Educating People to Empower Communities – The Outreach Program
Our Education Promise
We promise to empower Tanzanians through educational opportunities and support.
Tanzanian Children’s Centers & School
Our Education Mission
Our mission is to empower people and communities, and education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty and hunger. Educated people are better equipped to meet their own needs and acquire resources to assist their own communities. That’s why The Outreach Program provides local educational opportunities and support to Tanzanians.
We Have To Do Something
In 2006, Floyd and Kathy were meeting with the Regional Commissioner for the Singida Region in the city of Singida. At that time, hundreds of children, some as young as 6 years old, were out on the streets. Kathy asked “Why are these kids not in school?” The answer was simple. They had no uniforms, so they could not enroll. Even if they had uniforms, they had nothing to eat, so they spent their days trying to find food for the day. They were not homeless, but their family could not afford to feed them, so the children were sent out to work small jobs, beg for change, or as a last resort, steal a few morsels to fill their hungry bellies. Kathy once again cried out with what has become the heartbeat of The Outreach Program, “We have to do something!”
Education Begins With Clean Water and Nourishing Food
To address the ongoing educational challenges in Tanzania, we have built two children’s centers that serve close to 1,200 children each day. We work with the schools, the government, and the community to identify the most vulnerable children, and bring them into the centers. We provide all students with a mid-day meal and clean drinking water so that children can focus on their studies rather than their basic needs and each student receives appropriate school uniforms and tutoring services. We also have a playground, so that the children have a safe place to play and just be a kid. These efforts have led to 100% pass rates which are almost twice the national average!
Education Equality
We also helped found the Gunda Secondary School in Nkungi village. When we worked with the local and regional government to establish this secondary school we set up the requirement that at least 50% of the students had to be female. To accomplish this goal we partnered with other organizations and donors to establish a girls dormitory capable of housing 120 girls. Gunda Secondary School now serves students not only from Nkungi village, but also from the surrounding villages and towns and even further. What started as a two-building school with just a few teachers and a handful of students has grown into a fully developed campus with eight buildings, the girls dormitory, teacher’s housing, and more than 600 students!
Empowering the Most Vulnerable
Promoting education is woven through every project that we embark on. Our Primary School Water Project is focused on providing school children with access to safe water and promoting school attendance. Our Porta-Doc program includes a strong focus on educating communities and especially women on current health and hygiene practices. Through our children’s centers we leverage the food packaged by volunteers in America to ensure that the most vulnerable children can attend school and get their education.
Our Continuing Efforts to Overcome Ongoing Education Challenges
One of the biggest challenges facing young women in their efforts to get an education is access to menstrual hygiene materials. When the girls reach puberty, it is difficult for them to find products or solutions to help manage their period and still attend school and social functions. For many of the families, the only solution is to keep the girls at home, sitting on a pile of leaves or old cardboard. Disposable hygiene products are impossible to find in rural areas and cost a significant amount of money. So, what is the solution?
Reusable Feminine Products
The Outreach Program partners with donors and volunteers in America to provide washable, reusable, menstrual pads to the women and girls in the areas we serve. Additionally, at our children’s center in Manyoni, we have set up a sewing center with a two-fold purpose.
First, we are teaching the students how to sew. Seamstresses and tailors are in demand all over Tanzania and this skill offers them the ability to provide for themselves.
Second, while the children are learning to sew, they are also producing these reusable menstrual kits for distribution, along with sewing school uniforms for themselves and other attendees of the Children’s Centers.
By providing these hygiene kits to girls, we are empowering them to attend school, work jobs, and be a part of the community full time, not just 3 weeks out of the month.