The Slate foundation

Tanzania:

The Living School and Community Center

There are four main goals of the Living School Project: 1) to provide an exceptional education for the children of the area that will provide them with the knowledge, tools, and support they need to help lift their community out of poverty; 2) to provide a place for the community to learn about new farming and agriculture techniques, technology, and health practices; 3) to teach the community about the environment and the wildlife; 4) to provide necessary resources to allow children to attend school without burdening their family.

The Living School will offer classes in new technologies in agriculture, computer use, business and money management, English, history and literature of Tanzania and Africa, and wildlife and environmental studies.

The Living School will also have a well on campus so that the children no longer need to walk for miles to get their family water. At the end of the school day, the children will be able to bring water from the well back to their families. This will not only be beneficial to the children and their families, but it will also be an incentive for the children to attend school every day.

The Slate Foundation will set up innovative, new green technologies at the school. Energy will be generated through solar and wind power, but also when children play on the merry go round. There will be an agriculture farm located at the school from which the school chef will prepare the children’s meals. The meals will be prepared in clean energy ovens, including solar cookers that produce little to no air pollution. The Living School will also teach the students hands on agricultural techniques in the school garden. By teaching children about efficient agriculture practices, the Slate Foundation hopes to contribute to the cessation of cropland burning, which is detrimental to both the environment and the wildlife.

In addition, the school will have a number of income generating activities to help generate enough money to become self-sustaining. The Living School will offer adult computer classes and have internet café hours where the community can use the computers for a small fee. There will also be a library on campus that is open to the public and will hold English and business classes for a small fee.

Life in Northern Tanzania

The Maasai are one of the better-known African tribes, residing near the national parks in Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya. The Maasai are a semi-nomadic people and their economy and culture revolves around their cattle.

The community The Slate Foundation is involved with needs to walk 5-10 miles a day to fetch water from their nearest water source, Lake Minyara. Many times, mothers send one of their children to fetch the water because they need to tend to their household obligations. Most families have an average of 4 children, none of whom have had the opportunity to go to school. Most live on less than a dollar a day.

---

Give the Gift that keeps on Giving!