Life-Changing Mentorship for Tanzanian Girls

Potential Partner School Outreach

As mentioned in the March Report, Kisa is expanding to Moshi, Tanzania. So far, the Tanzanian staff has conducted meetings with five of the original eight schools we targeted to approach as potential partner schools, and an additional school which has been added to the list. These meetings were all incredibly positive. All six schools were enthusiastic about the mission of the Kisa Project, the potential benefits of Kisa for their students, and several administrators had heard positive feedback about AfricAid from colleagues. The mentors and staff in Arusha are extremely encouraged by the response to these meetings.

Technology Incentive

Most Kisa Scholars are competent in the most common form of technology in Tanzania - cell phones. Unfortunately, they are often not able to gain access to computers with basic word processing and web browsing programs. Almost all Kisa Scholars are A-Level students, and though A-Level studies are college preparatory years, applied technology training is not well-integrated into the curriculum. When Kisa Scholars reach university (90% of Kisa Scholars move onto university), they will be required to conduct research online, as well as submit all written work typewritten, using a word processing program.

This is why it is critical to incorporate computer literacy into the Kisa curriculum as we strive to give Kisa Scholars the tools to thrive in their academic lives. The schools with whom AfricAid has partnered with have also seen the value of computers, not only for the Kisa Scholars, but for all their students. Providing computers has historically been an important incentive when reaching out to new partner schools. The schools we have approached to partner with in Moshi almost all have existing computer labs, but all are eager to add additional computers and programs to improve their existing labs.

Next Steps 

Both the AfricAid staff in Tanzania and the US are happy with the positive response received from potential Kisa partner schools. The Arusha staff will be meeting with the head masters again soon to finalize partnerships. We are so thrilled to be expanding to reach new girls and their communities.

AfricAid's life-skills and leadership program - the Kisa Project, was always meant to grow and expand; this year we are doing just that!

This year, we plan to add 4 new Kisa partner schools in Moshi, Tanzania, which is about one and a half hours from Arusha, our current base. In Year 2 of the expansion, with the support of our amazing Kisa Sponsors, we hope to addanother 4 schools. By the end of 2015, we would have a total of 8 schools in Moshi to compliment our current Kisa partner schools in Arusha and Monduli.

You may be wondering "why Moshi?" In Tanzania, the word Moshi is synonymous with education. The first formal schools in Tanzania were in Moshi and the Chagga people, native to the Moshi/Kilimanjaro area, historically place a high value on education. For this reason, many of the country's more prestigious secondary schools are in Moshi. This is despite the fact that Moshi is actually much smallerthan Arusha, the major urban center in Northern Tanzania (Moshi's population in the 2012 census was 190,000,vs Arusha, which had a population of ~1.2 million in the metropolitan area). Kisa is taught primarily in A-Level school, and because most A-Level schools are boarding schools, girls from all over Tanzania study in Moshi. It is truly a national center for education. By expanding Kisa to schools in Moshi, we have the opportunity to reach girls from every region and city in Tanzania, and we can achieve this by traveling less than 2 hours down the road.

AfricAid's expansion to Moshi will be led by one of our star Mentors, Devotha Mlay. Devotha joined AfricAid in September 2012 as a part time Project Manager of the WorldReader project at Upendo Primary School and became a Kisa Mentor in January 2013. She is an outstanding Mentor and has shown her leadership ability throughout her time with AfricAid. Her exceptional effort, along with her experience as an A-Level student in Moshi and her willingness to relocate to Moshi in order to lead the Kisa expansion effort there, make us confident that AfricAid is well placed to have a strong start in the region.

Join us in our excitement and help make this expansion possible!