The Luhimba Project:
Report to trustees, 2002
by Paul Temple

This report was written following my recent visit to Luhimba.

Since my last visit in January progress made at the school has been remarkable. A new head was appointed in February. He is Mr Norbert Mbelle, a very dynamic, positive, energetic and enthusiastic man whose impact on the school is very noticeable. He and I had long discussions over every aspect of the school - buildings, staffing, curriculum, budget, sponsorship, plans for coming year and possible links with a UK school.

Numbers on Roll

There are currently 115 students attending the school with a fairly even mix of boys and girls. They are organised into two parallel forms. The students come from all the ward villages and some from Songea. (There is a rule that 25% of the places must be offered to students outside the catchment area). About 80 of the students are boarders.

The new academic year starts in January and already 250 applications have been made for places. While I was there interviews were being held as part of the selection process. The headteacher plans to admit 80 - l00 students in January.

Buildings

During the past months the villagers, under the supervision of Saidi Ntini, have worked hard on the building of the admin block, which is now almost complete. Floors still need to be finished and walls plastered. The cost of this building was approximately £4000 and the donation from the Society of Merchant Venturers covered the bulk of this. The school buildings look very impressive and now consist of three blocks - one housing 5 classrooms, the science block and now the admin block. There are 3 teachers' houses, with plans for a new headteacher's house. The house he currently occupies will be needed for a new member of staff. Two of the classrooms are used as dormitories for the girls and the boys sleep in the now defunct dairy farm which is nearby. Work has started on purpose built dormitories but this is hampered due to lack of funds. Food is prepared and eaten in outside shelters.

The grounds around the school have been landscaped and there are football and netball pitches. There are plans to install a ring well with a storage tank rather than hand pump as originally thought. The cost of this will be about £2500 and the All Saints', Wrington collection will go towards this.

The bricks for the buildings are made by all the ward villages and building materials purchased from Hussein Rajani who has been a staunch supporter of the project since its inception.

Grounds

As the school is responsible for feeding the students the head has decided to cultivate the grounds around the school for crop growing. An area of about 2.5 acres has been hoed ready for planting rice, maize and sugar cane. Another area has been set aside for an orchard where bananas, oranges and mangos will be grown, The work is being done by the students. This will enable the school to become self-sufficient

Budget

At present the school depends largely upon donations from the project with some funds coming in from school fees paid by the students. The government does not pay anything towards running costs. The head reported that about half the revenue from students' contributions have been collected and every student has made some contribution. At present the school has one bank account which I set up in January for the sponsorship. The head now plans to open two more accounts, one for building and the other for general expenses. The signatories on these accounts are members of the school committee. I hand no cash over to anyone in the village. The money we raise is paid into the school account, into an account for building materials or to Paul Mosha who oversees the spending. More funding is now needed for building work, the well and equipment and fumiture.

Needs

The school urgently needs more furniture ready for January's intake. They need 100 desks and chairs. These cost £25 per set. I propose to raise much of this by appealing to all the schools and churches in our area, asking if they could all fund at least one set for £25. Other needs include funds to complete the buildings, especially the hostels, headteacher's house and the well. They also need a better structure for the canteen. Also needed are resources for teaching practical subjects.

VSO

Whilst in Dar es Salaam I had a meeting with VSO at their offices with a view to getting a volunteer in to the school to support the staff. The person I spoke to was extremely helpful.

School Committee

This is a matter I discussed with Paul Mosha. The present school committee consists of representatives from all the ward villages, and although their intentions are admirable, we felt that they might not have the experience to run a secondary school of this size.

As the school grows, much more organisational structure will be needed. Perhaps someone with experience of school budgets, staffing, the curriculum, etc would be able offer effective support to the headteacher who, at the moment is bearing the burden all these areas. Paul Mosha will follow this up with the authorities.