In January 2023, we set off for Tanzania to volunteer at the Lemara Elementary School in Arusha.
Conditions at the School
Conditions are extremely crowded for the 1,200 students attending the school, without enough classrooms or teachers to fulfill the needs of all the students.
The school was very rundown. Classrooms were neglected, with dirty walls, broken furniture, splitting floors, and broken windows. In the schoolyard we found a kitchen of sorts, that looked like a flimsy, derelict shack, where some coals lay on a stone for cooking the children’s lunch.
As with every delegation, the Lemara Delegation had two goals to accomplish – to instill colour and life in the school by renovating its physical structure and sprucing up its aesthetic appearance.
Primary goals:
- Renovate the classrooms.
- Add whitewash and paint with fun, vibrant colours.
- Build a new, organized kitchen.
- Decorate the schoolyard with pleasant, high-quality coloured paints to encourage activities and game-playing outside during recess.
Our second main goal was to instill joy and love by enriching the school experience.
We achieved this goal by providing a variety of enrichment activities for the children:
- We gave lessons on various subjects of interest in order to expose the students to new horizons.
- We provided creative activities, mind games to enhance cognitive development, and activities that inspired the joy of togetherness.
- We gave donations of all kinds of games to lift the children’s spirits.
Accomplishments:
Due to the complexity of the work involved, we recruited a large delegation of 34 volunteers. As early as the introductory stage, at the initial meeting two months prior to departure, people already began forging meaningful connections. The real magic happens within the group itself, where the relationships created are so strong and genuine, that even long after returning home, members of the delegation continue to meet up regularly. The bonds created in the group never fail to fill me with emotion, showing that my efforts were precise and well aligned. The powerful connections between the volunteers are what made everything possible for accomplishing the goals we had set for ourselves.
During the two weeks of intensive work with the help of local professionals, we accomplished the following goals:
We painted the classrooms inside and outside; we employed local workmen to fix the broken windows, floors, and more! They were paid with funds we had raised from donations.
We also constructed a new kitchen from concrete and even repaired the water line that had been out of working order for a long time. Students and teachers were incredibly happy and grateful to have a renewed water supply at the school.
At the same time, we taught classes about countries around the world through all kinds of creative sessions and activities. It gave us so much joy and we gave as much as we could to the children at Lemara school.
Afterwards, we received words of thanks and appreciation from the wonderful students, parents, and teachers.
We also arranged a diverse array of creative and enriching experiential activities for the students who were happy and excited with the wonderful attention lavished on them.
On the last day, we held a festive and emotional closing ceremony for the delegation. It concluded with a presentation of certificates of appreciation to the volunteers, and even gifts from parents and staff. Together we had turned dreams into reality. Excitement at the project’s success was at an all-time high on both sides – the teachers and students, and the members of the delegation.
To this day, I continuously receive messages of thanks and appreciation from the school principal and teachers, and it goes without saying – they can’t wait for us to return with another delegation!
