Can you imagine a childhood without school?

The Upendo Project

With the help of donations we offer education to inquisitive underprivileged children in Tanzania. Through our non linear approach we create the best consitions for a good education. Upendo means ´LOVE´in Kiswahili, a local language in the Kilimanjaro-district of Tanzania. And that is exactly what we want to contribute to: love and attention for children from very vulnerable families. Will you help us?

Good and sustainable education is important for the development of self-respect, finding a job is therefor the most sustainable way out of poverty.

Are you helping a child´s childhood?

Education leads to children being better able to make decisions that positivly influence future choices. In Tanzania there is a lot of poverty that is often passed on from generation to generation. Due to socio-economic reasons many parents cannot afford education. Help out and send your dose of ´UPENDO´. Together we can make a big difference! Donate or sponsor a child.

Sponsoring a child means that you monthly transfer an amount from € 35,00 for a longer period (always cancelable immediately). In return you will receive monthly and sometimes biweekly personal updates. As a sponsor of a child you will not only be involved in the progress of the school but you will also kept informed of birthdays, holidays, special events at home etc. Click HERE to go to the sponsorpage. 

Upendo-project #1: Alvin & Alvis

Will you help twins Alvin and Alvis start their school careers? The first school year starts as early as January 2022!

The home situation ensures that these studious twins will never be able to develop a school career without our help! Alvin and Alvis are being raised by their sweet grandmother. The father does not recognize the twins and mom lives and works in Dar Es Salaam. This is a large city in eastern Tanzania 800 km away from the twins. Her income (1,000,000 Tsh per month, equivalent to USD 43 per month) is just enough to help herself and sometimes buy second-hand clothes for her children. It is already not obvious for the mother to see Alvin and Alvis on a regular basis due to the distance, let alone send them to school.      

Please give your dose of UPENDO/ LOVE and help Alvin and Alvis achieve their dream of going to school and moving out of poverty!

Education in Tanzania

Partly because of its colonial past^*1 , education in Tanzania is provided by a public and private sector. Pre-school and primary education is compulsory and ´free´ with the exception of all compulsory school supplies. Students are taught in the Kiswahili language. Unfortenately, due to the poor quality of teaching and the language barrier between primary education (Kiswahili language) and secondary education (Englisch), less than 30% of the public primary school pupils complete their secondary education.

The private primary schools offer high quality education and teach the Englisch language, as a result of which 98% of the students have no problem moving on to secondary education. In secondary education, Englisch is the official languange.   

Schoolsystem in Tanzania is focused on the rich

The introduction of free pre-school and primary education has greatly increased accessibility in recent decades. About 87% of the children are enrolled in a kindergarten or primary school. Of course, that in itself is very good news, but the school facilities have not grown with them, so the quality of education is under pressure and is even very poor. Almost 60% of the teachers in public primary schools are under-qualified and only 8,6% of the teachers in nursery schools are actualy professionally qualified.

On averag, 1 teachter has 51 students in the classroom and 10 students use 1 textbook.

More than 70% of the well trained teachers choose a private primary school because of the higher wages and better school management. Private schools also pay attention to good nutrition because in Tanzania 34% of children under the age of 5 still suffer from chronic maltrution! Could you learn when you are hungry?

The best strategy to overcome poverty is focus on equal education

Girls have even fewer opportunities. About 33% of girls at age 18 are married and expected to work at home. Being able to go to school makes a real difference!

^*1 In 1884 Germany occupied and appropiated Tanzania. Around 1918 England colonized Tanzania. Only around 1922 slavery was abolished in Tanzania and on december 9, 1961 Tanzanians celebrate their Independance Day. The Britisch precense still affects the education system today and people drive on the left side of the road for example.

Our working method

The key to succes is to ensure, firstly, that pupils are offered good quality primary education which their parents cannot afford. Secondly, it is important to learn Englisch before entering secondary school because Englisch is the language of instruction there.

After years of looking at the education system in Tanzania, we have come to the conclusion, together with our local project coordinator Richard Malewo, that the best way to succeed in education is not straightforward!

Starting in a public primary school has the advantage that it is free^*2 but the disadvantage is that the quality is insufficient and the students do not learn Englisch. We start and guide children in a private primary school. The result is better educationand the pupils learn Englisch language necesary to be able to continue in Englisch-speaking secondary education. 

Arriving at the secundary school we choose for the public secondary school system. Here the quality of education is about the same as in the private schools with as big difference much lower costs! This allows us to reduce expenses and invest in new children. Also the connection of public secondary education is more appreciated by the government services. This has great advantages when young adults start applying for jobs.

^*2 Free education is not free. Parents are obliged to buy school supplies such as a uniform and this amounts to approximately € 52,00 per year. For many families this is not affordable every year. That is why many children drop out of school early and go to work. Half of the people live below the poverty line of 1 dollar a day.

Important missing link is English-speaking primary education

The children

Of course we cannot help all children. The children we do help, we make intensely happy. That is priceless! The Upendo project works together with private primary school BRIGHT. Together with our local project coordinator, we look at each situation to see how we can offer a child the best tailor-made help.

We offer reliable education

It is essentiel that a child can finish his/ her school! We feel 100% responsibel for this. We estimate in advance how many children can go to shool in realtion to the received donations. It is important that children not only start school, but also complete the year afterwards. 

Allowing a child to enjoy education is our main goals. At the same time, we also look at the envirement in wich the cild moves. We try to help with the local difficulties to improve the home situation. Think for exmple of reparing a drain. Sometimes we help in the village to repair an important facility. We always try to support the local economy bu buying everything locally as much as possible and have all installations done by local craftsmen. 

Educational costs in Tanzania

By comparing the different educational costs in a transparent way, good education can be offered for the best price by means of a non-directive learning line!

Starting in a public primary school is not a good start because of the poor quality of education. Besides the fixed costs that are too high for many parents (obligatory uniform etc.), the mediocre education is the main reason why more than 70% of the primary school pupils drop out.

With our help children can go to a private ´unaffordable´primary school. There is good education and Englisch is taught which is necessary to be able to connect to secondary education.

The Upendo project helps children to achieve their school career. With the received donations we pay the total school costs for a child. 

Below are two tables that transparently show all educational costs per year, per educational type. The tableon the left shows all costs in detail and the tabel on the right shows the most efficient path by means of red crosses end green areas. By not acting straight but deviating and using private and public sectors, the most qualitative and affordable education track is created.

Who we are?

We are a small aid organisation founded in 2021, consisting of three enthusiasts. It started for Daan in August 2015 when he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. This expedition lasted 9 days and as a result, a close relationship was established with his Head Guide Richard. After the climb and many more stories it became clear that it is almost impossible for many children to go to school and find a succesfull job.

After six years of keeping in touch and brainstorming on how best to help inquisitive children, the Upendo project became a reality, together with Dafne. The Kilimanjaro district is a tourist attraction and many tour operators link a good cause to their trip by sponsoring orphanages. That is fanatastic! At the same time more and more people comment on ´too many orphanges´. Because of poverty parents are not able to send their children to school and therefore they sent to an orphanage. On the one hand it is obvious, but growing up in an orphanage, far away from your parents is never ideal for the social-emotional growth and happiness of the child. 

We relieve parents by offering their children a good education. That´s our way of helping the transcend poverty.

Our mission and vision is very transparent and well defined so that your support will be fully beneficial to the projects we support. Thank you for your interest and support!

Daan, Dafne, Richard