Onward to Moshi Town

Being this is the official season of giving, though I believe it should be a year round sport, I would like to offer my thanks to Denise and her friends in California as well as my friends here in Ontario. Your enthusiasm, encouragement, and support for this project have surpassed everything we could have hoped for to this point. It couldn't have been done without you. It has been simply astounding. I am grateful for everything all of you have done. Asanteni sana.
The box arrived from California like a wonderful surprise Christmas present early yesterday evening.
Now the next stage begins. There is a total of nine boxes of books going over; the majority of which are bound for St. Theresia. It will take between six to eight weeks for them to arrive in Moshi.
I will be travelling over at the end of January or beginning of February in order to assist in organizing the resources for use and purchasing other materials.
This is a very exciting time and I am very thankful for your abundant generosity and giving spirits.

Moving along

Today, I packaged and mailed a box of new dictionaries and writer's handbooks and a few novelettes as well to Nick in Canada. He will add my box to his 8 or so boxes that will be shipped to Tanzania shortly. So far, I have raised $300! I will send Nick all the cash I raise before he goes to Tanzania at the end of January so that he can use that money to buy books for the school library there, saving shipping costs and contributing to the local economy as well. Again, thanks to the folks that have contributed to the fund!

Denise

Moving Right Along

The updates look terrific. I've just gotten to it today. I just finished delivering a shipment of used texts and other reading resources to an exchange program in Toronto over the weekend. A number of texts and reading materials will be available for schools looking for discounted resources and places in need within Canada. The texts and novels they are unable to use will be recycled from which the proceeds will be donated to buy school materials, texts, reading resources, and general classroom supplies in other developing countries through highly regarded international aid agency. I've collected five boxes of reading resources for St. Theresia which amounts to approximately three hundred books in a variety of reading ranges. They will be shipped over shortly. In addition, enough funds have been collected to cover the entire cost of shipping. There is also moneys left over to purchase reading supplies from shops/distributors located within Tanzania. I'll be organizing that for my arrival in country as part of my return trip. Many heartfelt thanks and greetings to everyone who has contributed to this project both in the U.S. and Canada.

Book Campaign marching forward

The Tanzania Book Raffle campaign was launched this Thanksgiving weekend. Happily, Nick is able to travel to Tanzania in January, so we can buy the books there, supporting the local economy and cutting postage costs.

Nick and I have collected books (dictionaries, novels) which we will ship to Tanzania in December. We imagine that he will be in Tanzania when they arrive and he can work with the teachers at the school to set up the library with the books we send and purchase there.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this important cause. Also, I have loaded the video that the 11th grade students and I made about these students and their school. The captions are missing from this version, but I think you'll be able to get the message. Also check out my Tanzania Beauties video. It's a homage to the incredible women and girls in Tanzania.

Brief Progress Report

I'm in the process of sorting the books and looking into different shipping arrangements. I've also contacted Kajeli about the novels they use in Forms 1 through 4. The novels they read and use for exams in English. He's going to find out if they are available in Moshi or Arusha and determine their cost. I think it would be a good idea to obtain a class set of the actual novels they study from and expand it from there. I'll let you know more about the funding in the next few days when I receive a response.
I am planning, once I get a solid price and time frame for shipping, on returning to Moshi around Christmas or at the beginning of January for the start of classes. I'd like to be there when the books arrive, but that'll take some co-ordinating. I'm still working on that.

Welcome!

St. Theresia Secondary school is located in Moshi, Tanzania at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Although the school was founded by a Catholic family and takes a Christian name, the students there subscribe to a number of Christian faiths and there are many Muslim students as well. Tanzanian law, in fact, requires that all schools in Tanzania, public and private, provide time and space once a week for students to practice their religion of choice.

Swahili is the medium of instruction in Tanzanian primary schools. Students receive English instruction at this level a few hours a week. Once students enter high school; however, English becomes the medium of instruction. Not surprisingly, students' English skills are very limited when they enter high school, and, in fact, much of the instruction in content classes in secondary school is in Swahili.

But it is critical that students in Tanzania learn English to continue their education and get good jobs. The problem is that there are very limited resources for students at this school. Students are required to share a handful of textbooks, sometimes 40 students to eight books in an English class!

That's why Nick and I started the Books for African Youth campaign. We would like to put at least one book in the hands of each student at St. Theresia. We are looking for donations of dictionaries, thesauruses, and writing handbooks and we are collecting funds so that we can purchace culturally and linguistically appropriate novels.

Donations can be sent to Denise McCarthy, 1122 Delaware Street, Berkeley, Califonia 94702. Shortly we will have an address in Canada as well.

Thank you!