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The last 3 months have been busy with fees being paid and courses organised – many thanks to Barry and Ruth in Mwanza for all their hard work. The majority of our children are sponsored through Lake Secondary School, which finished 29th out of 458 schools in the national Form II exams. The children are in good hands!
Maths continues to be a problem within the Tanzanian education system as attested by numerous teachers and Headmasters in Mwanza. Barry has taken on the challenge of providing extra maths tuition for the BTP’s Form II children to bolster their efforts. Edward Mikadadi (pictured right) struggled with his academic course at Sunrise School last year and has now embarked on a six month VETA mechanics course (3pm – 6pm) while gaining work experience during the day at Masumins Garage in Mwanza - many thanks to Mehboob Rajabali and his staff for all their help. Yakobo proved a great success at the garage so Edward has big shoes to fill!
Donald once again proves newsworthy. The Headmaster of Lake highlighted Donald’s work ethic and self-discipline in a speech as he appointed him school prefect and General Secretary of the Student Body. His Division II result in the Form V exams earned him a reduction in his tuition fees – an added bonus and an excellent role model!
Following the great success of Mrs Offord’s tutor group at St Albans School in raising funds to support Mazera Justine through his Form III studies, Mrs Baxter’s 2-2 tutees have now accepted the challenge of sponsoring Mazera through Form IV – thank you to Mr Swanson for his support.
The UK based charity Ethical Giving, impressed with the work of the BTP, is sponsoring Julius Mchuni through his Form II course at Lake Secondary. Year 7 students at Plymouth College (pictured right) have now reached their fundraising target to sponsor Steven Mautula through Form III. Cake sales, bracelet sales, sponsored events, raffle auctions and general haranguing of students, teachers and parents have directly led to an under-privileged child attending school.
"My name is Steven Mautula and I am 16 years old. I was born in Musoma, north of Mwanza. I lived on the streets for 2 months before ending up in hospital. From there, the local church took me in and I was able to attend school for the first time when I was 10. My school fees were paid initially by a donor, but then that stopped and I wasn’t able to go to school anymore. Then, the Headmaster at Lake School paid my fees but he is no longer able to continue so without the support of The Banana Tree Project I would not be able to be at secondary school.
In my national Form II exams I finished 17th out of 101 students at Lake Secondary. My best subjects were Kiswahili (80%), Civics (77%) and Geography (75%). However, I had not been able to attend classes in the run up to the exams because I had not paid my fees, so I hope to do better with the help of the BTP. I love football and I work hard."
I am very grateful to everyone who has donated to the BTP in 2012 and who remain interested in the children’s progress. In particular, many thanks to Kathryn and Cameron in Australia for their tremendous support. Thank you also to Barry and Ruth in Mwanza who have ensured that tuition fees have been paid, receipts retained and reports reviewed. The BTP is actively supported in four continents to the benefit of the children – thank you.
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