Peace House

     How exciting to find the site for the Peace House Secondary School in Arusha, Tanzania. In May of 2007 I had the opportunity to visit this school as it was in the building and construction stages. This is a boarding school for at risk students which was to include the AIDS orphans and vulnerable children. The number of children eligible is in the thousands. The number of students to be enrolled yearly was only 120. There was an extensive interview process to get in as many of the elite wanted their children to have this educational opportunity. The secondary school education must be paid for privately and most families simply can not even consider this option for their children. Additionally, many of the students are AIDS orphans.
     In this site I found where Help/Systems has displayed pictures and a short statement from students they are sponsoring. Abdul wrote "I believe in myself and my future". Andrew writes "I understand that a good education will change my life and now I have hope for a successful future". Angel states that he "appreciate that this school lets me realize my dreams". Maulid wrote "I used to live on the street and I had given up on my life. Now, I have hope and people will help me succeed in my life". Wisley stated "In my village I was living a very hard life but now at Peace House my suffering is gone".
     It is evident in the statements of the students that a key component to a better life and future is to get an education. These young people will be better educated and be empowered to improve the lives of their country. To further explore the Peace House Secondary School the web site is www.peacehousefoundation.org and www.helpsystems.com/about-help-systems/culture/peace-house 

     I took these pictures while touring the school. Wonder what OSHA would do with a company where someone was working barefoot and on such unstable scaffolding?!

    
 

African Cultures on-line course

     Jambo:  I am a student at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, IA taking the African Culture course. I enrolled in the African Cultures class for several reasons. The first and foremost reason is my interest in the country of Africa and the African people. The second reason driving my enrollment is the fact that this class is offered online. This is essential for me at this point as I do work full time and am trying to get my degree with as many online courses as possible. My third reason is that the professor has lived and breathed this country as he spent several years actually living in Africa. This type of credibility is important to me as I will be able to learn from actual experiences he has had and will be sharing.
    A portion of the course work for the African Culture class is to develop a blog site to share information about Africa. The Blog world is a new concept to me and I might add not a comfortable concept at this point. With that said, I will begin researching for interesting and educational information to share on this site and report back with my findings. Asante.