Our Work
Sponsoring a student costs about $1 a day and covers everything our kids need to be healthy, safe and get a good education. Each year we accept students who have the passion and dedication to succeed, but have no way to afford to stay in school. Sponsorship will change a student’s life forever, and heck, probably change yours too.
Our outreach program for at-risk youth engages kids who have been saddled with extreme challenges like absentee parents, learning challenges, illness or disability. Some have already dropped out of school, or never even started. Others have left home and are living on the streets. We engage these kids to help with literacy, school enrollment and one on one tutoring so they can catch up to their classmates. We work with each child to define a unique path towards self-sufficiency that fits their needs.
Giving girls an education drives development and social progress more than any other single factor. We give girls the chance to define their own futures with special scholarships, reproductive health education and empowerment workshops.
In 2018 we began offering Girls Advanced Level Scholarships. You can read about the scholarships and our first recipients here.
Our students are hungry to learn as much as they can. Jiamini tutoring programs offer students help with everything from basic literacy skills to advanced English, math and science. Our extensive program challenges our brightest pupils and helps struggling students catch up to their peers.
Most schools in Tanzania have severe textbooks shortages. Many classrooms have no books at all. A set of textbooks can be shared by hundreds of students over time, giving them basic and essential tools to learn.
Many of our students’ families are subsistence farmers. Putting a child in school means she is unable to help grow the food on which the family survives. Our food grant relieves that pressure by providing families with staple foods during the hunger season, keeping bellies full while our students nourish their minds.
We developed this program to provide ongoing support for our graduates, helping them pay for college by teaching younger students basic literacy and math. Our younger students love being taught by our graduates. The graduates are personally empowered as mentors and have been incredibly successful, generally teaching students how to read and do basic math in a few short months.
After finishing high school, our graduates learn computer literacy in our own computer school, run by Jiamini graduates Frank and Hamza and founded with support from generous donors and Jiamini’s tech partner UConnect. Students learn about email, excel, making a CV and presentation and doing online research, essential skills not (yet) taught in public schools. For most of our graduates, this is the first time they use a computer. After the course, our grads are welcomed to the Jiamini office to use our facilities assisted by our staff; finding further studying options and writing applications, either for education opportunities, internships or jobs. Read more about our Computer School here.
We work with local schools to identify the infrastructure projects they need most. With a focus on keeping students healthy, we have built latrines, hand washing facilities and school wells. We’ve installed netting and worked on drainage projects to prevent the spread of malaria. We are committed to creating a healthy and safe learning environment for all students in the area.
Joseph Lawrence Chow was an exceptional and passionate Peace Corps Volunteer who served in southern Tanzania. He was an inspiration to his students, working tirelessly to develop their knowledge of chemistry, math and physics. Outside of the classroom he developed a variety of programs that helped raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in his community. Upon his sudden passing in 2009, the Chow family created the The Joseph Lawrence Chow Scholarship in his memory. This scholarship is awarded each year to several exceptional Advanced-Level students attending Ndanda Secondary School, where Joseph was a volunteer. The scholarship is designed to help bright students from the school and the region where he served. Recipients of this award must demonstrate both economic need and academic prowess. Funded by countless generous donations, The Joseph Lawrence Chow Scholarship also supports students at Joseph’s alma mater in the USA.
Learn more about Joseph at Mwakaribishwa
Read Joseph’s biography