School's out - 3-month free education programme

The Roof of Africa is a grassroots charity providing free education and community support to the poorest communities in Tanzania

Launched in 2016, the charity has grown from renting a building and teaching 20 pupils, to having its own primary school, with six completed classrooms and a register of nearly 250 pupils. The school is nationally recognised by the Tanzania Government and teaches in English, which is the national language. In addition, we run many community projects including reunification to try and keep children with extended family or the local community instead of living on the streets or in an orphanage. To help, we provide food parcels wherever possible and fundraise to build safe and secure homes as well as toilets, which can often be located in areas that are dangerous for young people.

Abject poverty

Due to their living conditions, many of the children who first came to us were malnourished and in poor health. We soon began to feed them twice a day while at school and they received health checks from professionals who we called into the school. Some children needed ongoing medication which we have provided.

Finishing primary school

This year our class 7 pupils will be finishing the Roof of Africa primary school and we have big ambitions to build our own secondary school to ensure the children's education continues. The local community are fully behind us and have gifted the land. However, in the meantime there are three months where the children have to wait before school begins. This is a dangerous time for them, as the girls can be forced into marriage or sex or children put to work rather than continue education.

Three-month training programme

To combat this danger of not continuing education, we have created a three-month education programme that will support the pupils during this period. The programme will:

• Prepare pupils for secondary school.
• Focus on protecting girls from early pregnancies and unwanted marriages by educating them and boys about this.
• Feeding them during this period as otherwise they may not receive food at home.