For some of the sponsored children this is the end of their second year at the NMSE school. The difference in the children from when we first met them three years ago is enormous. Not only are they so much stronger and more  self confident, it is clear that they have learned a great deal and their grasp of spoken English is impressive. Their success means that the school is becoming well known in the town of Songea for its excellence in teaching.  All this is great news and it is wonderful to think that these children who would have found it difficult to afford the uniforms to allow them to attend a government school are now acting as ambassadors for the Namanditi school. Their progress clearly demonstrates the benefit of  having smaller classes combined with quality teaching. 

While we are disappointed that the registration process has taken so long we are hopeful that the school will be registered by the end of December. This will allow us to bring in around 20 fee paying students and the indication from parents filling in application forms is that this number will not be difficult to reach. Providing we secure enough new funds we hope to complete one of the new classrooms in time for the start of the second term 2013 at which point a further 20- 30 children will start at the school. At this point we will also need to bring in a new teacher. With the income from the 40 new students we would hope to be able to offer a small increase in salary to all the staff and workers at the school. We are aslo looking for another 4 children who need sponsors and in total we are aiming to have 80 to 90 students at the school next year.

At the moment we are waiting for an estimate of how much is required to complete just one of the new classrooms and once we have that figure we will know what we have to raise between now and March/ April. In the meantime we intend to purchase some new desks and chairs for the students who are ready to progress  into grade 2.

We would also like to take time here to remember Noreen Ibbott, wife of Ralph who sadly died in October this year. Noreen had been an active member of the RUDA committee since 2000 and we have benfitted hugely from her knowledge and experience, gained from her time living in the Ruvuma region of Tanzania during the 1960’s and 70’s. During her time in the Ujamaa willage of Litowa Noreen educated the women and brought up her family of four children. She had a great sense of humour and a keen understanding of human nature and the insights she shared with us will continue to inform the decisions we make in future about the development of our projects in Ruvuma.