Great news from one of our donors

Dear  Lali

I am writing to let you know that so far The Unicorn School has raised an amazing 2,957 pounds towards the cost of building a second classroom for the children of Mwalimu School near Loliando in Tanzania. 

We have been working alongside Chrissie Davies, a friend, who has been fundraising for the school  by running half marathons, full marathons and climbing up Africa’s highest peak, Kilimanjaro.

A cd was sent to the parents of each child in the school that showed how the children around  Mwalimu lived and what the school looks like. Last summer a sports donation went to the school, the pictures of the pleasure it brought were wonderful. Some disposable cameras were also given to some of the children who took photos of their homes, cattle, way of life etc which can now be seen in each class at The Unicorn. 

Chrissie gave an illustrated talk in a school assembly; the start point for a coin collection we hoped would go around the school. We managed to complete the collection, 100 metres long in early May, which raised 201 pounds. There was a lot of counting of coins.

Greater global awareness gained from making links with Mwalimu School is part of our Eco School focus. Classes Lime and Willow, both aged 10-11, researched the physical and human geography of Tanzania and compared it to Abingdon.  In class they made models of bomas and on the playground a full size replica of a Maasai hut that formed part of some role play. In June, at the second attempt, 54 children, 8 parents and 7 staff walked 3miles along the Ridgeway, re-enacting the walk the Maasai children used to try each day to get to school. Luckily for us there were no wild animals such as elephants to block the way. I am attaching two photos of the children on the walk.The sponsor money raised from this will go towards a second classroom. This will allow the children to have a full time education, instead of the current part time one. 

Along with the lunch time school meal  provided by the World Food Program, the committed school teachers, the enthusiastic support of the village leaders, the fund raising by Chrissie Davies and friends, The Nomad Safari Trust, and the parents, staff, children and governors of the Unicorn  School we hope to make a significant contribution towards helping the Maasai people near the school to face the challenges of the future with the benefits of better health and a good education, something that we all too often take for granted. 

Our support for the school will be the focus of our charity work for the next few years. We also hope to send some maths books to help with number work.

Thank you for your help.

Best wishes,

Mike Pickett, (class teacher). 

The Unicorn School

UK

'Agony and Ivory'

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/08/elephants-201108  I thought this might be of interest to many of you.
To help us work with the Wildlife division to stop illegal poaching please contact me on nomadtrust@nomad.co.tz

Furniture for Katmbi Primary school

We finally have the new chairs, desks, and cupboards for Katumbi Primary ready to go into the classrooms!  Very exciting!

Nursery Program at Katumbi-Mahale. March 2011

After months of interviewing local members of the community to run and teach the nursery class, we finally found a winner by the name of Saadick Issa.  We were able to garner the use of an old classroom in Katumbi school for the nursery kids-a very basic class room!!

As well as providing a place to learn, Nomad Trust provides the children with one meal a day-porridge around mid morning.

I think at the moment most of the kids come because of the free meal, but slowly I am sure we will be able to help provide them with more resources, and educational games for the classroom

Computer room at Katumbi School,Mahale. March 7th-10th 2011

The greatly anticipated arrival of the solar equipment to Katumbi School.

  I travelled to Katumbi with the amazing Shirima-standing in picture, from AA Computers in Arusha who set up the computer room, over saw the solar installation and carried out a three day training course to students and teachers on basic word and excel use.  A huge step for this little school.

Watching over the students as they get used to using computers for the first time in their lives.

Installing the solar panels-we attached them to the roof of the computer room.

And away we go!  A thrilled Shirima once the system is fully functioning!   It was a very exciting moment for us all!

Maajabu Film in Piaya-Feb 2011

I was lucky enough to travel with the Maajabu Film Crew to Piaya to show educational films to the local schools and community.   The kids LOVED it!  We all pilled into one room, blocked out the windows with Maasai shukas and settled in for a movie day!
In the evening, different films were shown to the local community, in their local language-Maa-we focused on HIV/AIDS awareness and water conservation.

Katumbi Primary School

It is possible to visit this wonderful little school near the airstrip. It is incredibly basic, but within the year that I have been coming here it has changed almost beyond recognition.  Through some incredibly generous donors we have been able to buy the school $3000 worth of text books.

Nomad client, Nigel Palmer has been amazing to the school and donated solar panels and laptops and net books to start a computer room.  We have done our first teacher and student training-teaching basic word and excel. 

 The Nomad Trust has also started a nursery program, where we sponsor a nursery teacher, as well provide the children with one meal a day.

A special thanks goes out to our Nomad Trust representative at Greystoke, Hassani, a wonderful chimp tracker and role model for young people from Katumbi village.