Tanzania Project Team Forming

Helping the Orkeeswa School meet its sustainable infrastructure goals

Background

The Indigeous Education Foundation of Tanzania was founded by a group of three teachers, one from Lake Oswego, one from California, and one from a rural part of Tanzania, near Monduli.  The organization is driven by the mission of providing affordable secondary education in rural Tanzania, a country where secondary school is a dream for most, and where students fortunate enough to attend, often travel long distances from their home
communities.

IEFT (ieftz.org) has developed a long term plan to build the Orkeeswa Secondary School near the village of Monduli over the course of the next several years.  Already, they have constructed the first two classrooms and began instructing the 40-student class of 2014 with a corps of volunteer teachers.  The master development plan calls for more than 10 classrooms, staff quarters, cooking areas, bunk houses, and chemistry and biology labs.  IEFT also hopes to electrify a computer lab.

EWB Involvement 

Ashley and Grosper from IEFT presented their project at our chapter meeting on June 11th, and we have discussed potential EWB assistance with the Orkeeswa School.  There is a lot of synergy between our groups that is waiting to be explored:  some of the more challenging aspects of the long range development plan - water supply and treatment, sanitation, efficient cooking methods, solar or wind power - are areas where EWB excels!  Likewise, the positive connection that IEFT has made with the local community would be valuable in building a successful project.  There are also possibilities for collaboration with Portland-based Green Empowerment.

Project Initiation

A project team has formed and has submitted a project application to EWB-USA while working on initial planning work.  The team is focusing on developing a master plan for water, sanitation and energy that we can turn into well-considered projects for EWB and other possibly other organizations.   All are invited to join us for upcoming meetings.  Times and locations can be found on our calendar.

Photos courtesy of IEFT, ieftz.org.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to IEFT.  As soon as the project is approved by EWB-USA, donations can be made through EWB.