Across rural Tanzania, many children have cannot benefit from a safe and enjoyable environment when it comes to school. Some school buildings can be very old, and without classrooms, they are forced to study and play in hard conditions. They can be exposed to the weather extremes, distracted, and lose their focus to learn. 

When Tanzania School Trust was founded, Hill Crest school was (and still is) renting the garden of a private individual, with his house next to the gravel playground. For some time now, the head teacher at Hill Crest, Elizabeth, has been saving money to purchase a land in the hope to one day build her own school building. 

In January 2020, the rent’s costs increased, pushing Tanzania School Trust to spend £1,320 on rent alone in a year! This is such a big spend, even for Tanzania, that the charity and Elizabeth decided to buy a land and start building the school building. It wasn’t easy at first: going into the unknown of buying a bare land and building walls wasn’t the safest investment, but the costly rent pushed the school to start this new adventure. 

Another advantage of building our school, is that Hill Crest will no longer limited to the 3 rooms: the construction plans for 5 rooms where we will be able to welcome and help more children and support more families. 

Weeks after starting the construction, Nora, the project manager for Tanzania School Trust, decided to go on crusade and ask French companies for some financial support to finish the school. Her own company, Substipharm donated enough money to build the roof of the school and get Tanzania School Trust closer to a sustainable and safe future. Nora had always dreamed of building a school in Africa, so she took this opportunity to do good and have an impact that is long-lasting.

Knowing how important education is in Tanzania, the charity is happy to help to provide the children the most stable environment possible. Fundraising enough money to not just finish the school construction, but to also keep maintaining the free meals at school as well as the teachers’ salaries is no easy challenge, but one worth fighting for. 

Where are we now? 

Now that we have the walls and the roof, the most expensive parts are done and our project is to continue fundraising so we can start the flooring, build windows and doors as well as installing electricity and painting the walls.