Giving back is important to us.
Likamba Primary School
Ndifo Foundation’s first project has been the support of the Likamba Primary School near Arusha Town.
Many people in this area are poorly-educated Maasai, and this is the poorly-funded public school for their children. Many middle-class parents in Tanzania will list a major household expense as school fees for fear of the nightmare of having to send their children to one of these public schools. This is where the poorest of the poor children go. And during rainy season when the roads wash out, many parents in the toughest areas don’t bother sending their children to school at all.
This is the school for those who cannot afford school fees, new uniforms, books, pencils and sadly many times FOOD as we recently found out. We learned on our last visit that kids here have been fainting because their parents can’t afford to feed them properly and they are not getting consistent meals at school. We began with infrastructure upgrades but have added regular food acquisition to the top of our to-do list for the school. We believe that if we provide consistent meals for these children that their parents will make sure they get to school each day for what could be their best chance at good nutrition. Then the desperately needed education can happen and the cycle broken.
Here 5 children sit at a desk designed for 2 in classrooms with busted floors and ceilings that leak no matter how many times the roof is patched. Glass in windows is broken, and there seem to be sharp edges everywhere. Everything is gray and dusty. We discovered what the school’s kitchen looks like. When it rains, whatever food they’ve managed to accumulate cannot be cooked – a heavy rain knocks out the fire. The children don’t eat. With this environment and lack of nutrition, how are any of them supposed to learn?
We started with a model classroom with our initial fundraise. The floors and ceiling were completely redone and the walls painted a soothing blue. New desks given the children the space and dignity they deserve. This is what all the 11 classrooms room will look like when this project is finished. We plan to build an enclosed kitchen equipped with safe, sustainable cookware, and it would be a dream to buy some laying hens for regular eggs and plant gardens. We’re going to get the kids supplies, textbooks and uniforms as well. Solar panels could provide electricity and a zoom connection a window to a world of technological education.
When this school is completed, we plan to move to the next school trapped in extreme poverty. We hope to draw attention to the plight of these children nationwide and provoke a commitment to fixing all these schools within Tanzania.
Our Second Project
We’ve been able to fund a fresh water source for a rural community just outside Arusha, Tanzania. Before, the local women walked miles with water buckets on their heads to get their household water each day or did without. We set out to bring the water to them.
