A Primary School for Mpalapande

It almost sounds like a lame exaggeration from an elder to a younger generation – “When I was a kid, we had to walk 8 kilometers to school every day.” But an eight kilometer walk (just shy of five miles for us Americans) is the reality for the primary school students in one village among our Tanzanian partners. That’s 8 kilometers, one way.

Mpalapande is a Maasai village within Tungamalenga Parish.  Over the past twenty years, the Tanzanian government has relocated Maasai tribes from their historical homeland in the northern part of the country to the south central regions of the country. Maasai are traditionally nomadic people, with large herds of cattle and goats that require space for grazing, so the government placed the Maasai in remote, unpopulated areas. The trade-off for ample grazing land is that the tribes are far from basic government services like water, health care and public schools.

The children of Mpalapande have two options for primary school.  They can walk 8 kilometers in one direction to attend school at Mapogoro, or they can walk 10 kilometers in the other direction to attend Kitisi Primary School.

Our partners tell us that these young children – 6 years old and up – arrive at school late and tired. Sometimes they miss so much of the instructional day that a student takes two or three years to complete one grade.

Several years ago, the congregation elders began to work on a plan to bring education closer to home. They approached the village and ward education officials, proposing to construct three classrooms in the village if the education officers would promise to provide teachers. The classroom building will also include a nurse’s station, which the diocese health system has promised to staff. Once the education officers agreed to the proposal, the congregation elders asked Shepherd of the Valley to assist with funds for construction.

Funds from SOTV's Capital Campaign support the construction of the school at Mpalapande. By providng funding and by engaging the cooperation of the local government, we can make a difference in a sustainable way.