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First Day of High School/Boarding School. Late afternoon. Using a common system of public transport (motorbikes), three new students are brought to New Hope School by one of their former primary school teachers. That their families couldn't afford to bring them is just one of many challenges they have faced in life.

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Rachel consulting with staff

INTRO

The report below comes from ROCK board member Dr. Rachel Hagues, who is presently in Tanzania for five months with her husband and their two young daughters. Rachel is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Samford University, who did her doctoral research in a remote island community in Tanzania. As a result of her dissertation, the vision was born in her to see relief, opportunity, and redemption brought to vulnerable young girls. Over the past decade she has been partnering with the local church and community members to establish a private secondary school for girls. In 2015 ROCK International accepted to be the channel for this project. At last, seven years later, the school’s opening day has arrived! Here now are some out-of-the-box stories from the first two days of that opening day.

OPENING DAY, Monday, 16 January 2023

Friends, 

It’s opening day! We have been praying for this for so long! The week has been busy with making sure everything is in order. Yesterday we put mattresses on beds, cleaned, and purchased and organized bulk foods. The school administrator and headmistress had meetings with support staff (watchmen and cooks). Girls will begin arriving today around lunchtime, will get settled, and this evening we will begin orientation and then have a welcome dinner. Please pray all goes well and that girls will immediately feel welcome! 

Smaller Start

We also want to update you on a few changes in how we plan to structure things the first two years. Because we got a late start with student recruitment (which had to wait until after we hired teachers), we have decided to start with 25 girls instead of 50 this year as well as next year. This feels like a blessing because we can simply focus on starting well. It also means that we won’t have to have all the funds needed to build both the biology and computer lab and another dorm this year (we must be one year ahead on dorms per government regulations) but can just focus on building the labs and finishing the other classroom block that is under construction. This feels much more doable.

Most Vulnerable

Since we are seeking to focus on the most vulnerable girls in the district, recruitment has included making home visits to determine the level of need (full or partial scholarship). I (Rachel) want to tell you about one of the students we visited last week.

One Primary School Grad’s Story

Rehema (not her real name) is 13 years old and just completed primary school. She lives with her mother and her mother’s brother and his wife and their children. Her father died when she was six. Not long after her father died, her mother got very sick and could not care for her and her older siblings, so her uncle took them all into his home and has provided for them since. However, her uncle has faced much loss in his own life. He was orphaned and lost his eyesight by the time he was 15. Despite these challenges, Rehema’s uncle has managed to start a small pharmacy business (though he is not a pharmacist) and employ people to run it. The family lives in a very small home in the back of the pharmacy (three adults, Rehema, and several children), and the income from the pharmacy has been what has supported them all. While Rehema has been able to complete primary school (which is compulsory and free in Tanzania), her family cannot afford to pay for her to go to secondary school, though she was at the top of her class. Rehema and her family were thrilled beyond words when we came to visit her and invited her to join Tumaini Jipya with a full scholarship.

Painful Realities

These are the kinds of stories we are hearing as we make these home visits (though some of the stories are much more jarring). Many of these girls are from families that work hard yet face many barriers, and when it comes to choosing between an education and feeding their children, they are obviously going to choose feeding their children. Others have been abandoned by their parents and are living with a grandparent. Still others are fleeing an abuse environment. 

Historic Opening Day. A sweet welcome dinner with 8 students and counting . . .

OPENING DAY CONTINUES, Tuesday, 17 January 2023

Monday’s opening day caught me overwhelmed with a range of emotions. In Tanzania, time is not as rigid as it is in the U.S., so I was expecting girls to arrive late. What I didn’t expect was that some would be multiple days late! By 4:30pm, five girls had checked in. Then at 5:00pm, three more arrived on motorbikes – accompanied by their primary teacher because parents were not able to take them to school (due to abandonment for two of the girls and a mentally unstable father for the third – her mother has passed away). By the time we were ready for dinner, we had 8 girls. I went through many emotions during the course of the day – doubt (after all of this work, are we doing the right thing in opening the school?), sadness (having witnessed the desperate situations of some of the girls who did come), frustration (at parents who abandon their children and don’t care for their livelihood), and, finally, gratitude (for the 8 girls who were there – and were so, so happy to be there). The opening dinner was intimate and memorable. On Tuesday, 7 more girls were checked in, and more are expected tomorrow.

First, English

This “rolling start” is taking “Africa time” to a whole new level for me. I learned, however, that the first month of secondary school in Tanzania is essentially an English remedial course (all the subjects in English) to get students up to par on their English. Therefore (I am told) that because they are not learning “new” content in each of the subjects that many girls join secondary school late. In the future, I think we will borrow a bigger car from a church in Musoma so that we can go pick girls up and bring them to school. The barriers for them getting there on their own are too great (either because they can’t afford it since their parents don’t prioritize it – though they have already registered them, or because they may be living with a grandparent who is unable to physically get them to school).

Pray on

As I continue to hear the different background stories of some of these girls, I am increasingly burdened to ensure the teachers, matron, and other staff are equipped to handle the trauma that some of these girls have experienced. Please pray for these girls and their teachers! Please also pray that the LORD will continue to give the teachers and other staff members grace and wisdom as they are a light to these girls and to the community. Pray the girls will feel welcome and if they don’t already, will come to know the love of Christ at Tumaini Jipya (New Hope).

Thank you so much for your part and prayers in what God had done, is doing and is about to do!

With very great joy,

Rachel

As a reminder, 100% of your gift goes directly to the project.  

More information: https://rockintl.org/rockids-project-in-tanzania

A Closing Word

While the school construction PROJECT (now starting to fill with PEOPLE!) flowed through the channel of ROCKids, ROCK Resources also has its role to play. ROCK International recently shipped to the school a supply of KING of GLORY materials (mostly in English) to be integrated into the school’s curriculum. Lord willing, in His time, other ROCK gospel and discipleship tools will also be used. One ROCK Resources' initiative inspired by the opening of the school is to have the Swahili KING of GLORY book published and printed in Tanzania for use at the school, on the Island, in Tanzania and around the Swahili-speaking world. Since its release in 2016, the Swahili KING of GLORY movie has had nearly 900,000 views on YouTube. Praise God, MFALME wa UTUKUFU's story and message is already being heard and understood by many in Tanzania. Pray for multiplied, eternal impact.

Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Psalm 34:8 NLT