November 30, 2009

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.