Give 420 Girls in Tanzania Their Own School

Africa Schoolhouse is excited that we have finished construction of the Hygiene Building at Milembe Secondary School. Thanks to your help and to our incredible collaborators, we are creating a truly beautiful and practical set of buildings at the girls' campus. The Dormitory and Matron House are ready for occupants, and our building crew is hard at work laying and digging the foundation for the Dining Pavilion and Kitchen. We are calling the plan for our girls’ boarding campus a Dorm Kit because it will function as a replicable model for other schools in rural Tanzanian.

The campus building currently under construction is the Dining Pavilion. It is a thoughtfully designed, bi-level structure with both floors serving multiple functions. The windowed upstairs area will have a light and airy classroom and study space for the girls while the ground floor, where they’ll have daily meals, will double as a meeting hall and performance space. The ventilated kitchen is also located on the main level as is an outdoor dining porch.

We are working with local experts to determine what the best and most sustainable method for cooking will be. Burning traditional solid fuels and kerosene in cookstoves contributes to air pollution and deforestation and their use is a known health hazard to women and children in particular in the region. The Dining Pavilion/Kitchen building will be equipped with the greenest and cleanest option available to us.

We’re looking forward to sharing photos as the Milembe Girls School nears completion… thank you for helping these girls get the education they deserve in what will be a safe space where they can live peacefully, study, and succeed.

We are excited to report that the Africa Schoolhouse team has nearly completed the first two buildings of the Milembe Secondary School dormitory compound. Thank you for all you have done to make this a reality! The team is now putting the finishing touches on the dormitory, including installing the bunkbeds and cabinets in each room and choosing lighting fixtures. Teachers and students have expressed how much they love the beautiful design and construction. Head Teacher Florencia expressed her thanks for the “wonderful” new girls’ dorm: “It is so beautiful!”

Milembe students are excited about the dorm. A group of girls worked with the Africa Schoolhouse team and gave feedback on the bunkbeds. They tested the height of the ladders, safety rail, and overall feeling of the bed, giving them all vigorous thumbs up. Elizabeti said she couldn’t wait to sleep there! The dorm is light filled, including areas at the roof peak that allow daylight to filter in. And the cheerful interior painting, with blue accent walls in the girls’ rooms creates a beautiful living environment. 

The Africa Schoolhouse team is also now completing work on the hygiene building, which houses the composting latrines, shower stalls, and a beautiful curved row of sinks where the girls will be able to wash faces and brush teeth in front of a stone wall and planter filled with local flowers. Water for the sinks will come from an in-ground rainwater harvesting system housed between the dorm and the hygiene building. The team is now completing work on the interior and will begin tiling the composting latrine and shower stalls next week. Work is really moving fast!

Thank you for all you have done to make the dorm compound possible. Please stay tuned! We plan to begin the Dining Pavilion with kitchen in the next few months! We hope to have things ready for girls to move in to begin the new school year in 2020. Asanteni! (Thank you all!)

Links:

• Visit the Africa Schoolhouse website for more information!