ACE Newsletter: September 2015

We recently wrote out to all of our sponsors with an update on their individual child. We also prepared a newsletter for our other regular donors and supporters to keep them up to date with progress at Arise School. We have reproduced it below for the benefit of everyone who is interested in the charity’s work.

We are pleased that all is continuing to go well at Arise Community School which now has three classrooms, four teachers and a total of 110 pupils. Over one third of the children are only able to attend as a result of the Sponsorship Scheme that we run. Their family circumstances are such that, without this support, they would not have the opportunity of an education.

Following our successful “Buy a Breakfast” Appeal last Christmas, we have been able to provide the children with a simple breakfast on a daily basis. The feedback we have had is that the children’s health is now considerably improved. Many of the families have been into the school to express their appreciation. As we need to continue to raise the money for this on an ongoing basis, we are intending to relaunch the appeal for this Christmas.

We were also delighted and overwhelmed to receive a totally unexpected and anonymous donation to cover the cost of building a new school kitchen. The work on this was completed towards the end of February. It has made a tremendous difference to Atu, the school cook, who was previously cooking porridge for over 100 children on an open wood fire! Needless to say, Atu is delighted.

The building of a fourth classroom was started earlier this year with donations of sand, cement and other building materials from the local community. The village chairman also organised a working part of over 30 men and women who worked tirelessly one weekend to dig the foundations. We very much hope that it will be possible to raise enough money to complete this classroom for the start of the new school year in January 2016. This will enable up to a further 35 children to be admitted to the school.

You may know from our weekly blogs on the charity website that, for a 10 week period from mid June to mid August, we had three students from Newcastle University volunteering at the school. Like most schools in Tanzania, the curriculum tends to very much focussed on the academic aspects of the children’s education. We agreed with the school and the volunteers that they would provide opportunities for the children to experience activities like arts, craft, music and sport. The volunteers raised money in advance of their trip to buy resources and equipment to use with the children whilst there and to leave at the school for future use. The children greatly enjoyed taking part in so many new activities.

As part of their research projects, the volunteers also undertook home visits to the families of the sponsored children. They proved excellent ambassadors for the charity in the school, with the families and in the local community. We hope to be able to continue to develop the potential of volunteering for the school and the charity

We hope that you will keep up to date with all of our progress and developments by reading the blogs on the charity’s website: ACECharity.uk or by following us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/AfricaChildreninEducation