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TaV\~aCaveRooting success In eaucat/on?
Ref: TCI TI VRl03/02/1S
TanzacareP. O. Box 14371Arusha24th March 2015
To whom it may concern,
Recommending Gavin Curtis
Tanzacare is a registered International Non- Governmental Organization. Its overall goalis to help rural public schools in Tanzania with the essentials for a good educati?n.
.•Tanzacare has known Gavin Curtis for one and a half years.Prior to Gavin arriving in Tanzania to volunteer with Tanzacare, we communicatedregularly to organise and coordinate his plans for volunteering in a very remote village inNorthern Tanzania called Gunge. During this planning period, we found him to be veryprofessional and supportive in offering initiatives and collaborating well to ensure that wewere prepared for when he arrived. Gavin provided support before he arrived byproviding funds to purchase items such as a water tank, bed, gas cooker and furniture.These were used in his accommodation and then generously donated to Tanzacare forfuture volunteers.
When Gavin arrived in Tanzania, he lived and taught in the village of Gunge as avolunteer with Tanzacare for I month. Gunge primary school is one of the rural publicschools supported by Tanzacare. His accomodation was very basic with no electricity orrefrigeration, no running water, and shared sanitation facility. The village of Gunge isinhabited by the people of the Pare Tribe, with a population of Maasai living in close bysurrounding villages. It is very hot, dry climate with desert like conditions. Gavinadapted well to the conditions here and quickly established himself in the community,despite the fact that most of the residents could not speak or understand English andGavin could not speak or understand Swahili.
Gavin commenced teach English and Maths to Pre-school, Standard 1 and 2 students atGunge Primary School. He rapidly built strong relationships with the students that he was
TanzaCare 5577 Five Knolls Dr. Charlotte, NC 28226 USA
teaching and a strong bond with the fellow Tanzanian teachers from the school. He alsoquickly identified areas of the education/teaching process in the school that could beimproved to provide students with much better learning outcomes. He developed severalinitiatives to implement new classes and teaching techniques to improve these outcomes,and worked in collaboration with his fellow teachers to implement these initiatives. Theresults of these initiatives were very positive, and there was evidence of improvedlearning outcomes from many of the students immediately. As a result of Gavin'sinfluence, the attendance rate of students to the Gunge Primary School also improvedconsiderably.
Gavin's initiatives did not only apply to teaching, he also worked closely with the peoplein the village of Gunge on developing a sustainable food program by starting communitya vegetable garden with some of the members of the community.
Gavin continues to work closely with the Tanzacare team on several of his initiatives toensure that the people of Gunge continue to have improved education, health and lifestyleoutcomes. He is also working with Tanzacare on several new initiatives to improve andformalise the Tanzacare volunteer program. These initiatives include a mentoringprogram, where he will be the point of contact for future volunteers to consult forplanning the volunteer experience, and also a formal volunteer guide book. We lookforward to have a long lasting association with Gavin on both a professional level and asclose friend of mine.
We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Gavin, and would be happy to speak orprovide more information regarding my experience and his work with Tanzacare ifrequested.
Yours faithfully
Yesaya Mwashala
Director of Operationswww.tanzacare.orgwww.facebook.com/tanzacare