. For lack of a better name, we’re calling it “The State of Kwala Address.” Enjoy Headmaster Kitinya’s first ‘address’!

State of the Kwala Address – February 2010 from NTC on Vimeo.

Smallbean and NTC Complete Solar Powered Computer Lab

Representatives from NTC and Smallbean, Inc. visited Kwala in January to build a solar-powered computer lab at Kwala Secondary School. Eleven students participated in a two-week pilot program that taught students how to use the computers, take photographs, interview members of the community with digital recorders, and upload the materials onto computers. The 11 students who took part in the pilot program are now able to train other students how to use the computers!

A digital archive of the students work will be available soon from Smallbean. Stay tuned!

Having access to computers will allow Kwala Secondary School to adopt Tanzania’s national computer curriculum, a rare opportunity for a community secondary school. Students with computer training have a big advantage in getting better-paying jobs after graduation. A huge “thank you” goes out to the Smallbean team for implementing such a successful project, and to Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Newton Centre for their help in funding the project.

Watch an amazing photo-montage video from Smallbean below:

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

Kwala’s Committment to NTC Partnership Continues to Grow

NTC has formed a committee of village leaders, teachers, school administrators, and students to ensure the progress of NTC projects in Kwala and propose future projects that will have the greatest impact in the community. The Kwala Committee marks a huge success in ensuring local ownership, involvement, and transparency for all projects in Kwala.

We’ve also distributed the first edition of the NTC-Kwala Newsletter, which is designed to keep the entire Kwala community informed about NTC projects and visitors. The newsletter is written and translated into Swahili every other month and posted at Kwala’s most important meeting places. Mr. Msemakweli, the Kwala Ward Executive Officer (shown at right), has kindly offered to take charge of designing and printing the newsletter. Check out the new “Kwala Gives Back” page on our website to learn about other ways the Kwala community is contributing to our Kwala-NTC partnership.

Volunteer Kicks off Support at Mahundi Primary School
Judy Citron, a volunteer from Peabody, Massachusetts, raised enough money from friends and family to purchase hundreds of textbooks and recreational books for children at Mahundi Primary School. Equally as impressive, Judy spent a week in Kwala this February, where she brought the books to the school, taught classes at Mahundi Primary School and Kwala Secondary School, and instructed teachers at Mahundi Primary School how to most effectively use the textbooks in their classes. Prior to Judy’s generous donation, Mahundi Primary School had no textbooks for its 600 students. NTC also has plans to build a library at Mahundi Primary School in March, 2010. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to Judy for all her hard work and perseverance!

No Water Here — Except for Rain

Three attempts to drill a well that would have provided Kwala Secondary School with an ample water supply have failed. The attempts were conducted at no cost to NTC, thanks to a generous donation from Star Water Pumps in Tanzania. But the school still faces severe water shortages that can leave the school without water for days at a time.

The Kwala Committee has reintroduced the idea of a water harvesting system that will collect and store rainwater from the roofs of Kwala Secondary School. Further, the village has offered to connect the community water source directly to the school, allowing it to order and store water in quantities large enough to endure the shortages that result when the community pump breaks. NTC is reaching out to MIT for advice and expertise and hopes to complete this project in June, 2010. To learn more about this project, or to make a donation, please visit the “Water Development” page on our website.

First Village Reading Corner a Success

In February, NTC’s girls scholarship recipients began the first weekly Village Reading Corner in Kwala, reading children’s stories out loud to children in the community. This program, designed to promote reading as a leisure activity in Tanzania, provides children  with copies of books written by Tanzanian authors. The program also engages classrooms in the United States and Kwala in cultural exchange programs by reading the same story.

NTC is creating a Village Reading Corner web site and plans to sell the books at participating local book stores over the next several months. We are also ready to launch our first classroom-to-classroom exchanges between Mahundi Primary School and Mason-Rice Elementary School and a school in Binghamton, NY.

If you would like to participate in this exciting project, please contact us.

For more information on this project, visit the Village Reading Corner webpage at www.NewtonTanzania.org/ICLP

To watch video of the village reading corner, see below.

Village Reading Corner from NTC on Vimeo.

NTC Initiates Year Two of Girls Scholarship Program

NTC continues to support ten girls from last year’s Girls Scholarship Program at Kwala Seconary School, and we were able to add four new girls to the program this year. Lisa Walker, our resident teacher and project director, recently passed out school supplies to the girls, and the girls also wrote thank you notes to their sponsors. Once again, NTC would like to thank our scholarship program sponsors!

Meet this year’s NTC scholarship recipients!

23 From Brooklyn to Visit Kwala in Late March

A group of 23 students, teachers, and parents from the Brooklyn Free School in New York will participate in a week-long service/learning exchange visit to Kwala from March 27 – April 9. The group will participate community service activities in the morning and will have cultural exchange activities with student groups in the afternnon. Activities will include building a library at Mahundi Primary School, painting murals at both schools, teaching, and making a documentary about their experience at Kwala. This is the largest group to visit Kwala to date, and both NTC and the Kwala Community are excited about the visit.

Read an article by our future visitors, here.

Hip Hop, Anyone?

As part of a cultural exchange project with students at Newton South High School and Oak Hill Middle School, students at Kwala Secondary School performed at the first ever Kwala Secondary School Hip Hop Show. Students participating in Smallbean’s pilot technology filmed and recorded the event, while more than 200 students crammed into a classroom to hear some of Kwala Secondary School’s finest hip-hop. Tanzania is well known for its hip hop music scene, known as “Bongo Flava.” Students performing will also receive a live recording of their performance on CD, a unique opportunity for kids in Tanzania.

Take a moment to watch a video of the first ever hip hop show in Kwala.

Kwala Secondary School Hip Hop Show from NTC on Vimeo.

As always, we want to thank our gracious donors and partners for their continued support of our projects in Kwala!

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.