A joint venture between Anglicans in Sydney and Tanzania will bring long-term relief and help reform the African nation's education system.
Christians from the Sutherland Shire and Tanzania have joined forces to bring much-needed education reform to the poverty-stricken African nation.
A program to raise $1.5 million to fund a secondary school in the town of Katoke was launched recently at the Hazelhurst Gallery in Gymea.
While funds will be raised in Sydney, the school will be managed in Tanzania by the Anglican Church. The project is being overseen by the Katoke Secondary School Committee, with members in Sydney and Tanzania.
Associate Professor Alan Watson, Chairman of the Sydney Committee and a member of Gymea Anglican Church, described the project as "a multi-pronged attack on poverty in association with the local community and churches".
"Poverty in Tanzania can't be overcome in any trivial way," Professor Watson said. "It requires persistence and more than one prong in the attack."
Prof Watson, a former CMS missionary in Tanzania, said lack of quality schooling held back both individuals and the whole country. Even children who perform well in primary school often spend their lives working on small subsistence family farms, while Tanzania is in desperate need of doctors, teachers, engineers and nurses.
Currently, children in Tanzania are among the least likely in the world to receive secondary schooling.
"Katoke has been chosen because it has the best primary school in the district and a teachers' college, but no secondary school," Professor Watson said. "This is typical of the whole of Tanzania, which is a stable country and welcomes help."
Funding for the project in Australia will go through the Katoke Trust for Overseas Aid, a cross-denominational group with successful wide-ranging aid projects in Tanzania.
The school will cost $1.5 million over five years to build, but running costs will be met by school fees. While it will be managed by the Anglican Church in Tanzania, it will be open to all students who qualify, regardless of age, sex or religion.
The Rev Canon Samuel Habimana, Chairman of the Tanzanian Committee, said the school would liberate children living in the poverty-stricken district, educate future leaders, and provide boarding facilities so students who currently must walk several kilometres to school would not be too tired to learn.
The project has received backing from Australians such as Bruce Baird, federal member for Cook in the Sutherland Shire, and Bishop Reg Piper, newly appointed rector of Gymea Anglican Church.
