PROJECT UPDATES - NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECT UPDATES – 15 Nov 2016  

Simba Milima Primary School, 

Kilimamoja Primary School, 

Edith Gvora Secondary School, 

Luhunga Secondary School Dormitory Complex

Hi All,

Greetings from Tanzania again!

Simba Milima Primary School, Doffa Village

Almost finished a new teacher family home!

Our Vancouver donor, Safari Partners Inc, followed up on the funding for the first 2 classrooms completed in June 2016 with enough funds to start the much needed first teacher residence in a 2 teacher family building. Wall plastering and septic tanks/soak pits construction are in progress with completion expected before Christmas. We look forward to completing the second residence in the new year.

Alan and Project Manager Mathew - first teacher residence

septic tank and soak pit

inspecting the soak pit walls for soil permeability

Kilimamoja Primary School, Kilimamoja Village

Two teacher families now have a new home!

Our excellent builder, Mr Restus Sanka, completed the 3rd and 4th teacher family residence building. Two teacher families that were living in a classroom for the past few months are now happily adjusting to a more “modern” lifestyle with indoor kitchens, showers and flush toilets. The biggest cultural challenge is to transition from traditional outdoor cooking with its unhealthy smoky fires in small outdoor huts to the clean indoor propane countertop gas stoves which by the way they can afford now since the accommodation is rent free. 

On this trip, we installed donor plaques for those who contributed funds for a classroom. The pupils and teachers send their heartfelt thanks to:

BC Ferries of Victoria, BC, in memory of Dale Pace

Alicia and Sang Han, Victoria, BC

Tony and Beth Gvora, in memory of Beth’s daughter Jennifer Street, who tragically died at the early age of 10 years. When the first plaque was installed in June, the pupils asked to see a picture of Jennifer. When I went back in October, I brought another plaque with a photo of her. The pupils gathered around in awe and stared at her beautiful face framed by golden curls. “She looks like an angel”, several remarked.  

the new residences for 2 teacher families

happy teacher family in new residence

Jennifer Street - an "angel"

Dale Pace classroom

Edith Gvora High School, Gongali Village

The Chemistry Laboratory is finally under construction!

Thanks to a generous donation from two wonderful donors, the Eldon and Anne Foote Fund grant of $20,000 and the Tony and Beth Gvora grant of $25,000, we are able to build the long awaited first laboratory building for this high school built in 2014. For its first two years of operation, the science-based school has not been able to offer science classes for chemistry, physics and biology. We can only afford at this point to build the Chemistry lab building. The physics and biology labs will hopefully be funded in the near future, but at least those classes can be taught in the Chemistry lab until we raise the funds. Since this building will be our most technically demanding construction to date, we are fortunate to have builder Restus Sanka’s proven expertise. The building will be completed by January 2017.

new Chemistry Laboratory - start of construction

District Chairman Mnyenye and teachers announcing new Chemistry Lab construction

Luhunga Secondary School Girls Dormitory Complex, Mufindi Village

We are 50% complete.

The teachers are getting excited. The 31 girls who will live there are getting EVEN MORE EXCITED. They have been forced to live inside a classroom, three to a bed, in dilapidated bunks that are falling apart, with no interior washrooms or water. The dormitory compound facilities include rooms for 64 girls, a kitchen/dining hall, a toilet/shower building, multipurpose room, workshop, house mother residences, and interior gardens.

The roofing is on. Wells and septic tanks are built. Walls are being plastered. The windows are manufactured and on site. And the whole project is progressing very well thanks again to the tireless efforts of builder Restus Sanka, who commutes 14 hours each way by bus every other week, to organize construction with local “fundies” (trades). 

I had the pleasure of being there with the project’s donors, Ruth James and Anne Pearson, of Victoria’s African Book Box Society, the charity we are partnering with on this project. In their 11 years in this Mufindi district, these two creative and spirited women and their organization have distributed books, sponsored construction of classrooms and libraries, supported a Children’s Village project and taught innovative and colourful classes at the schools. You can check out their website http://africanbookbox.org/

toilet and shower building flanked by dormitory room buildings

where the girls live now - in a spare classroom

Ruth James and Anne Pearson
of project sponsor African Book Box Society,
with builder Restus Sanka, middle, and teachers Mr Essaye and Mr Lebaye

excited future dormitory residents

roof framing

building the first truss

local families and teachers touring the project

creative results of one of Anne and Ruth's classes

women cleaning the site with babies
strapped to their backs

class in progress

creative work

What’s Next??

Since 2010, we have built 8 village schools that are in various stages of development. We usually start with a couple of classrooms, then progress through teacher residences, dining halls, toilet buildings, and administration/library buildings. 

Needed Now:

Tidivi Primary School - 2-Family Teacher Residence Building - $38,500

As of 15 Nov 2016, we have $19,800, but we need another $18,700, so please help us with your donations.

In Near Future:

Gongali Primary School - Toilet Building - $18,000

Kilimamoja Primary School - Toilet Building - $18,000

Edith Gvora High School - 2-Family Teacher Residence Building - $38,500

Simba Milima Primary School - 2-Family Teacher Residence Building - $38,500

Patricia Elizabeth Primary School - 2-Family Teacher Residence Building - $38,500

Please make out cheque to "PSFA Primary Schools For Africa Society", and send to:

Primary Schools For Africa Society

3301 Wordsworth Street, Victoria, BC, V8P 4B9

or with credit card, click on DONATION button on website www.PrimarySchoolsForAfrica.com

A tax receipt will be provided.

Asante sana sana (Thank you so much) and kilalaheri (good luck) to all of you in the upcoming Christmas holiday season.

End of Update 

NEW SCHOOL OPENINGS - KARATU DISTRICT; NEW PROJECT - MUFINDI VILLAGE

Hello All

I just returned from Africa on July 7 with another amazing trip; new experiences, inspiring new people, and most of all, great progress with school construction.

 Simba Milima Primary School - Grand Opening

Chris Ronneseth of Safari Partners Inc, the funding donor for the school, joined us for the official opening of the school; two new classrooms and an administration building with a headmaster's office, a teacher's room and a library room. A mass of (mostly) uniformed pupils greeted him with singing when he arrived and later performed an entertaining and amazingly precise marching dance number. Many speeches praised and appreciated him for his generosity and support of the schooling needs of this community, and rewarded him by "robing" him in a traditional Maasai blanket to become an honorary elder of the Doffa Village commuity.

Village children celebrating the new school

Our projects now seem to attract government awareness and promises of continued future support. Dignitaries attending the event included the member of Parliament for the area, Mr Willy Qambalo, the District Chairman, Mr Jubilate Mnenye, and the District Executive Director, Mr Moses Mabulo.

Thanks to our excellent builder Restus Sanka for another quality construction; brightly painted smooth plastered brick walls, level concrete floors, well-crafted and smoothly operating metal doors and windows. With the school now turned over to the village, the locals proudly state that these buildings are the best and most important ones in the village and vow to take great care of them.
And thanks as always, to our Project Manager, Mathew Sulle, for a great job in organizing the openings at all schools. 

Community built foundations for the teacher residences - will be completed by PSFA with additional funding from Safari Partners Inc.

The village wanted to do something themselves to aid in the construction; they raised enough funds (about $1,800) to start the first teacher residence building and managed to at least complete the foundations. As a surprising further gesture of support, when he viewed the work, Chris Ronneseth offered to fund the remaining construction. So now we look forward in the next few months to a home for two teacher families. 

Tidivi Primary School - Grand Opening

Four new classrooms and a renovated, (but temporary) toilet building are now ready for occupancy in the next school term.
We had a great celebration as the village provided singing, dancing, and promises from the village executives of continued support to maintain this school at a high level of operation and maintenance in future.  

children escorting us to the new school site

The District Chairman, Mr Jubilate Mnenye, and the District Education Officer, Mr Papakinyi Kaai, again promised the support of their district government in ensuring the school's successful operation. 

Jubilating District Chairman Jubilate Mnenye in new classroom

The village thanked the ex-cadets of the Class of '70 for their support of this school project and requested that they continue to support the school's growth over the next few years; remaining projects include teacher residences, library, administration building, teacher's room, kitchen/dining hall, and toilet building.

official ribbon-cutting

A certificate of appreciation was presented to Alan Roy representing the Class of '70.

Thanks again to our excellent builder Restus Sanka for another quality construction project. 









However, teacher residences for 4 teacher families are urgently needed now. Due to the remoteness of the school from rental housing, the teachers must live on site. This will be our fundraising project continuing in 2016. 

traditional Iraqw men's tribal dance

Traditional Iraqw women's tribal dance

The village with the first two classrooms

Royal Military College of Canada - Class of '70 Sponsors

Kilimamoja Teacher Residence Building


The new teacher residence building is about 90% complete; good news for the two teacher families living in one of the (yet to be occupied) new classrooms. Once the cement parging on the walls is cured, the buildings will be painted our normal bright gold colour.

the new 2-family teacher residences - 90% complete

New 64 Girl dormitory project in the Mufindi area


The plans are completed and Restus Sanka will be building this new exciting project, starting the week of 18 - 22 July 2016. 

The project is funded by the African Book Box Society (ABBS) of Victoria in collaboration with the local Foxes' NGO organization, who will administer the construction contract. 

Restus and I visited the Mufindi area and enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the Geoffrey Knight and Jenny Peck, who run the Foxes' NGO Mufindi Orphans project there, an inspiring effort to provide shelter, sustenance, education, and medical care for children in Mufindi, and to curtail the spread of HIV.

tea farming hills

site levelling

Geoffrey, Upendo, Jenny, Alan, Restus

meeting with teachers to review plans

Unlike most of Tanzania, this hilly region, relatively speaking, is "baridi kali" (very cold). The scenery of rolling hills carpeted in tea planting surrounded by trees harvested for timber was both bucolic and breathtaking, and belied any sense of struggles by the local people. 

Restus will have a challenge building this project, probably one of the most sophisticated in the region. He will seek out the best local "fundies" (tradesmen) in an effort to use as many locals as possible. We enjoyed meeting some of them and were impressed with their friendly quiet nature.

Restus and I are very grateful to ABBS for the use of their comfortable Mufindi home "Protea" that came supplied with some of the best home cooked meals that we have had in Tanzania to date, creatively prepared by the talented and sweet natured chef, Upendo (which literally translates as "love"). 

Stay tuned for more updates in the near future, with stories and photos of our adventures. Thanks for the visit...

Alan Roy

More buildings are needed to complete the school projects, so...
Please donate

Please make out cheque to "PSFA Primary Schools For Africa Society", and send to:

Primary Schools For Africa Society

3301 Wordsworth Street, Victoria, BC, V8P 4B9

or with credit card, click on DONATION button on website www.PrimarySchoolsForAfrica.com

A tax receipt will be provided.

LEAVING FOR TANZANIA JUNE 20 - NEW SCHOOL OPENINGS, NEW PROJECT

Hello all!!

My upcoming trip is from 20 June to 7 July. In those 17 days I will be busy with existing and new projects:

opening of new Teacher Residence building at one of our existing schools, 
opening of new Tidivi Primary School,
opening of new Simba Milima Primary School,
start of  new  64 person Girls Dormitory complex in the Mufindi area, south of Iringa in southern Tanzania.


Kilimamoja (Ayatsere) Primary School - new Teacher Residence building & opening of final classroom #7 

If you remember from our January 2016 blog post, we cancelled the official opening of our Classroom 5 and 6 project due to heavy rains that muddied the roads making them impassable. Well, since then, in the last five months, we initiated construction of the 7th and final classroom, and it is now complete.  And we also initiated another badly needed teacher residence to get the two teacher families temporarily living in classrooms 5 and 6 out and into proper homes on site. 

concrete bricks stored at roadside
till the heavy rains let up 

teacher families living temporarily in new classrooms

Restus' car mudded out

concrete brick walls for the new teacher residences
resume construction after rains stop

Our famed builder, Restus Sanka, endured a very wet spring that slowed down his construction progress of the residences. The 8 km road from the main highway to the school was impassably mudded, so all the concrete bricks had to be offloaded from the flatbed delivery trucks and left on the side of the road, requiring armed guards to protect from passing traffic possibly yielding to temptation.
Eventually, the rains let up enough and construction continued. Not a big deal for Restus; these things happen all the time. When I get there on 29 June, the teacher residences will be complete, and we will have the official opening. 

Tidivi Primary School - Kilimamoja - Huduma Ward

Construction is complete on both buildings. This project is sponsored by the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Class of '70 alumni. Teachers are excited and ready to start classes next term. The official opening celebrations in two weeks will be attended by local officials and a large number of villagers.

two new classrooms on left; two renovated existing classrooms on right

teachers and pupils at the new Tidivi Primary School

Simba Milima Primary School - Dofa Village

the new administration building completed; teachers and pupils assigned
 and ready for classes

In front: Teacher Residence building under construction by villagersBeyond: Two new buildings; administration building and 2-classroom building

The first two buildings are complete and ready for classes. This project, sponsored by Safari Partners Inc of Vancouver, had the local villagers so excited, they managed to raise enough funds to start on a two family teacher residence building which they are now in the process of building themselves, but under the close supervision of Restus to ensure construction quality and proper siting according to our site masterplan layout.

The heavy rains also took their toll on this project's schedule, muddying the access roads and washing out a small river crossing near the site. Apparently, according to Restus, the local government has since built a proper culverted roadway crossing. The rains eventually abated, materials got delivered to the site and construction resumed. 



Luhunga Girls Dormitory -  Mufindi, southern Tanzania

PSFA is pleased to be partnering with the African Book Box Society (ABB) from Victoria for the design and construction of this desperately needed facility in the tea farming region of Mufindi, south of Iringa in southern Tanzania. 
During their regular trips to Mufindi, African Book Box Society's Ruth James, Anne Pearson and Birgit Castledine of Victoria BC, became sympathetic to the village's concern to protect local girls from wayward migrant workers, and offered to sponsor construction of a dormitory complex. On their return to Victoria, they contacted Primary Schools For Africa to assist with the design and construction of the facility, and the project is now under way.

The facility includes dormitory rooms for 64 girls, toilet and shower facilities, kitchen and dining hall and a multipurpose room. Sustainable features include collection of rainwater into elevated storage tanks, solar panel electricity, and possible roof mounted solar panel hot water boilers for the shower water.
Alan will travel there with builder Restus to finalize the design and construction details with the locals assisted by an NGO, the Foxes organization, who have been in this area for a number of years, creating health and community building programs as well as construction projects. Foxes' Geoffrey Knight, administrator of the project, is promising an enthusiastic local welcoming.

We will provide an update upon returning to Canada, with stories and photos of our adventures. Thanks for the visit...

Alan Roy

More buildings are needed to complete the school projects, so...
Please donate

Please make out cheque to "PSFA Primary Schools For Africa Society", and send to:

Primary Schools For Africa Society

3301 Wordsworth Street, Victoria, BC, V8P 4B9

or with credit card, click on DONATION button on website www.PrimarySchoolsForAfrica.com

A tax receipt will be provided.