The Grand Opening of the Vocational Training Center
Dear friends of PAPA-Bridge!
We are proud to report about our last trip to Tanzania. We travelled to Tanzania to meet all the nice people in the village and to celebrate with them and their Bishop Isaac Amani. This time, the intention on site was to celebrate the Grand Opening on July 7th 2012 and to make some progress on the project work as well. We were 18 people from Europe and a lot of visitors from many different parts of Tanzania. It was a great happening for all of us, since the village received us with great hospitality. The celebration lasted for five hours, started with a holy mass and ended with the inauguration of the school. We were breathless how nicely and enthusiastically they organized the feast. Hereby we would like to share with you some pictures of that day:
Based on our project work, we report about the following:
1) Construction and Building:
The main building is ready for the daily school’s schedule. The workshop is not yet finalized and will delay the practical training of the students. Nevertheless, the project team on site will try to finish the workshop within the next period of time.
2) Teachers and the Principal:
At this moment, most teachers are on board to start soon with the school activities. The cooperation with our temporary principal Mr. Pius Kessy has been closed, and so we are looking for our first long term principal, who should join our team by mid-August. At this time, the school will open again also. The students will be offered the following classes:
– Welding and metal fabrication (sheet metal forming, cutting, door grills,…)
– Masonry and brick laying (excavation, mixing concrete by hand and machines, …)
– Catering & hotel management (cakes, potatoes, vegetables, …)
– Domestic electrical installation (practical installation, circuits, …)
– Tailoring (practical work & theory)
– For most students: Engineering science, mathematics, technical drawing
3) Tools & Equipment:
Due to the unfinished workshop and the danger of being stolen, the tools and machines have not yet been built up. Therefore the next step will be to finalize the workshop. Nevertheless we could complete the computer training class with all the PC’s, printers, etc… that were sponsored by Austrian donators.
4) Godfather-program:
As already mentioned, we clarified the last open questions through that program. Sr. Innocentia will be responsible on site in Kilema and will stay in close contact with our Austrian team. She will choose the students in the village, that are in need, and will be responsible for exchanging data and letters. There is going to be a newsletter within the next four weeks, regarding the start of this program. You can see a picture of Sr. Innocentia attached:
5) Budget:
Up to now we have transferred EUR 127.000,- for the budgeting of the building. Since the workshop has not yet been completed, we need some more money to finalize it. In general we can report, that we have achieved a really big success just by fund raising. Regarding the budget of the present year, we have to calculate with approx. EUR 1.700,- per month. The money will be delivered through monthly donations and the Godfather-program; the rest will be organized through school-fees on site. At beginning of September there will be a new update of the budget.
Dear friends,
We hope, that you can share with us the entusiasm for that project. We need every Euro or Dollar for a better future of the youth in Tanzania. Please help us intensive with the Godfather-program, that comes up quickly.
We wish you all the best and God bless,
Your Walter Koch, Chairman-PAPA-Bridge
