The Kitenga School for Girls

The Kitenga School for Girls allows young girls to aspire to the undreamed of future with the opportunities and self-sufficiency an education can offer.

With an education, their future would no longer follow the tradition of their female predecessors who faced early marriage with no say in the matter, bride bidding, expectations to produce many babies, sexual harassment, and female genital cutting.  Often they would be the 4th or 5th wife of a much older man. With a very limited education  opportunities and severe poverty, girls in Kitenga are faced with the majority of family chores which can prevent them from attending school.  Often collecting firewood or fetching water for the family each day can take several hours to complete the task.  

We were moved by the plight of these girls.  We were determined to help improve conditions with an education that would allow them career opportunities that never existed and open their world to a future with options filled with excitement and anticipation.

In this poor and rural village and the surrounding areas, there was little opportunity for young girls to attend school past the 4th grade because there was no secondary boarding school in the area.  In schools, the girls were already being sexually harassed by students and teachers.  Many girls confided to the nuns that they were uncomfortable and unsafe at school.  

In 2012, Aid Africa’s Children became involved in a girl’s education project by the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa.  They nuns wanted to go beyond creating a safe and productive environment for these young girls.  Their compelling vision was to “develop socially responsible leaders, thinkers who can participate in scientific activities and use analytical and problem solving skills;  and graduates who will be committed to foster their basic human rights based on their conviction and knowledge to improve their lives through work and service.” This dedicated group of nuns were working diligently to improve conditions for young girls in the remote village of Kitenga, Tanzania.

Aid Africa’s Children partnered with Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa who also pursued several local, international donors and committed partners including the Solar Liberty Foundation and Buffalo Tanzania Education Project to building the “Kitenga School for Girls.”   Through your generous contributions, Aid Africa’s Children was able to commit $20,000 towards the building of the regional boarding school’s dormitory.  This dormitory is a necessity as the girls travel many kilometers to attend school.  The dormitory is now finished.  

The Government approved the school’s facilities in January, 2017. The  Kitenga School for Girls is expected to open in early 2017.  Enrollment is estimated at 90 girls to enter their first year of the secondary school.  In the future they expect to enroll 1,500 hundred girls from pre-K to secondary school.  We could not have done this without your help.