Mukidoma - our partner school in Tanzania

MUKIDOMA

WELCOME TO MUKIDOMA!

Education is a privilege in Tanzania, students at Mukidoma are particularly lucky – it is a fee paying English Medium school, with excellent results.

Students come from all over Tanzania.

National Geographic – Map of Tanzania

Dar es Salaam

MUKIDOMA

GEORGE ABBOT has link schools inCanada, China, France, India and Tanzania

In Tanzania –

•Average life expectancy is 51

•Infant mortality is more than 1 in 10

•Percentage underweight for age 5 is 22%

•Percentage undernourished in population is 35%

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MUKIDOMA.

Arusha is a busy city, but Usa River is a quiet rural communityMost people speak their tribal language and Swahili. Lessons in state schools are in

Swahili. Those lucky enough to have more educational opportunities speak English in addition to Swahili and their tribal languages.

The area is popular with tourists as it is near Kilimanjaro and several wildlife parks, however many in the local community struggle to survive, Mukidoma students are very

fortunate and have high expectations

Dr Masanja and Dorcas Masanja (headteacher at Mukidoma) do what they

can in the local community and some

disadvantaged children are educated alongside fee-paying students who will compete for the few

university places in Tanzania.

Mukidoma has achieved some of the best results in

the country on several occasions.

Teaching methods are traditional, subjects include:Economics, Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, History, Kiswahili,

History, Geography and English Language.

Classes seen here are Business Studies (book-keeping) and A level Chemistry (properties of the periodic table)

Mukidoma is a caring community with high moral and academic

standards.

Staff teach classes of around forty students,

they work hard to deliver a varied curriculum,

though facilities are far more limited than schools in the UK.

There are very few places available at universities in Tanzania, so students face much competition and must work extremely hard.

These students found a quiet corner of the lab to catch up on some studies.

Mr Moloney and Miss Hamer visited the school in 2009. was invited to speak at school assembly. Presents were given as a token of friendship between the two schools. A book of photographs and some footballs and

netballs. Students also spoke at this special assembly….

Students wasted no time in making use of the footballs. Football is very popular in Tanzania and many of the students follow British clubs!

Students board at Mukidoma, the girls showed us their dormitory. They have to do their own washing at the weekend (see photo!)

Mr Moloney and Miss Hamer taught an art/creativity lesson with a group of students in the library. The lesson involved discussion and a quiz.

There was some excellent team work and exchange of ideas, followed by

some discussion about what the Mukidoma students would like George Abbot students to learn

about Tanzania.

The students were very keen to find out about George Abbot, and many asked for their names and addresses to be passed to George Abbot students so that they could exchange letters

and emails.

Mukidoma has another very special role…it provides protection and education to Albino children who are often in great danger in Tanzania. Albino students

work alongside other students and strong friendships provide support.

You can find out more about Mukdioma’s efforts to change attitudes in some of the poorer parts of Tanzania by looking at their film on YOUTUBE

search for MUKIDOMA ‘THE VOICE’ (the film is in three parts)

Staff visited in April 2010