June Update

Dear Friends,

To begin with, we are happy to tell you that the 5 students we sponsored in Tukuyu who finished their studies this spring have passed their national examinations and are now registered nurse/midwives.

This summer, 12 students we sponsor in Moshi will complete their studies and take their national examinations in August. We wish them success! Thanks to your generous support, 17 sponsored students will graduate this year and the total number of graduated students to date is 34.

This month we selected 10 students for sponsorships at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center Nursing School. Nine of the students will enter their second year of studies this fall and one student will enter her third year. We also were able to select a student going into her second year at the Tukuyu School of Nursing. We are very happy to tell you that we will be sponsoring 27 nursing students going forward.

We asked each of the students to write a brief autobiography and to tell us why they want to become a nurse. I want to present below a brief autobiography written by 8 of the newly sponsored students.

As an introduction to these autobiographies, I want to summarize the educational system in Tanzania.

Primary school – 7 years

Ordinary level – 4 years (referred to as Form 1 through Form 4)

Advanced level – 2 years (referred as Forms 5 and 6)

Advancement to the next level of education requires certain scores on national examinations.

I want to share a photo taken by Tony during his most recent visit to Tanzania. The picture is of a typical rural primary school classroom – 50-70 kids crowded into a classroom with no books in sight. The students we sponsor tend to be survivors of this very difficult learning environment.

Thank you for your continued support of The Tanzania Nursing Scholarship Program!

All the best,

Linda van Wekhooven

President