Project Arusha

(Registered Charity no. 1124283)

Since 2004 the Project has sponsored nineteen ex-Year 13 students to go to Tanzania. The most recent group went in Autumn 2008 after their 'A' levels. The next group will be going in Autumn 2010. The young people fund half of the costs themselves, and St Mary’s and Holy Family parishes fund the rest. None of the donations given to the charity go towards their expenses.

Following the initial selection process the six young people who went to Tanzania in 2008 received a number of briefings which included cultural awareness and basic language lessons in Kiswahili and Kimaasai.

During their three months in Arusha - September to November - between them they taught in four secondary schools. In the classroom they mainly helped the students with their English though some also ventured into the Maths and Music curricula.

When the young people returned from Arusha they were asked to submit an individual written report on their trip. These quotes from their reports give some indication of the impact the experience has had on them:

"This experience has had a Massive impact on me ...it is an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life. .... I now look at Arusha as my second home; a place where I feel I learnt so much about myself, matured and made lifelong friends."

"It (the experience) has opened my eyes to more important things than music and fashion and hair straighteners."

"Arriving back in England and being thrown back into the luxuries of drinking tap water, power showers, carpets, and central heating is so hard for me to get used to. It was hard to believe that with such little money people could be so content and laidback - nobody ever complained, they just enjoyed themselves and lived their simple lives to the full."

"As the trip continued we were presented with more and more evidence that the people of Tanzania were richer than us in the more important things in life."

Applications for sponsorship are invited in October each year. This opportunity is open to young people in Year 13 (upper 6th) at St Benedict School or in Holy Family and St Mary’s parishes at other schools.

Contact Denis Homer or Pauline Roberts

Donations

During the financial year2008/9 the Project made donations to several schools totalling £8250. Private donations were also made through the Project to schools and individual students totalling a further £870. Some of this money helped to buy mattresses for the primary school children who are boarders in a school in a remote Maasai parish.

All donations – big or small - are welcome and very much needed. The money you donate goes directly to the Arusha Project. If you are a tax payer you can also use Gift Aid to increase the value of your donation.

Fr Simon, a Maasai priest and Vicar General of the Arusha Diocese, visited Derby in July/August 2009 for four weeks. During this time he visited St Mary's and St Benedict's schools and helped the priests at St Mary's and Holy Family Parishes.

See also Charity Commission website: www.charity-commission.gov.uk entering ‘Project Arusha’ or number 1124283.