Tuwape nafasi

TUWAPE NAFASI PROJECT

1. ABOUT THE PROJECT

Tuwape Nafasi/Give them a chance is all about Elimu Jumuishi (EJ) – Inclusive Education (IE) in Tanzania – creating equal opportunity to education for children with special needs while promoting an inclusive and tolerant society.

We are all differently abled in the sense we are good at one thing and hopeless at another, special needs children and young adults happen to need more help discovering what they are good at.

Contrary to current belief, a child with disability has great potential to flourish and become a productive and contributing member of the society given the right opportunity and support. In the context of education that opportunity is Inclusive Education.

Inclusive Education acknowledges that all children can learn and that every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs, it follows the approach where all learners participate and achieve together whilst individual needs are considered.

2. WHO WE ARE AND WHERE WE COME FROM?
St. Joseph’s Nursery & Primary School celebrates 25 years of existence on April 18th, 2023. Since its inception, it has been one of the few private schools that has kept its doors open to children with disabilities, despite the lack of adequate facilities. We are the ONLY private school [NECTA curriculum], so far in Dar Es Salaam, to have adopted a fully inclusive education model as globally advocated and required – and registered as such with the Ministry of Education. It started as a personal journey recognizing children and young adults with disabilities within our own circles of family, friends, relatives and acquaintances and bearing witness to the numerous challenges and disadvantages faced.

3. THE PROBLEM
While we’ve always kept our doors open to children with special needs, January 2022 is when we actually launched our special education unit. Since then we have so far enrolled 60+ children in the special education program. Unfortunately, due to limited resources we have now been forced to halt any further enrollment of children with special needs.
Our inclusion model is unique in the sense that we provide a one-stop center for all developmental needs for our special needs children – therapies and education. We operate our inclusion model by subsidizing 50% of the actual costs of running the special needs program. At our current capacity we’ve fallen behind to adequately provide all the necessary resources to ensure prosperity of our children with special needs.

OUR PLAN
At the request of many visiting parents who are currently on our waiting list, we have taken it upon ourselves to increase space via construction of a one story building which would have all the necessary facilities to cater to 100+ children with special needs. The estimated cost of construction stands at TZS 315,000,000

Furthermore, we also plan to do outreach programmes so that we can extend our help to communities around our school. The new building will house an early intervention and counseling center to help parents with diagnosis and advice for raising children with disabilities.

For more information on our #TuwapeNafasi project please download our case for support document here

5. HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

5.1 BY SECURING A TABLE FOR OUR FUNDRAISING GALA
We’ve scheduled an official fundraising dinner gala on September 8th 20233. Tables for 10 people can be purchased at the minimum of TZS 1,500,000. A table can be secured by a group of friends, parents, colleagues, company, NGO etc

5.2 BY MAKING A FINANCIAL OR IN-KIND CONTRIBUTION

You can contribute directly to our project by making a financial contribution through the payment methods listed below. Furthermore, you can contribute towards building material, school buses or assistive devices needed for our special needs program (incl computers, wheelchairs, tablets, teaching aids etc). You can call our school on +255 713 615254 so that we can arrange pick-up or delivery of material.

5.3 BY SPREADING THE WORD
Your contribution can be as little or powerful as sharing our initiative across your network of friends, work colleagues, relatives, influencers etc. Ultimately, we can only bring bigger change for our children with special needs by collaboration across various stakeholders.

5.4 PAYMENT METHODS
For tracking purposes, please send your payment reference to (text/whatsapp) +255 713 615254 or info@stjosephs.co.tz. Your contribution should also state your name and group (for example via parent, work colleague, social media etc)

You can contribute via:

Online payment gateway here
Bank transfer or deposit to: CRDB account – ST JOSEPH NUR PR SCHOOL – 0152080170000

Mobile money payment to Vodacom Lipa Number – 5594038 – LIPA ST JOSEPH NURSERY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL