Check out what our madventurers in villages around Kilimanjaro in Tanzania managed to achieve during the first 10 years at Madventurer....

Kisambo Classroom, January 2005

Education: giving children of all ages and abilities a better environment in which to learn.

Mount Kilimanjaro lies just three degrees south of the equator and is one of the highest volcanoes in the world. Mad Foundation has been working with an organisation called Village Education Project in the foothills of Kilimanjaro to improve the education of children in rural areas.

Kisambo is a small village, near Marangu in the foothills of Kilimanjaro, its school Mseroe Primary School has many problems due to poverty and a lack of funding from government. The village chairman, Mr Kimaro, and the school headmaster, Mr Mtemba, approached us and asked for help in improving the classroom conditions at Mseroe Primary School. Having visited the school with Village Education Project and assessed the work and costs for this desperately needed renovation project we agreed to work with the village as soon as the necessary funds could be found.

Mseroe Primary School educates children of all ages and abilities, whilst the school has six basic classrooms, one of the rooms was impoverished and in such a state of disrepair it was unusable. This limitation on rooms was forcing children of mixed abilities into the same learning environment compromising teaching standards and forcing too many pupils into cramped classroom conditions.

Based on costs quoted locally for materials and some skilled labour from local fundi (craftsmen) the full project cost for renovating the unusable classroom was estimated at £1250. The villagers were very keen that this project should go ahead and did all they could to assure us that plenty of labour and support would be available.

Raising the funds for this project took several months and was boosted by donations from local businesses and by individuals who knew of the Mad Foundation through Madventurer. Madventurer also made an additional contribution when the last of the funds were becoming very difficult to raise

A team of nine madventurers and a crew leader from Madventurer, Steve Lord, joined a team of volunteers from Kisambo at the beginning of January 2005. A new stone floor was laid, gables built, walls plastered and windows and doors added to the classroom, all the volunteers worked very hard together mixing concrete, plastering and laying stone slabs. The fundi were very helpful teaching the volunteers anything that they needed to know and the villagers were eager to help all they could. A new roof was built and finally the renovated classroom was given a coat of paint. A small amount of materials were left over which the school gratefully kept to ensure they could effect any necessary repairs in the future.

The renovation work took a little over four weeks to complete, at the end of which there was a wonderful closing ceremony and party organised by Mr Mtemba, Mr Kimaro and the villagers. The villagers presented the UK volunteers with certificates for their efforts and the children expressed their delight at their new classroom.

Maande Terrace, January 2005

Education: Giving young children in rural Tanzania proper space to learn and grow

On the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, in northern Tanzania, Mad Foundation has been working with a local charity, Village Education Project and volunteers from Madventurer to improve primary school facilities for the children of a local village.

Maande is situated in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, surrounded by mountain forests and lush vegetation. Having spent time with the villagers, Mad Foundation recognised the desperate need to expand and renovate the primary school of Maande. The villagers expressed that they believed priority should be given to a covered terrace which was desperately needed to protect both the children and the building from the elements, particularly during rainy season.

This terrace would provide much needed additional space for the school’s 633 pupils who were trying to learn in cramped conditions. The construction work would also mean that the threat to the building’s foundations and the possibility of the school being ‘washed’ down the mountain would be removed.

The estimated cost of completing this project was £1700; this sum needed to be raised to pay for all the materials required. Labour was to be provided free of charge by the villagers and Madventurer volunteers; more skilled labour would be provided by local Fundi (craftsmen).

The Mad Foundation raised the monies for the project materials through various fundraising activities including donations from the Madventurer volunteers who worked on the project.

Work started on the project early in January 2005 with a team of 12 Madventurer volunteers led by Madventurer crew, Marcus Liebenberg and the local villagers. Having sourced the needed materials from local suppliers the arduous task of digging the foundations commenced, enthusiasm and commitment from all ensured rapid progress was made. The local children did their bit, helping to carry water from lower down the mountain to the site and to the volunteers!

Thanks to strong planning and the efforts of all involved the project was completed in just over four weeks and the Madventurer volunteers had a couple of days left at the end of their stay and they sourced and bought some paint and created a fantastic mural to celebrate and commemorate the joint work effort and the new friendships that had been made.

In typical Tanzanian tradition the school children, teachers and villagers warmly thanked Mad Foundation and the Madventurer volunteers for our efforts at a wonderful closing ceremony. All the volunteers were presented with carved wooden bowls to commemorate all that that had been achieved together. The mood in the village was very positive and we were assured of a warm welcome whenever we were able to return.

Tanzania: The building of a covered terrace at a primary school, Marimeri, Marangu Mtoni

Marimeri is situated in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro and is lush and tropical due to its relatively cool climate and the rainy seasons it experiences. These rainy seasons, whilst helping to provide a basic agricultural income to the local Chagga Tribe, pose serious problems with regard to buildings and health.

The local school has been operating in cramped conditions, seasonal rains making the stairs and pathways dangerous and force the children indoors throughout the school session, this is dangerous in terms of health and welfare and not conducive to a balanced learning environment and educational attainment. Damage caused by rains to the building, has been eroding its foundations and creating difficult maintenance costs for the community. It was possible that the lack of funds for maintenance or a particularly heavy period of rainfall could have resulted in the school being washed away down the mountainside with devastating effects.

The community were unable to raise funds for a covered terrace for the school, as what little funds could be gathered were going into maintaining the current building. A local NGO, Village Education Project have been unable to provide any further funds for this project but are able to fund a fundi (craftsman) to help with the project.

Like many rural areas in Tanzania there is very little government support, teachers are only supplied by the government when a community is able to build and maintain a school for themselves. As the majority of the population in Tanzania live below the World Bank Poverty Line it can be an insurmountable challenge to communities to provide their children with even the most basic classroom facility.

Having successfully raised the necessary funds in the latter part of 2005 we have completed the building of a verandah with Village Education Project. Volunteers both local and from the UK provided labour and all building materials were sourced locally.

The construction of this covered terrace greatly benefits to the community: The school will not be subject to such extreme climatic damage but the children will have a safer, more spacious and comfortable school environment in which to learn and build better futures for themselves, their families and community.