Ndirima-Litembo School Opens — January 2023
Father Hugo reports that the Ndirima-Litembo school is open. About 60 children are attending this brand new school. It’s exciting, exhausting, and such a blessing. Father Hugo reports that now they need additional teachers. Clearly, the school is filling a need.
Oh, and by the way, Father Hugo wants to start another Montessori school in a near-by village. Look at what our small grant has done in this remote region of Tanzania.
Update on Ndirima-Litembo - September 2023
This community has struggled during the past year. Father Hugo was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo treatment that took him away from the community. Happily, we can report that he is in remission and has returned to the village.
Tanzania requires all communities to provide housing for their teachers. There are no exceptions. Ndirima-Litembo had secured housing for their Montessori teacher at the start of the Montessori project. However, recently the provider of that housing cancelled the agreement.
While a serious setback, the community rallied as they have before and they are building a home for their Montessori teacher. Having made the bricks for their Montessori primary school, they have made the bricks for the teacher’s home. They are now fund-raising to cover the costs of that home.
A community comes together
The families of Ndirima-Litembo, a rural farming community in far western Tanzania, came together after receiving playground equipment from an American non-profit. They wanted a school for their pre-school aged children. These farming families don’t have much cash, so building a pre-school was an almost Herculean task. But they pulled together and made a plan.
They wanted the pre-school to be located close to their elementary school, so that parents could walk their children to either or both schools easily. The community found the perfect site, conveniently situated close to the elementary school.
But the site didn’t have a building on it, much less a school building. Again, the resources of the farmers are scarce. But again, pulling the residents together, they found a brick-mason who helped them make all the bricks needed for a building and they constructed their school.
Now they needed classroom materials and a teacher. Their local Catholic priest, Father Hugo, who had been guiding them during their school building journey, had previously visited a Montessori school many hours travel time away. He was taken with the enthusiasm, joyousness, and eagerness to learn among the children at that Montessori school. He knew the children of Ndirima-Litembo would thrive using Montessori pedagogy.
Here’s where they reached out to us. Could we fund acquiring Montessori materials and train a local candidate to be a Montessori teacher? Our answer was a resounding YES. Having the entire community behind this project and seeing the work that they had put into creating the school made the decision an easy one.
Their chosen resident to train as the Montessori teacher went to Mtwara, Tanzania to attend the Montessori training center there. She’s made her Montessori primary classroom materials while doing her studies.
While she’s been away, the community added an office and a kitchen to the school building. They’ve applied for a grant to construct a children’s bathroom facility. They are so committed to the success of this endeavor.
We can all applaud their efforts. Our donors moved this dream to reality.
