2022 Projects

​For the first time, the RVP’s annual Community Meeting was held in two parts.  This process was designed to engage community members in the process of determining priorities and projects for the coming year.  First multiple local village meetings were held.  All village residents were encouraged to come and participate.  Each village meeting produced a list of priorities.  Then each village meeting elected a representative to attend a larger Ward-wide meeting. This larger meeting was tasked with finalizing the list of priorities to be presented to the Rafiki Village Project. 

Village Meetings March 2022

Community Wide Meeting March 25, 2022

​SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR GRADUATING DUMBETA SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

​Tanzania provides free and compulsory education for all students through Standard 7 (equivalent to Grade 7 in the U.S system).  Students who pass the national exams at the end of Standard 7 can continue their free education for four more years at a public secondary school.   Currently, approximately 20% of Dumbeta Ward’s children attend secondary school.  Secondary school graduates take another national exam. If they pass they are eligible to attend Advanced (“A” level) Secondary school for an additional two years.  This is a college preparatory program and it is required for entry into university and professional programs.   “A” level education is not free.  In addition to tuition, students must pay for room, board, books, supplies and uniforms.  There is a national student loan program for “A”level graduates to attend university programs but there are no public grants or scholarships.  
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Currently, secondary school is a dead end for all graduates of Dumbeta Secondary School.  Families simply do not have the resources to send their children to “A”  level schools. The community has asked us to establish a scholarship program to pay the expenses for the highest achieving students at Dumbeta Secondary School.  We have agreed to sponsor two students for two years of  “A” level schooling, but with the understanding that this is a pilot program that will only be continued if there is community support for it.  Rafiki is paying 90% of the students’ expenses and the community is paying 10%, making it a collaborative effort.

Our guiding principles state that all programs must benefit the whole community and not individuals.  A scholarship program will benefit the community in multiple ways.  Scholarships that are based on school performance will motivate students to work harder because an “A” level education defines a path to a professional career.  Knowing that if they receive the top score on the national exam they will have their “A” level education paid for will be a powerful incentive for ambitious students.  It will provide a glimmer of hope for students who might otherwise have no options other than early marriage, large families and subsistence farming.  The hope is that some of the students who obtain professional degrees will return to the community — perhaps to teach, practice medicine, or run a successful business.  But even those students who do leave the community will help to support their families, which will directly benefit the community.  Other benefits to the community would be less tangible but just as significant, such as the pride the community might feel if one of their own becomes a doctor or a government official. 

Neema Dominick and Enock Tsaxara are the two students chosen by the community to receive the scholarships. They were the girl and boy who received the top scores on the national exam. They both come from Barabaig families and both will be among the first students from Dumbeta Ward to advance beyond secondary school.
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Cost per student per year:  $800

Enock

Neema and her aunt and uncle

​MATERNITY WARD AT DUMBETA DISPENSARY

The community of Dumbeta Ward has identified the need for a dedicated maternity ward at Dumbeta Dispensary as a top priority.   In 2021, 372 infants were born at the dispensary.   While the Dispensary provides a safer and more sanitary environment than home births, conditions are still far from ideal.  Currently there is no dedicated room for laboring or post-partum mothers. Women give birth in exam rooms, often at the same time that other patients are being seen.  Due to a lack of beds, mothers and infants are sent home within an hour or two of birth.  The World Health Organization recommends that mothers and infants be observed for at least 24 hours after delivery. This practice has been shown to reduce post-partum and neonatal complications and death.  Miraculously, in 2021 there were no maternal or infant deaths at the Dumbeta Dispensary.  We believe this speaks to the skill and dedication of the Dispensary staff, and also to the Ward’s proximity to a District hospital in nearby Katesh, where emergency care can be accessed.  Nevertheless, a dedicated maternity ward will be a safer environment for everybody.  The new maternity ward will contain a dedicated room for mothers to labor in. There will also be a post-partum observation room, with infant warmers and a nurse’s station/office.  Finally, it will contain an indoor bathroom.   
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Because this is the largest and most complex project that the RVP has undertaken, much consultation and coordination are part of the planning process.  Our mentor organization, Karimu, is providing training and advice as we finalize the design of the facility, compare contractor’s bids, and develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Community and with all of the various stakeholders.  We expect that the Community will contribute materials and labor as in the past, and that the District Government, too, may make a contribution.  We also expect the Community to play an active role in maintaining the facility.  We will also be working to establish procedures for monitoring the performance and outcomes of the Maternity Ward, as part of the RVP’s ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) effort.  Planning for the future depends on knowing how we’re doing.  

​LAMAY PRIMARY SCHOOL TOILETS

The community has listed replacing the student toilets at Lamay Primary School as a top priority. The existing toilets are unsanitary, unsafe and do not provide adequate privacy.  Substandard sanitation and hygiene is linked to diarrheal illness, school absenteeism and poor school performance.  The United Nations has identified access to sanitation and hygiene as a universal human right. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) call for “universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water” and “access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all” by 2030.
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In 2020 Lamay Primary School was linked to a public water supply [link].  This will make it possible to include a handwashing station—similar to the one built at Gijega Primary School—as part of this project.  

​GICHBORD PRIMARY SCHOOL:  CLASSROOM RENOVATION

In 2020 the Rafiki Village Project funded the construction of a new classroom building at Gichbord Primary School [https://www.rafikivillageproject.org/2020.html].  However, the existing classrooms at the school are in very poor condition.  With their broken windows, cratered floors, broken desks and crumbling walls, they do not provide an environment that is conducive to learning.  The community has asked for our help to renovate these classrooms.  On completion of this project, all Gichbord student will have a classroom they can be proud of.   

​DUMBETA PRIMARY SCHOOL: KITCHEN

​Hunger is a barrier to learning.  Sadly, Dumbeta Ward’s children do not always get enough to eat.  Many arrive at school having not eaten since the previous day.  The Rafiki Village Project has made significant progress towards the goal of ensuring that all 2500 of Dumbeta Ward’s primary and secondary school students receive a nutritious hot lunch every school day.  Research has demonstrated that school lunch programs alleviate hunger, improve school performance, incentivize school attendance, and decrease dropout rates.  A clean and roomy kitchen with the capacity to prepare food for a school’s entire student population is an integral part of a successful school lunch program.  When we have asked the citizens of Dumbeta Ward what they would like help with, school kitchens consistently rise to the top of their priority lists.  Prior to the Rafiki Village Project’s partnership with the community, Dumbeta Ward's public schools either did not have a kitchen or meals were being cooked over an open fire in a smoke-filled shed. 

The RVP has now helped the community build two kitchens. In 2018 a new kitchen was built at Gijega Primary School.  Recently a new kitchen was built at Dumbeta Secondary School.  These kitchens contain sinks for washing and food preparation, a storage room for keeping grain away from rodents, and fuel-efficient stoves that burn substantially less wood than an open fire. 

All of our projects are a collaboration between the local community and the Rafiki Village Project. Our guidelines direct that the community must make a substantial and tangible contribution to all projects.  Every family with students in the school agreed to donate a portion of their maize and bean crop to the school if the RVP financed the construction of a school kitchen.  The community also supplied the bricks and much of the labor to construct the kitchen.  Parents also agreed to take turns cooking and cleaning, allowing teachers to dedicate their time to instruction.

This year, the community has prioritized a school kitchen at Dumbeta Primary School.  With your help we plan to eventually build kitchens at all the Ward’s schools.