Besides the chicken business, which is going well, the school farm has both layers as broilers and both have produced such that we have already been able to expand. We also have goats. We started with only two mid last year and now we have 6 female goats and they are expanding steadily and we hope will make the school a sustainable school.
Fitting the first classroom block with windows and door frames was very expensive as well as costly due to transporting them. The Kisarawe school building team evaluated and advised that it would be cheaper to make such doors and windows by the school, than buying them. And as the school construction is still happening, we are constantly looking at how we can keep construction costs low and affordable but endurable.
After several years without translating the content of this website into Dutch, we are very thankful that we have found a new translator. We have been working on updating the Dutch content and by now all content concerning the Kisarawe School Project has been translated.
We are aware that there are parts of the Dutch page that still need to be updated and are hoping to fix those issues within the next few weeks. If you are a Dutch native speaker, you are very welcome to join us on the Dutch version of our website.
This update is to give you an overview on what has already happened at the Kisarawe School Project and how we plan to continue. For more information on the project, please refer to the project menu.
Last year, an event was organised together with “Zus en Zo” at “De Ark”. 200 Euros were collected at that event and during summer, 45 chairs were bought from this money. Now people no longer need to sit on the floor or collect the school desks from the school (which can bring damage being moved all the time), but can sit comfortably while listening to Gods Word during the church services. Besides them being used in the church, they can now host community meetings and have the members of the community have a proper seat during these meetings and gatherings. We thank the women of Zus en Zo and De Ark.
We received over 50 laptops through a donation from LIVIT and we have been able to refurbish over 20 of these with English version of operating system and delivered 10 laptop computers to the Kisarawe community school already. They were handled over to the project manager of the school and during the hand over we had over 20 students who were excited to receive them.
Chicken Farm:
Anhart Foundation believes in agriculture and helping those in need with a means to be able to farm and thus gain an income for themselves. We from True Grasses believe in building a sustainable school, thus not relying on sponsors in the future. There have been various projects that are sustainable on their own and help with keeping the school sustainable. An example is the farm, which is providing the workers and students with food from the agriculture happening on the land. A team from Canada that came to visit the school and land, have also sponsored the building of a chicken farm, providing a place for the project to hold more chicken and thus produce eggs, meat and income to the school. The building holds space to keep up to a 1000 chickens, a store on one side for the food and to keep the eggs and a standard room for the manager of the chickens and the farm.
On a hot spring day last May, a group of about 20 people cycled more than 40 kms to sponsor the event ‘Cycling for Sewing Machines’ and 500 Euro’s was collected. With this money, four sewing machines have been bought and there was already a waiting list of 15 ladies for the first lessons to start. Even though the vocational school is not running yet, lessons in vocational skills will be able to start with the sewing lessons in the beginning of 2019. We thank all those that cycled and sponsored this event for making a difference in lives of young women, making them future tailors and with that another chance in livelyhood.
Finishing classrooms No. 1 and 2:
Every step is a step, but the awe of white walls, a chalk board and school desks is what we have all been working towards: A school for the children and girls of Kisarawe! There are so many individuals, organisations, foundations and churches that have helped towards this goal and we want to thank all of you! On the picture, you see some of the men that have worked on the constructions in one way or another.
Last year at Christmas, True Grasses Netherlands organised a morning and evening for women to come together and make two pieces of Christmas decoration each. One to keep for themselves and the other one to be sold at an elderly people’s home. We ended up with more pieces of decoration than expected and after the event, the sale the next day and additional orders that had come in, 500 Euro’s was collected for school materials.
In March True Grasses Tanzania had some representatives of CBG Canada come to visit the school. Seeing the need to finish classrooms 2 and 3 before the start of 2019, they donated money for the roofing of the first block. We are glad to say and see that three classrooms are now roofed. Now the next level of nursery 2 can start in 2019.
You can find some pictures of the progress here.
This update is to give you an overview on what has already happened at the Kisarawe School Project and how we plan to continue. For more information on the project, please continue to the project menu.
Many young women in rural Kisarawe do not have even a primary-level education and therefore their job opportunities are extremely limited. Some women are lucky enough to find a job as a household maid, or to hold a small store at the market, but unfortunately others resort to prostitution to earn a living. By providing these young women with the opportunity to take part in our tailoring course, we are offering them the chance to learn a skill that can set them up in a safe and secure job and provide them with a life-long career. This will not just help them to avoid poverty, but also to be able to fend for themselves and even more to become an accepted member of the community.
Would you support our cause and help us purchase sewing machines?
We had two teams from Canada visit the Kisarawe school project. One team mainly spend time interacting with our nursery school kids and teachers and project staff. The second team came to experience how True Grasses community water well is helping and changing lives of the community, as well as looking at agriculture and poultry.
At the beginning of this year, support was given with which the fourth classroom was built. Now in total three classrooms are awaiting to be roofed and for the installation of the windows and doors to happen. It is our goal to roof all three classrooms before the end of this year so that those children that started in the nursery school this year can move up one class and new children can be admitted.
With the nursery school having started to operate in the classroom that has already been finished, it was a necessity for student toilets to be built. The staff toilets are few and further away from the classroom. We hope to finish the toilets fitted with doors, plastered and with septic tank and water connected as the next funds that come in!
The years 2017 and 2018 are years that True Grasses is focused on having Kisarawe School built to start admitting students. And indeed 2017 was a year full of positive achievements as the following milestones were achieved. It is not easy building in rural Tanzania. The lack of roads, electricity, materials as well as transport and limited funds would lead one to think nearly impossible. But it was yet another year to say our appreciation as we saw the school take shape as we achieved a lot and we were grateful for the provisions so far.
Roofing classroom no. 1
True Grasses focused so much to have the first classroom built so as to accommodate the nursery school kids and it has happened. Together with the local builders, the classroom was built in 2016, but roofing, doors and windows were fitted at the beginning of 2017. By the end of this year students were registered and desks and materials were brought in so that community nursery kids can start the year 2018 studying, for the first time enjoying their lessons in a secure and safe classroom. They have been walking long distances to find a school which is now within their village and thus they are filled with joy and happiness.
Let us join hands to make education available Tanzanian girls of the 21st century.
Building of the school classrooms
True Grasses Tanzania Trust (TGTT) will still dedicate 2017 to mainly developing the school project to achieve our long-term goal of offering affordable education to girls in Tanzania. The focus will be building more classrooms as we empower the communities through education.
TGTT official office relocation to School project land
True Grasses Tanzania Trust will officially close down its Moshi office and relocate to Kisarawe project land where we have been able to build the office building to reduce on the operational costs of having two offices to manage. This will give the organisation focus on the school building project.
We have received an awesome amount of support and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for believing in us. The constant change and growth of the school project and the smiling faces that we see on the little girls show us how generous people have been in supporting True Grasses work, a cause that we are extremely passionate about and certainly has kept us going. We also want to say a huge thank you to our dedicated staff in Tanzania. We started the year 2016 with a very solid focus on the school project in Masaki, Kisarawe as we continue investing in education that will have a multiplicative positive effect that will influence future generations in the area.
Community water well
Sungwi and Masaki villages in Kisarawe where the school project is located has never-ending water problems and villagers together with their animals have and are always on the constant search of fresh water for their use and animals. True Grasses Tanzania Trust (TGTT) started drilling a water well on the school project land since in 2015 and this year 2016 we finished the well that is now serving the six villages of Kisanga, Mtembetini, Mkololo, Sungwi, Masaki and Mji Mpya with fresh clean drinking water. The well has reduced the time, distances and finances that women and young girls walk to find fresh water for their own use.
True Grasses has been working in the Sungwi villages in Kisarawe since 2013 and has travelled for hours with women and girls in search for water. As people have died due to the lack of basic sanitation, the necessity for clean water became very evident. We have been talking to villagers that had received access to a water well and heard them testify that cholera and other water borne diseases were completely eliminated from their villages after being able to fetch water from a well.
The water problem compelled True Grasses to want to immerse ourselves in making a difference by starting the water well project in late 2015. We did this during the height of the dry season so that we could find a relieable water source for the whole year. Though we were cautious, our first attempt to dig a well did not provide enough water and so we decided to make the well deeper. This was done during the second half of the past year. The well is now serving the six villages of Kisanga, Mtembetini, Mkololo, Sungwi, Masaki and Mji Mpya with fresh clean drinking water. It was a remarkable experience and quite a party when water well started producing water. Villagers were celebrating along the path with music as we drove by. Kids were running and screaming, “maji maji” (the Swahili word for water) and the “thank yous” lasted for days.
We have updated our donor projects, setting the focus on the school project. Are you willing to support our cause?
Student Desk & Chair - € 40
Give a student a place to sit and learn and plan her future as a doctor, lawyer, teacher, professional athlete or cook. Wherever they are in the world, our future leaders need to be sitting on school desks today. Make a difference in the life of a girl child today!
For the last two years, all building activities have been difficult. Buying quality affordable bricks has been expensive and transporting them to the project site has been a challenge. This puts a drain on funds and therefore we have been looking for a way to cut back on a large fraction of construction costs. The only way was buying a brick making machine and producing our own bricks instead of buying them from a supplier. We are finally happy to have acquired our own brick making machine that we tested and we were able to produce 1600 bricks in one week using our new machine. We are now able to ensure good quality of the produced bricks in place. This makes life a whole lot easier for us in regards to building Kisarawe School.
Generally Soroti town in Uganda accommodates mostly internally displaced refugees who had run away from the Lord’s Army in northern Uganda and those who had been displaced by the Karimonja cattle rustlers in the 1980’s and 1990’s. With the high unemployment rate and overwhelming poverty among the local residents, a skills training program to the local youths in carpentry skills with a local carpentry trainer was started in 2014. True Grasses has been involved in this workshop since the beginning and has been overseeing the work done. Since early this year (feb 2016), the centre now runs completely under the NGO; it is now called Soroti Youth Skills Centre. The centre equips youths with woodwork skills, business and enterprenuer skills for one year and after graduation they can start their own wood workshops or be employed in the local community as carpenters.
A brief update on what has been going on during these past couple of months at the Kisarawe School Project:
School project architect / surveyor:
The school project land surveying was put on hold as per the advise from the district land board because of the elections. Now that they are over and everything is back to normal, the survey process is going on though at a slow pace. We are now waiting for the last blue print for all the building drawings to come in, once they have been approved by the district building authorities.
Planting of trees:
We have been waiting on the rainy season, to start the planting of the trees. We are happy that, together with a team of village youths from the community, the True Grasses team were able to plant shade and fruit trees following the school site plan. This tree planting exercise will go in phases until the whole school project land is finished. We are using this tree planting exercise to raise awareness to the community about dangers of cutting down trees and our plan is to help give the villages surrounding the school project fruit tree once funds come.
Pearl Kindergarten opened for 2016 on January 5th with 18 kids; this with the changes in the government policy of not having any kids above four years at a nursery school as 5 year olds are to join government run schools. The kindergarten closed for the first term holidays for three weeks and opened again for the second term in April. With the government crackdown on poorly run schools, we are happy that Pearly Kindergarten was given a green light to operate and the kindergarten is facing the issue limited space to accommodate the big numbers of kids as we currently have only two classrooms and one trained teacher.
After one full year of serving the mothers and children of Moshi, we are thankful that the local government has supported our goal of educating the community and that parents trust us with their children. The ongoing challenge we have is the limited teaching space and the need to have the playground swings and slides for the kids. Will you support our work in prayer or with your donation?
True Grasses micro credit program called PiF (pay it forward) started operating in Tanzania in 2014 in Kilimanjaro region, benefiting two families that received interest free in kind loans of pigs to help them come out of poverty, support their families and become self-sufficient.
These two families have each been able to pay forward to other families as the pigs have been able to multiply. The impact seen in these families is that they are able to support their families through meeting the education needs of their children and some have improved their living conditions of their homes through acquisition of better houses piggery farming.
Can you imagine collecting water from the source in this picture? Not just for feeding your animals, watering the garden or doing the house chores, but also for cooking and drinking? Some of the villagers in Kisarawe do!
Everybody understands that the lack of access to a clean water source not only hinders development, but also causes sickness and famine. Water is a key factor for food security expecially in times of increasing droughts and climate insecurities. Therefore providing clean drinking water is fundamental to empowering the local communities. With the help of our supporters, True Grasses was able to construct a hand dug well at the site of the Kisarawe School Project. With this well we are able to meet the needs of the construction work (reducing costs) and to provide clean water to some of the villagers that surround the area. However, the pressure put on this hand dug well is high and consequently access to a larger water source will be needed. The hand dug well has proven that at a depth of 18 meters there is a reliable source of fresh water that can provide for the community. Drilling a well at this site will give the school and the villagers an ongoing flow of water for years to come. Will you help us with this cause?
We have been sharing the need of water in Kisarawe villages where girls & women walk distances in search of water for their homes and animals. The available water sources are always competed for, by people, animals, crops and also during construction. For example during the construction of the store / office on the Kisarawe school project area, we had to join the line with the local villagers & animals to get water. It was not only time wasting due to the distance but it was costly as we had to buy every 20 liter container at 500 Tsh, yet with the need of a couple of hundreds of liters that we needed each day.
Because of the acute need of water, True Grasses decided to use the local method to hand dig a well, which is not only difficult but also dangerous to the men that dug the well by hand.
Andrea Laurita, an American journalist, who now focuses on film and photography, visited True Grasses Tanzania Office and spent one week with us. While visiting, she volunteered her skills, and did some filming and photographing the work of True Grasses.
Her focus was to look at the day to day hardships African village families, especially girls and women go through, looking for water. The film will be used to create awareness and help raise funds to dig a well for the villages of Kisarawe. You can see her work on her FB page. Once the video is available we will share it online on the True Grasses website and invite you to join us to see the lives of girls changed and communities empowered through education.
There was again activity on the site of True Grasses' Kisarawe School Project area. Finally the store and office building is ready for use. The roofing was done together with the laying of the floor and windows & doors installations, all done within three days. On the fourth day we spent our first night in the house.
As the roof was on and the doors and windows fitted , there was a big sigh for True Grasses, as now our construction equipment is safely kept in the store.
We were able to identify a hard working, former homeless man who now stays and keeps the house. He was recommended by the village leadership as being a trusted older man, who will keep the house tidy and lively, with farming and rearing chickens on the project land as a way of his rehabilitation process.
We arrived in Sungwi – Kisarawe early in the morning with a team of six masons (builders). The place was overgrown with tall Elephant grass. We divided ourselves in four groups, where one group was to outsource building materials, another group to clear the sight and have it ready for construction. The third group was to collect water and firewood and the fourth group was assigned the job of making a temporary shelter and to start cooking the food. By evening all groups had finished their duties, except the ones assigned to bring water and building materials, this was due to the unavailability of both water, sand and bricks in the neighborhood.
For materials we had to go as far as Masaki town or even Dar es Salaam city which is around 50 kms away. We worked hard each day and had a great time, having fun while getting the job done. Every evening, the builders joined the village youths to play football since it was the only activity that they could get involved in.
We had another great week in Kisarawe with Sungwi community youths full of activities. It was the week that we got to know the youths and bond together as we involved ourselves in moving around the villages, visiting their homes and clearing more ground for the sports field on True Grasses land. It was such a great time to see big numbers of young and old come to help clear land for the sports.
We had our first game which involved the group that was building and the youth in the community and it was a great time for building friendships and learning from each other. As more youths are now showing interest and turning up in big numbers for the football games, the need for more balls is now evident.
Are you interested in pictures? You can have a look at them here.
We are now in our 5th month since we opened doors to receive children into the nursery. We are witnessing the numbers grow steadily. We currently have 4 staff, 1 paid teacher, and 1 helping with the cooking of the porridge, a gardener / guard and volunteer classroom teacher.
Due to an increase in children numbers and challenges getting good qualified teachers, True Grasses has found a sponsor to help send one of the volunteer teachers to study a one year early childhood teachers course. She joined in July and she will finish in June 2016 when she will return to the nursery school as one of the main teachers. In the mean time she came back to help out for one week while she was having holidays from her studies. We closed the school for 2 weeks in the month of August for a short holiday.
The scarcity of water in the villages of Sungwi in Kisarawe district is alarming. There are some hand dug water wells but all have salty water. Despite these wells having salty water, the people have no option but to use this water sources for all their water needs. The water sources are unhygienic, contaminated and over stretched since they serve people, animals, construction and vegetable watering.
To get fresh water, trucks travel all the way from Dar es Saalam City (42 kms away) to bring water to Sungwi villages. Each 20 liter of fresh water bucket goes for 500 Tsh, which is over and above the normal price of 50 Tsh, within Dar Es Salaam area. During the last construction, we used 100 buckets of water every day for 7 days, buying each bucket at 500 Tsh.
For building projects in poor communities in the developing world, quality affordable bricks are essential. In rural Kisarawe communities, we have difficult access by transportation and the costs of transporting large amounts of bricks are very high. This puts a drain on funds and therefore a way to cut back on a large fraction of construction costs is by buying a brick making machine and producing our own bricks instead of buying them from a supplier. With proper means to ensure good quality of the produced bricks in place, this makes life a whole lot easier for us in regards to building the Pwani Hope School.
The maize was planted on the school compound earlier this year and underwent some weeding during the month of April. Due to there being a lot of heavy rains with limited sunshine, the maize grew slowly, but now Kisarawe is seeing a relief of the weather and so with the increase of sunshine, we hope that the maize will be harvested in the coming months. Cassave was planted (underground yam type) which is doing very well and we expect a good harvest. The farm has continued to create employment to some community members as they come to plant and weed.
Since the harvest is now nearing, we are raising funds to build a store within the school land that will store the maize and cassava for future usage and sale.
The government of Tanzania has never put aside land for recreation activities in Sungwi villages (Kisarawe) and so most of the youth after school/work have nothing to get engaged in and so end up hanging by the roadside or get involved into activities that are dangerous totheir health such as smoking, drugs, gambling. With the land that True Grasses has secured for the construction of the school, we have set aside land for the community recreation activities where True Grasses will donate a football and football jerseys for the games. We are grateful to the family ‘Zandinga’, who donated the sportswear. The youth in the community have agreed to prepare the land and set up the field for the activities. This recreation piece of land will serve both the school for their sports activities as well as the community. As this was announced cheers went up and wondering who this was that would give land where the government has failed to do so. We are now raising funds to improve on the field, such as football poles, but also a set of swings for the younger ones in the community.
In countless Kisarawe villages, there is little or no access to clean drinking water. Often getting to the nearest water source requires the villagers to walk several miles, followed by a return trip. Most villagers carry heavy buckets or plastic drums filled with water on their heads. Even then, that water may not be clean – it may come from lakes, ponds or rivers that are shared with animals or from hand dug wells that might be located near village latrines. Such water is often contaminated and can cause sickness and many villagers are dying as a result.
With water being one of the absolute necessities of life. Join True Grasses as they commit to helping bring clean water to needy villages in Kisarawe.
Last year, the Noabershop in Assen opened as the first of its kind in the Netherlands. This small but unique shop is part of a non-profit organization and is run by volunteers. Products offered are hand-crafted and made with passion by locals. The word 'Noaber' can be translated into 'neighbor' and represents the motto: We help each other. Visitors can come for a cup of coffee, to exchange books free of charge or just for a chat. On Fridays and Saturdays deliciaous Malaysian food and once a month breakfast are provided.
Supporters of True Grasses have rented a table where they offer homemade cards and a selection of gifts. Additionally you can purchase bags and jewelry from East Africa. This is one of the ways to collect money to sponsor the work of True Grasses and we are very gracious for this valuable support. Maybe this can be inspiration for you to consider how you could support the work of True Grasses in your own city.
This project is part of the Pwani Hope School project:
The aim of the project is to raise income for the school in order to ensure sustainability of school operations but also imparting knowledge and awareness to the villagers of proper rearing of pigs as a project of supporting their livelihood. The school will also use pig manure for generation of bio gas which will reduce school cocking costs and cut down carbon emissions and also providing natural manure for the crops of the school farm.
The amount needed for buying one piglet (including injections) is € 50.
Through the partnership with True Grasses, OM Switzerland has been supporting the Soroti Carpentry Skilling Project in Uganda. We are grateful that they have supported the project with finances that was used to purchase carpentry tools to ease work at the workshop. Thanks to Ernst and his team, with their continued trust and heart to this project, the project now trains a couple of youth on hands-on skills and employs five people permanently.
With the school project being in progress, True Grasses has been incurring a lot of costs in hiring transport and using local taxis for its work in Kisarawe villages and Dar es Salaam city. Now with the purchase of a motorcycle (piki piki), transport costs will be reduced by 50% for school construction supervision. Thanks again to our committed donor from the Netherlands who gave towards the project.
Community Builders Canada and Anhart Foundation Canada, through the Pay-it-Forward program gave True Grasses various micro credit grants to help the people in Kilimanjaro Region. Eric and Ernst were selected by the local church and both received two piglets each. Amba received a grant to enhance her poultry business. With this they will start a journey to self sufficiency as they create jobs for themselves and increase their household incomes. All will be monitored with the help of MCF church in Moshi.
Since 2014 True Grasses has been operating at a home office. As it is an NGO requirement to have an outside office, True Grasses has acquired two rooms that will function as the True Grasses office on the MCF church compound. The rooms needed renovations before being able to enter and this was made possible through the gifts that True Grasses Foundation in the Netherlands, CBG and Anhart Foundation gave to True Grasses. The offices are located on Shirimatunda - Arusha Road in Moshi Town. Now all country activities will be carried from out here.
Last week True Grasses witnessed the site of the school being expanded with the purchase of more land where the proposed school will be build. Thanks to our donor that made this a reality. We were able to purchase 5 more acres of land that gives True Grasses enough land to carry out its activities as it empowers communities in Kisarawe villages.
Maize growing
The picture on the right shows a local villager clearing part of the school land before it is ready for maize planting this march. With the growing of maize, True Grasses gives locals employment on the farm and this activity has been realized from our donors in the Netherlands. Also with the growing of maize we already start the sustainability of the school, by providing feeds for the near future piggery project in Kisarawe and providing income for the project itself.
I c
ame to Tanzania when I was seven years old, grew up right here on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro and was raised in this beautiful country as a Missionary Kid. For 10 years I called Tanzania my home as it was physically my address and for many years after that I called Tanzania my home, as this was where my heart was. When I moved back to The Netherlands to pursue my university education and later work, I travelled several times back to various African countries visiting and volunteering. These journeys continued to pull me back to Africa.
I served on international Christian ships for 4 ½ years and I always asked myself the question, where is it that God wants me to serve and live. I knew it was somewhere in the developing world and eventually came to the conclusion that my heart was in Africa and that it was there where I wanted to plant my roots. I asked God one question, why is it that I want to go back to East Africa, is it because I had such a good childhood and I want to go back to that. Or did I grow up in Tanzania, so that one day I could go back there? I finally came to the conclusion, that I was not chasing my childhood, but that East Africa was my future and God had been preparing me for that.
Sponsor a Student
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If you would like to sponsor a girl for a month or help pay a teacher's salary, you can use this QR code. If you would like more information on this or support one / more years, please contact us. € 35/month |
