By Rai Farrelly | Co-Founder, Project Wezesha
Dear Project Wezesha Supporters,
We hope you're all having a wonderful summer! Lucas is here in the US, visiting for the first time ever. It's actually his first time out of Tanzania. Can you imagine everything he's seeing and experiencing - his Series of Firsts?! He tasted his first strawberry, saw fireworks for the first time, attended his first baseball game (and caught a ball!!), summitted the tallest mountain of his life (Mt. Mansfield in Vermont), and so much more. Even more than I can be aware of because Lucas is a cool customer and he is taking everything in stride, but not for granted. He has been keeping meticulous notes about this trip and everything he wants to share with friends, family and our students back in Tanzania. He is learning so much about the way the world can operate - what works, how and why.
Once Lucas returns to Tanzania in September, focus on our STEM project will continue full steam ahead. At present, we are still building up the funds so that we can really get this project under way. Without the capital to start such a large endeavor, there is little we can do. The tables, beakers and scales need a home, and that requires a bit more construction and continued conversations with the Ministry of Education (oh, and more money).
In the meantime, I'd like to share a little inspiration (TED Talk) from Cesar Harada, a teacher in Hong Kong who shows how he teaches kids to love science by connecting the local to the global. His projects center on the unavoidable reality that we, adults, left this world in a slightly worse state than it was in when we arrived. Now, the children hold the future of their world in their own hands. As you listen to Cesar's talk, you'll perhaps find yourself scratching your head about the science behind some of their projects. You'll undoubtedly recognize that science really holds the future for our planet. So what the world needs now is an army of compassionate global citizens with rich science knowledge and expansive imaginations.
Our students in Tanzania will likely never have the resources available to them that these youngsters in Hong Kong have at Cesar's school, but currently - they only have notebooks and pencils. They have no text books for science, no equipment to conduct experiments, and therefore - no idea what is even possible! The private schools are equipped - it is possible in Tanzania. We want to bring more science potential to the remote regions, because you never know where the next Wangari Maathai (Kenya) or William Kamkwamba (Malawi) is living and what knowledge and imagination lies untapped ... just waiting to show us all what is possible!
*To learn more about William Kamkwamba, enjoy another TED talk in which he shares his story. You might be familiar with the book, based on his story: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Help us bring science to the children of Mgaraganza and surrounding villages. Share this project with your friends and let's see what young scientists of the future will emerge from Western Tanzania!
Asante sana,
Rai Farrelly & Lucas Lameck
Co-founders, Project Wezesha
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