Building a better world, one community at a time

Tanzania Project

Sustaining Orkeeswa Secondary School

Location: Lashaine Village, Northern Tanzania (Map)
Scope: Clean Water, Renewable Power and Sustainable Sanitation
Partner: Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania (IEFT)
Status: The Tanzania team implemented the first phase of the water project in September 2009. A 60,000-liter rainwater harvesting tank was constructed and the project team completed a site assessment for the next phase of the project. The team is now designing a sand filter and a solar power system and anticipates implementing these in 2010. Additionally, the team is designing a pressure conveyance system to pump groundwater from the nearby town of Monduli to Orkeeswa Primary and Secondary Schools during drought years, when rains do not provide sufficent quantity of water to the schools. This design will also include a treatment system to remove naturally-occurring fluoride from the groundwater.
Contact: tanzania [at] ewbportland [dot] org

 

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Lashaine Village

For 97% of the children living in rural Tanzania, attending secondary school is out of reach due to the long distances between remote villages and boarding schools and their families inability to pay for school fees.

Lashaine Village in northern Tanzania has three government-run primary schools with over 500 students each and until recently, no secondary schools.


Click here to view a map showing Lashaine Village.

Orkeeswa in Lashaine Village
Class of 2014

Orkeeswa Secondary School

Orkeeswa Secondary School provides education to children who have no hope of continuing their education past primary school, empowering them to positively transform their own lives, improve their communities and break the cycle of extreme poverty, while preserving their culture and traditions.

Click here to learn more about Orkeeswa Secondary School.

Orkeeswa Students

Orkeeswa Secondary School opened in April 2008, enrolling the first 40 students in English-immersion classes. These students have now completed their Form I (freshman) courses and 40 more students have begun English-immersion classes. IEFT plans on expanding school facilities and accepting additional classes until full buildout is reached in 2013.
 

Click here to view a short video about Orkeeswa Students.

 

 Orkeeswa Students
Orkeeswa Students

Project Partner

The Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania (IEFT) was founded in 2005 as a collaborative effort between Tanzanian and American teachers who were inspired by the intense motivation of their students and were compelled to make a difference in their lives.

IEFT was founded with the mission of providing quality, affordable secondary education to underserved indigenous children, whose families cannot afford secondary school fees. IEFT uses a community-based approach with buy-in from families and the village as a whole.

EWB-IEFT Partnership

The development of Orkeeswa Secondary School involves various infrastructure needs, where engineering expertise and experience is essential. At project inception, IEFT identified the following needs as critical to the success and sustainability of the school:
  • A reliable and safe water supply system
  • A renewable power system
  • Sustainable sanitation facilities
Surveying
   
Assessment Trip Fun Bacteria-in-Water Experiment
   

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