Mitengo Primary School is located halfway between Mikindani and Mtwara. In 2021 there were 111 pre-primary children and 506 primary children enrolled in the school. EdUKaid supports this school, and many others in the area, to ensure that they have resources that we take for granted and that children can overcome the many challenges that they face to accessing an education. Their vision is for a world where every child has access to the education they need to realise their full potential and attain the skills to improve their life's circumstances. This is a vision that we are more than happy to support.

You can find out more about the work that EdUKaid to at https://www.edukaid.com/.

Matt from EdUKaid visited school today to present us with a certificate of thanks for the money raised through our sponsored colour run last term. We raised an outstanding £1215 which will fund a pre-primary teacher and most of the salary of a teaching assistant for the whole of 2023, providing 157 children with access to education.

We are blown away with this gift and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who donated

We welcomed Matt from EdUKaid back into school again and he brought letters and photos from our partner school in Mitengo. He was able to share lots of information with us following his daughter's recent visit there. The children enjoyed hearing about life in Tanzania and were delighted to receive replies to their letters. Matt told them more about the work that EdUKaid do which inspired the children to want to make a difference. One of the Year One children told Matt that he has decided to make an invention (when he is a grown up) which would provide all the children with food while they were at school.

For the last couple of years, staff have held a collection for EdUKaid, instead of sending Christmas cards to each other. The money raised purchased gifts for children in our partner school Mitengo in Tanzania. 

As part of our silent disco event, the children were invited to wear non-uniform in return for a donation of a handful of coins. The money raised was donated to EdUKaid to pay for the materials to repair Mitengo's outdoor shelter. 

Local community volunteers used the materials to create a new outdoor learning space. With more than 100 children in most classes, the shelter provides much needed additional teaching space for children at Mitengo – particularly those children who have special educational needs. You can see in the photographs how excited the children are about the shelter.

The new headteacher at the school, Mr Fidelis Kambanga sent us this message: “Thank you to all the wonderful families at John Harrison School in UK – you have made education better for our children when we were desperately needed help. I pray you will be with us always.”

We were very pleased to welcome Matt from EdUKaid to talk about our partner school in Tanzania. Matt was able to join the whole school on a virtual worship and then speak to Year Four (outside and socially distanced) to give them more information and answer their questions about the school in general and what it has been like for the children there during lock down. This was a wonderful opportunity for Year Four to learn more about what life is like in Tanzania, especially as they previously wrote letters to the children at the school when they were in Key Stage One.