Tanzania Visiwani Bookfeeding
Our Viswani public library is located at the outskirts of Arusha, Tanzania's third largest city. This project was organised and built in cooperation with a group of student volunteers from Taiwan and is currently managed by our local volunteer, Samson.
Visiwani community is home to people from various tribes and communities and it is located in Ilboru suburbs. Just like Arusha, the nearest big city, Viswani is home to the Masai people. Many of them have difficulties with reading and writing. Samson Justo, our local Bookfeeder, works hard to help the local community achieve higher education levels by creating new learning opportunities. With that in mind, he often welcomes volunteers to come help him at the local school and our library.
Primary education is compulsory in Tanzania. Tuition fee at primary schools was cancelled in 2002 and this led to a massive increase in the number of enrolments (the number of students almost doubled, it is around 98% as of 2014 sources). Unfortunately, it was not accompanied by a proportional increase in resources: classrooms are overcrowded, multiple students have to share a single book and very often they don't have their own desks. In addition to this challenge, primary education is lead in Swahili (official language), yet, secondary education is taught all in English. This shift is often very difficult for children who have not yet fully mastered the English language.
In addition, there are still inequalities concerning educational opportunities between men and women, as well as poor and rich communities. With our library we are trying to help bridge these gaps and it seems to be working: every day, at 4pm, our library gets crowded with young students, boys and girls alike, who are eager to read, study or receive help with their English lessons. Volunteers are busy trying to attend to all the students, many of which have found a reading spot outside as there was no more room for them inside. We are hoping that with a new roof we can enlarge the premises of the library and create space for everyone.
People at the Project
Samson Justo
Samson is at the heart of this project. He spends every day teaching, organizing, managing the whole project, library, school and volunteer activities. The kids became his life. He will do what is in his power to make your stay pleasant and exciting.
Current Needs: Textbooks for primary and secondary school, English – Swahili dictionaries, educational materials for teaching English, Math
Established: 2016
Languages: Swahili, English
Accepting volunteers: Yes
Local Partner: Beyond Child Smile
TANZANIA VISIWANI
Samson Justo
Visiwani Community Library
P.O.Box 1688
Arusha, Tanzania