During the July 2006 Acacia Safari trip to Africa, we had the opportunity to be touched by the plight of a school in the town of Usa River, Tanzania. The USA in Usa River is not an accident as it was originally founded by a group of Americans in the 1950′s with the idea of making it a planned community. The good news is that the town does have water (communal spigots) and it does have electricity (there are even a couple satelite dishes), but it has no sewage disposal system nor paved roads for its +/- 20,000 residents. I prefer to have our last night and day in Tanzania at the Mt. Meru Game Lodge because it is a great place to wind down and yet experience Africa before heading home. One of the employees of the lodge is an elder in Usa River and loves to show off his town to visitors. It was Frank who took us through the town and to the primary school. Our first impression of the school was stark to say the least. From the street it is merely an unpainted concrete block tin roofed building.

On the school yard side of the building, the outside walls were painted white, but most of the windows and doors had no glass in them. The only maps of Africa and Tanzania were painted on the walls on the school yard side of the building.

More than 600 students attend this school in which there is no electricity. Each classroom has between 60 and 75 students sitting 3 per desk. This classroom of 65 stood as we entered. The behavior of the children was extraordinary. As our visitors passed out direly needed pencils and pens to the 65 students in this classroom, those in front remained well behaved and facing the front. At the back of the room you can see the trigonometry text which consists of teacher drawn construction paper pages from which the students study their lesson.

The administrator called an all school assembly out in the school yard, and the students in an orderly fashion lined up for our teachers in the group to talk to them.. When asked what they needed most, they responded that although they are always in need of basic school supplies, the primary need is additional classrooms, the cost of which is approximately $9,000 each. It was obvious to all of us that the staff were totally dedicated to educating these children, and that the children were proud and wanted to be in school. We saw other children on the street looking longingly into the school yard with looks of envy on their faces. Education is the only hope for the improvement of life in Africa where they suffer so much from a lack of the basics. Half of the population of Tanzania is under the age of 21 and the average life expectancy is only 53 years versus 73 in the US. Education is crucial to break the cycle of poverty.

The people on this trip, without any coaching or even the suggestion from me, decided to help this school. To date they have collected more than 500 lbs of school supplies and have raised more than $8000 (just $1500 short of what it will cost to build the first new classroom – hoping to eventually build 2 classrooms) and ship the school supplies. They have collected the funds and supplies through their friends and through the schools at which they teach. All of the funds are being collected in a special account of the Troy Rotary Foundation. Being a Rotarian, I have arranged for administration of the project to be handled by the Rotary Club in Arusha, Tanzania. One can not enter Arusha without seeing signs of the wonderful work of the Arusha Rotary Club. They in conjunction with an organization called Adopt A School (website is www.AdoptASchool.info), will administer the building of the classroom and the distribution of the school supplies. We have also collected some funds for scholarships for children to go to school since not all can afford it. The Rotary Club of Arusha will also select and distribute those funds. Adopt A School is a non-profit that has been working with the improvement and building of schools throughout Tanzania, and has worked with the Arusha Rotary Club. We will count on their expertise in school construction. I will meet with both the Adopt A School personnel and with the Arusha Rotary Club on the May 2007 trip.

Should you decide to help us with the project, send checks made out to the Troy Rotary Foundation and in the memo field indicate it is for the Usa River Project. Send the checks to William Cowger, 6499 Atkins, Troy, MI 48085. Thank you !