Maasai children in Tanzania often cannot attend school because there are no schools close to where they live. They do not learn English in their home and since secondary school entrance requires literacy in English they are barred from entry. The English Medium Primary School in Engaruka Tanzania, of 300 students and staff, provides education in English so students can gain an education and literacy in English.Improved irrigation for the adjacent school gardens is helping to not only ensure a reliable food supply for the students it enables extension of the gardens including the planting of fruit trees. The enhanced gardens, resulting from the irrigation, will be a health and economic benefit. The gardens have generated some employment for the local people. The students and staff of the school are benefitting from the improved nutrition provided by the garden and the students are learning valuable agricultural skills.
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The Rotary Club of Whistler Millenium has contributed $16,000 to the English Medium Primary School -- including a grant from The Rotary Foundation through our Rotary District 5040 of $5,300 -- to install the new irrigation system.
Last Fall, employing 36 local people for manual labour and sourcing materials from local businesses, the ground was cleared and prepared for the installation of a drip irrigation system. Three water storage tanks were procured to ensure an adequate water supply for the irrigation. Seeds were planted and are growing -- banana, cassava, groundnut. Costs included transportation, farm care worker allowances and $16.
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RC Whistler Millenium learned about this school and its needs from Abby Olemisiko, the school's Facilities Director and Farm Manager, who has worked with club past president Bronwen Hill. Dr. Audrey Speilmann, a physician in West Vancouver, who is on the board of the Maasai Education Foundation, based in Newport, Virginia, has visited the school several times. She founded the Maasai Education Society, a new Canadian non profit focusing on providing scholarships for students attending the school.
Dr. Theo Dillaha, Ph.D, and engineers from Virginia Tech Polytechnic Institute and State University, planned and installed the water system as part of its Service without Borders for Virginia Tech students on service-learning trips to Engaruka to work at the school.