There is no free education in Tanzania and only a few children get past the primary school stage.
Secondary school fees have doubled in recent years, due to economic pressures. This means that even the most intelligent
children are often unable to attend school. KESF offers qualifying students a maximum sum of Tsh 70,000 per year (about
$90 or £60). This covers the full amount of school fees, but does not include examination fees, uniform, stationery,
travel expenses and other essentials.
At present we are helping about 30 students, boys and girls, to attend Forms Three and Four in 15 different secondary
schools in the Kilimanjaro region. In Form Four, they will take the School-Leaving Certificate. This will help them to
get employment. The very brightest students will then be offered places in Forms Five and Six in schools all over Tanzania.
KESF has also started helping these students. If they are successful at this level, they may apply for a place at an East
African university.
KESF is a charity administered from ISM. The committee includes two local Heads and four ISM teachers. Students are
recommended to KESF by their Heads or Pastors.
Hezron, Pascal and Christom are typical scholarship students. Unlike most of our students' parents, who are peasants or
small traders, Hezron's father is a retired teacher. On his tiny pension he is trying to support his wife and four
children, along with his elderly mother and the two children of his deceased brother. (AIDS has created many such
orphans.) Without KESF's support, Hezron would not be able to go to school, though she is at the top of her class. So is
Christom, whose widowed mother came to see us in tears because he had been sent home from school this term as she could not
pay his fees. He is now back in school, thanks to KESF. Pascal's father has been bedridden for twenty years; his mother
works on the family's small farm, but is often absent for months at a time as she is mentally unstable. Life is hard for
Pascal and all our other scholarship students, but education gives them and their whole family a better hope for the
future.
These students are contributing to the future of Tanzania as well as their own. They would not have this chance without
KESF. We rely on the generosity of friends and businesses here in Tanzania and abroad to support our scholarship students.
If you would like to know more, contact a KESF Secretary, c/o ISM. We would be grateful if you could also tell your
friends about our work.
Donations are very welcome, preferably in Tanzanian shillings, dollars or sterling pounds. If donating in foreign currency,
please contact The Treasurer, KESF, c/o The CEO, International School Moshi, P.O. Box 733, Moshi, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania or
email to
to receive details of bank accounts for crediting funds.
Our warmest thanks and good wishes to you all.
