Komensky report- 2009 and forecast-2010

Introduction

Dear Friends and all supporters of Komensky Project in Tanzania. Below is a report from our

Project in Tanzania. There are letters from the kids, plus my comments in italic. Also I did left

their addresses there so that to encourage you to be in touch with the kids. I know it is time-

consuming to write letters, and if you are like me, I don’t like to write letters at all. But it would

be great to send even few lines or even a post card, they would be so happy. You do not have to

write to all kids at ones, but you can choose one or two.

LETTERS

ANGELA

ADDRESS: ANGELA B. TEMBA

C/O MICHAEL TEMBA

P.O.BOX 836

MOSHI, TANZANIA

Dear Komensky, I do hope that you are all well. Back here we are fine and I am continuing well

with my studies.

The main aim of this letter it to give you a brief summary of my school’s life.

I hope that you are aware that I moved Schools from Mnini Secondary School to Majengo

Secondary School. I moved from Mnini because there was lack of teachers, books etc.

On the other hand, Majengo, I can say is a very nice School, it is the opposite of Mnini, so I am

satisfied here.

I just want to inform you that in Majengo, the school fees is much higher. This means that the

money you sent me last year it was not enough. I still owe the school 240,000/= (this is for this

year, 2009). Next year the school fees is 650,000/=.

Please, I am asking you to keep on helping me, because this year I had problems doing my 2nd

year National exams due to the dept. However, I managed to convince the teachers that the dept

will be paid, therefore I did the exams ok.

In this School there is exams results’ average of 45%. Any student who will not reach that

average he/she must repeat the year or is suspended from the school. So, I have to really study

hard.

At the moment I am on my school holidays and I am also waiting for the results from the

national exams I did last month.

I am wishing you a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

It’s me Angel

P: S To be honest, Angela’s situation is confusing me!! Last year when we agreed that Angela

should move school to a better one, it was agreed that the company (KIWAKUKI) which was

supporting her will continue to provide the 150,000/= that they promised to pay each year. Her

two brothers also agreed that they would pay the rest 100,000/=, so that Komensky would not

have to pay much more on her yearly budget. So, as it turned out, neither KIWAKUKI, nor the

brothers paid as they promised, which left Angela with a dept of 240,000/=. KIWAKUKI

promised that they will pay next year…but can we trust them?????

CHRISTINA

ADDRESS: KIJIJI CHA MSITU WA TEMBO

P.O.BOX 24

LANGASANI

(Incase of replying, I recommend you to use the following address)

CHRISTINA MICHAEL

C/OANGELA TARIMO

P.O.BOX 85

LANGASANI

My Komensky,

I have a great joy to greet you, because I have been thinking of you very much.

I am writing to greet and to thank you again for your great help.

Recently I did my 2nd

year National Exams. As you might know, in Secondary School, there are

two big (National) exams. First, from the second year to join the third year and second is the

final exams after the fourth year, which will decide whether to join A-levels or not. So, I really

do hope that I will pass to join the third year next year.

I would also like to inform you that I found another School, which I have moved to. The

previous School was not good. There were no enough materials to help a student to do well in

her studies.

I am missing you a lot; I would love if you could be able to come to Tanzania to visit us.

I am wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year. May God help you to end up this year

safely.

Well, I don’t have more to tell you than thanking you for your help towards my education. I will

only pray for you so that you are blessed more and more.

It’s me your child,

Christina Michael

P: S Unfortunately Christina didn’t write any information about the expenses for next year. I

will therefore, assume according to the amount we sent last year. Angela (my sister) wrote that;

Christina was suspended from the previous school due to bad character/behavior! Although she

insisted that we should keep on supporting her. Frankly speaking, I don’t know how she is doing

academically. We just have to trust that she will use this opportunity wisely.

MICHAEL

ADDRESS: MICHAEL J. TEMBA

P.O.BOX 8467

MOSHI, TANZANIA

Dear Komensky,

I am sending lots of greeting to you wherever you are. I do hope that you are doing fine. I am

well under God’s blessings.

The main reason why I am writing this letter is to know how you are doing over there also to

inform you that I have now finished my Secondary School. I would like to express my sincere

thanks for your help in the past four years until I managed to reach this stage. God bless the

works of your hands.

The final exams were moderate, some had very difficult questions and some were fine. This

means that I am not 100% sure that I will pass the exams to join A-levels. But what I am sure of,

I will not miss some credits to join any other A-level School, in this case a private one.

However, there is a problem in Tanzanian education system. The thing is, even if I will pass to

join a government high School, usually the results are published at the end of February, This is

when we (students) get to know our results. In March, they inform us the selected students and

which schools to join. If I will not be selected to join the Government high school, I will need to

wait until May to see if they selected me to join any college and if I was not selected, it means

that I lost my time waiting, while I could have had join a private School. At the same time, if I

would like to join a private school, I will need to go for some interviews and joining exams, by

January. This means that I need to do this process before even knowing my results. This means

that I will need to pay some money for these exams (registration fees) and traveling expenses (I

am not sure if it make any sense, but Vene can explain)

Since I studied in the government school for my secondary school, I know the problems which

are in these schools. So, personally, I would really like to join a private high school, but all it

depends on you because these Schools are very expensive, even four or five times more than the

government schools.

I have researched few private Schools here in Moshi, which are known for their performance

and high standards. I am sure if I will get the opportunity to join either of these Schools, my

chances to join University in two years is higher. These Schools are, St. Margareth, Northern

High School, they are here in Moshi and another one is Forest Hill School in Morogoro. Fees

are 1.1millions/= and 900,000/= respectively. At the moment I don’t know the fees for Forest

hill school.

My dears, I don’t have more to say, again, thank you, thank you and I will always continue to

thank you.

It is me, the one you care for,

Michael

P: S Michael has selected one of the best schools in the area; I can understand him, since he has

been in one of the worse school for his Sec. School, which is why he prefers better schools for

high school. However, I believe that the fees are really high. It would be good if Komensky

would afford this amount for two students (Michael and Kazungu), so that they can go to the

best schools. If not, I will ask them to find cheaper, private schools, not the best in the area but

good ones with reasonable fees.

INFORMATION ABOUT PRISCA

C/OANGELA TARIMO

P.O.BOX 85

LANGASANI

As you know Prisca is very young so she can not write letters, and also she is learning

Kiswahili, because she speaks only very basic as Maasai traditional language is her main.

However, Angela (Vene’s sister) sent us a letter with some information.

After Prisca’s grand mother learnt that Prisca will be supported by Komensky, she took Prisca

and left her in Angela’s house. This means that Angela has to pay for all her needs, food,

shelter, medicine, clothes, school etc. So, simply, Angela’s family was added by one child that

she needs to take care of. Apart from the fast that Angela, her husband and their two children are

living in two rooms, both do not have stable employment. To add another third kid is more of a

burden! Even though we were sending some money to support Prisca’s education (kindergarten)

the money is not enough for the extra expenses.

Angela tried to talk to the grand mother, that Prisca could stay with her (other) relatives, but

due to lack of education and common sense, the grand mother refused! Because she knows that

Angela is her church pastor and because there is help from Europe, she thinks that the help will

stop as long as Prisca is not living with Angela.

(I think we will need to discuss this case in more details)

SARA

SARA JIMU

C/OANGELA TARIMO

P.O.BOX 85

LANGASANI

Unfortunately we did not receive a letter from Sara this time. However, Angela wrote that she is

doing better in the School, didn’t move schools. She is sending her greetings and apologizing

that she didn’t manage to write a letter because when she came back home from school, she

immediately travel to Arusha to visit her sister. Hence, she didn’t have time to write. (Again no

information about School fees)

KAZUNGU

LYDIA FRENKY

C/O MICHAEL TEMBA

P.O.BOX 836

MOSHI, TANZANIA

Kazungu wrote a letter and send it by post, the same as Michael…but unfortunately we haven’t

received it yet!! I hope that it will arrive soon. I did though spoke to my mum and asked her if

she could inform Kazungu to write it again because we will need some information on her

school expenses, etc. Just in short, Kazungu is in the same state like Michael, so I suppose that

the expenses will also be similar.

EMMA

e-mail:emmar@yahoo.com

Well, as I wrote on the previous report, “Emma is a finished project” So, Emma finished his

high School, unfortunately he didn’t get the government sponsorship to join a government

Universities. As I see it, this is due to two main reasons; first, Emma didn’t get excellent results-

meaning A’s in every subject, so that the government would want to invest on him by providing

100% scholarship, although he got satisfactory results. Second, The government is cutting off

the costs…now the system changed, meaning that the government is more willing to sponsor the

students who will share the costs (50-50) and since Emma didn’t apply for this kind of

sponsorship (only 100%) there was no chance!!

So, under the stress and sad feelings, after Emma, realized that if he doesn’t go to University his

“dreamt future” has come to an end! Therefore, Emma found some expensive loan from a local

company and luckily one private University accepted him to do a Degree in education…to be a

secondary teacher. After I heard this news, it was just impossible for me to trust this

loan…something was not right for me. To cut the long story short, I managed to find some

sponsors through my friends in England, so now Emma is in the University, three years

program. I sincerely do hope that he will understand that…This is not normal and he will work

REALY hard

Really great THANK YOU to Komensky benefactors, of which if it was not for your help,

Emma, wouldn’t be where he is. I hope after his graduation, he will be a good teacher who will

motivate and teach many young Tanzanians, to really work hard as

Education will open a window to a brighter future away from the poverty

PENDO

ANTONIA TEMBA

KIFUNGILO GIRLS SCHOOL

P.O.BOX 37

LUSHOTO

Although Komensky is not fully supporting Pendo, but I always like to give you her updates

because Komensky has been just great in supporting, sending some remained money, eg.

transport to and from the School, expenses, etc.

So, Pendo is going to start her second year of high School in Kifungilo. At the end of the year

she will be sitting for her final exams. I do hope from Emma’s lesson, we can advice Pendo to

apply better for Universities.

Academically, she is doing good, I hope that this will stay and there will be no surprises at the

end!

ESTIMATED EXPENSES FOR NEXT YEAR:

Angela

Fees next year 650,000/=

Christina

Fees 400,000/=

Sara

Fees 400,000/=

Michael ????

Kazungu ????

Pendo 0

Prisca 0

GRAND TOTAL 1,450,000/=

APPROXIMATELY IN CZK IS 25,000 (hopefully including the transfer fee)

PS: I put Michael and Kazu on brackets, because it will depends on their results, if they will

pass to join government school, we will try to support them, as it seems we can not afford to pay

for a better Private school as they are really expensive. This means that if one passes, then we

will support him or her, if both then we will support both and if they will both not being selected

to join a gov. school, then this will be the end of our support (they will not be able to join A-

levels). On the other hand, it means that if they will both being selected to join a gov. school, we

will have to support them further for the two A-level years, although (I hope) the expenses to

government school will be cheaper (appr. 1.2mill for both-20,000kzc, that we will need to send

at least half of it by March.